What’s new this month?
EDITORIAL Happy New Year to you and yours. We hope 2015 has gotten off to a safe and productive start for your team. Thank you to those who provided feedback on the December issue of Lifting Matters. Load restraint is a simple yet significant issue in the crane and construction industry, and the December issue of Lifting Matters served as a healthy reminder to triple check our load restraints. The construction industry, of which the crane industry is an integral component, accounted for 37% of fatalities caused by falling from heights in the period of 2008 to 2011. The fatality rate from falls in the construction industry for this period was four times the overall rate. This issue we look at falls, fall protection, handrails and safety harnesses. We investigate some recent fall from heights incidents, simple ways to prevent falls from occurring, and examples of where engineering innovations have eliminated the need to work at heights. We also have a reminder from Cancer Council Queensland to have a think about our diet and whether we are consuming adequate fruit and vegetables.
Please feel free to contact us at info@liftingmatters.com to provide feedback or insight into any of the articles you read in this issue. Visit our website to comment on our online blog at www.liftingskills.com.au/lifting-matters/blog. You can also download a pdf copy of the newsletter at www.liftingskills. com. au/lifting-matters/newsletter. We are happy to post out glossy full colour hard copies of Lifting Matters for your smoko room, waiting areas, and crane cabs. Email us at info@ liftingskills. com.au with your postage address and the number of copies you require. I hope you and your team are able to receive valuable lessons on working at heights from this issue of Lifting Matters. It would be great to see the number and severity of fall from height incidents reduce over the coming months and years as we become more vigilant about fall protection and more innovative in our methodologies for work at heights. Dashelle Bailey, Editor
THANKS TO THIS EDITION’S CONTRIBUTORS
IN THIS ISSUE Editorial Feature Story Fall From Heights Incident Report - Sydney, NSW Incident Report - Alexandria, NSW Dumb Things Photo Gallery TRAM Fall Arrest System Harness saves life Are you eating enough fruit and vegetables? PAGE 1 | LIFTING MATTERS | MARCH 2015
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