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Lead risk identified |
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Perth-based Capt Sharryn Batt, SOComd, identified a lead hazard at the indoor weapons ranges at Campbell and Holsworthy Barracks. Lead is a cumulative substance and if it accumulates in the body it can cause health problems. At the Army Safety Awards in Canberra on May 10, Capt Batt won the category for best individual contribution to health and safety. “I discovered the deficiency in the monitoring process after a unit member had come into my office wanting to know about the health effects of lead and that set me off,” Capt Batt said. “Until that time I had not known very much about lead as an occupational hazard. “His enquiry caused me to investigate what the health effects actually were and to look into the health records of currently serving unit members, as far back as the early 1980s.” Capt Batt took on the extra duty in November 2005 and for 18 months carried out an investigation on the results of blood tests on a range users to determine if an effective monitoring, review and counselling process had been applied. Based on her research, which identified deficiencies in that process, she developed and implemented an education program covering the personal risk management of lead. “I discovered that there was something that we could do to improve the situation. With the help of personnel within the unit, we implemented a health surveillance and biological monitoring program and also a lead awareness education program,” she said. “There is still much more to be done. We need a designated eating, showering and laundry facility to be built separate to, but collocated with, the range complex so that range contamination can be contained there and not transferred to other areas of the workplace or into the homes of personnel. That is my aim for the future.” |
