Hazards in extreme jobs

The occupational health and safety profession, while essential to our wellbeing, is not usually associated with high adventure. In fact, it is often regarded as profoundly boring and quite lacking in excitement.

But it can involve some extreme matters.

Commonwealth legislation includes OH&S codes of practice for sea divers to avert the occupational hazards of “heat exhaustion, hypothermia, skin cancer, injury and death”.

OH&S legislation in the ACT includes a code of practice for sex workers, which, as well as ensuring no-smoking signs and so forth, also requires that there are no trip hazards, that bed linen is clean and changed after each use, as must be all condoms and sex toys.

Queensland has an OH&S code of practice for the taking, handling and transportation of crocodiles.

Another exists for the control of bed bug infestation in Australia.

According to the author of the code, Stephen Doggett, from the department of medical entomology at the Institute for Clinical Pathology and Medical Research at NSW’s Westmead Hospital, “between 1999 and 2006 there was exponential growth in the number of new infestations equating to an extraordinary increase of 4500 per cent… bed bug infestations are still common and it will be some time before this nuisance public health pest will be considered again rare”.

Around the country there are OH&S workers involved in every imaginable field, and some come as a surprise.

One such is Ritchie Bower, whose job with the firm Coffey Environments is to see that every ship entering Australian waters complies with rules about the presence of asbestos.

In 2005, Australia entirely banned the use of asbestos in ships. It is permissible for ships that are importing goods to contain asbestos, but not for any that seek to work in Australian waters.

Bower is quick to debunk the OH&S industry’s “white coats and glasses” stereotype.

“I work with an overnight bag under my desk because I never know when I’m going to be called out and where I might go,” he says.

“We are charged with ensuring vessels that enter Australian waters are safe from asbestos and other hazardous materials, and suitable for Australian crew to board. That means I get sent to exotic places… usually the vessel’s last stop in Asia before entering Australian waters.

Clients may even require us to go farther afield, if they are not stopping in Asia.”

Bower’s passport tells the tale of his hectic work schedule: Italy, Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, among others.

He admits the jet-set lifestyle is appealing, but is under no illusion about the seriousness of his work, which includes conducting asbestos surveys, air monitoring, and the project management of asbestos removal when required.

“Any ship purchased after 2005 must have an asbestos survey done on it and any asbestos found must be removed.

Pre-2005 ships can leave existing asbestos in low-risk applications, such as gaskets, but any high-risk occurrences, such as in insulation and lagging, must be removed before entering Australian waters,” Bower explains.

“The Australian Maritime Safety Authority requires ships to maintain a safe workplace, and most operators are very diligent.

“However, ship operators have been prosecuted in Australia for not properly identifying, assessing and managing the presence of asbestos on a ship,” he says.

Surveys show that about 95 per cent of ships entering Australian waters contain asbestos, Bower points out, even ones built after 2005, largely because many of the ships are built in China, which has not banned use of the material.

Bower gained experience with Britain’s strict new asbestos-related legislation before immigrating to Australia in 2006, and predicts asbestos compliance will come under the microscope here as well.

Last year, Coffey Environments received accreditation from the National Association of Testing Authorities for surveying asbestos and hazardous material.

“Being accredited by Australia’s national accreditation body provides heightened assurance to vessel owners and operators of the robustness of our systems and that we are looking in the right places in the right way,” Bower says.

“We are able to provide our clients with NATA-endorsed survey reports, which include a register and risk assessment of identified hazardous materials.”

Coffey holds all three accreditations for asbestos work – surveying, air monitoring/fibre counting and fibre identification – “which we are pretty proud of,” he says.

Bower is a NATA-authorised signatory for surveying, volumetric air measurement and fibre counting, and a qualified lead auditor for safety and quality management systems.

He obtained postgraduate qualifications in asbestos and other fibres in Britain, and holds qualifications from the British Occupational Hygiene Society and Australia’s Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

But he had already learned the safety message in his early years, having started his career in the British Army as a telecommunications operator.

“Most of us change careers several times in our lives. I think the key is to leverage the knowledge you have gained along the way, and take it with you to your next job, even if that job is in a completely different field,” he says.

“I am a long way from where I started in both a physical sense and in terms of my career.

“Life is about making the most of opportunities as they arise, and sometimes that means ending up somewhere far from where you started.

“But it’s also important to celebrate where you came from and to remember your roots. I’ve worked really hard and had some good luck, too. I couldn’t be happier with where I’m at in my life and my career.”