Plant is a major cause of workplace death and injury in Australian workplaces. As detailed in Managing the risks of plant in the workplace – Code of Practice there are significant risks associated with using plant and severe injuries can result from the unsafe use of plant, including
- limbs amputated by unguarded moving parts of machines being crushed by mobile plant
- sustaining fractures from falls while accessing, operating or maintaining plant
- electric shock from plant that is not adequately protected or isolated
- burns or scalds due to contact with hot surfaces, or exposure to flames or hot fluids
Other risks include hearing loss due to noisy plant and musculoskeletal disorders caused by manually handling or operating plant that is poorly designed
This recent safety alert from Worksafe NT highlights how important plant risk assessments are
If you are unsure about any aspects of plant risk assessments #asksafetygeek
