Volume 49, No. 20, November 02, 2006

By LEUT Derek Lord - DNAVSAFE Staff Officer (Occupational Health)


By LEUT Derek Lord - DNAVSAFE Staff Officer (Occupational Health)
The RAN is pretty good at identifying and controlling hazards that are tangible - radiation, confined spaces, asbestos etc. We don’t (or shouldn’t) just react to these hazards when something goes wrong, we are obliged to be proactive in identifying potential hazards and institute control measures before a mishap occurs. A good example is the OHSIR (40/06) raised by HMAS Newcastle recently – staff had identified that there were insufficient numbers of ELSRDS available for members utilising the gym (3 ELSRDS for up to 10 gym users). A potential problem was identified and appropriate control measures initiated before any possible disaster.
Do we need to extend our ‘duty of care’ beyond the physical, measurable workplace hazards – heat, vibration, noise etc – to embrace aspects of mental health such as depression? Basically, what’s in it for us, and do we have to bother?
Why bother? Irrespective of moral or ethical obligations, COMCARE have classified workplace hazards under the umbrella of physical, chemical, biological, mechanical/electrical, and psychosocial - so mental health issues (such as depression) have officially been deemed a potential hazard. ADF are required to report OHS issues to COMCARE. In short, yes, we do need to bother, it’s the law.
What’s in it for me? Consider the following; the lifetime risk for major depression is 7-12% for men and 20-30% for women and the World Health Organisation predicts that depression will be the second biggest health problem worldwide by the year 2020. It’s a big problem and seems to be getting bigger; ADF spends about $200,000 on antidepressants annually, and people on Prozac etc are not currently deployable – though this policy is currently under review. One report suggests that mental illness costs the ADF about $2.2 million a year in hospital admissions and 18,000 workdays lost. That’s a lot of extra work and more deployments and duties for those of us not affected.
Depression is characterised by a sad mood of at least two weeks duration, together with:
• Loss of interest or pleasure (sports/hobbies etc)
• Appetite disturbance
• Sleep disturbance
• Psychomotor changes (agitation or retardation)
• Decreased energy (tiredness and fatigue)
• Sense of worthlessness or guilt
• Negative thought patterns
• Impaired ability to think (poor concentration and memory)
• Thoughts of suicide or death
Most of us have a few of these symptoms every now and then; they are just part of the normal vagaries of life that usually resolve after a few days. If they extend beyond two weeks, then it might be a bit more than ‘the blues’ or just a ‘bad phase’ or a situational crisis and reaction.
One of the major principles of good management is getting to know your troops well – several facets of depression (decreased energy, appetite disturbances, poor concentration, memory, and loss of interest in sports and hobbies) can manifest at work, places astute supervisors in an ideal position to pick up on such signs and possibly persuade members to see a health care practitioner. Most supervisors might notice these changes in their troops, but may not ascribe such changes to a possible mental illness. Asking someone if they feel suicidal will not induce suicidal behaviour. Similarly, asking about possible depression will not induce a depressive episode – it may give someone the opportunity to open up a little. At the very least, it would show you were an interested supervisor.
A member suffering a cardiac arrest, arterial haemorrhage or broken leg, would expect (and be entitled to) some form of CPR/first aid to be applied until expert help arrived – maybe we should start applying the same sequential logic to psychiatric first aid. ADF Personnel should be cognisant of the major facets of depression and be able to identify them in a staff member or mate. At the very least, you should consider mental health issues as a possibility rather than avoiding the issue or assuming the person is a slacker.
CPR and first aid skills do not turn members into doctors or nurses – awareness of mental health issues does not create amateur psychiatrists, but simply provides extra tools to assist in making workplaces healthier and safer. Being mindful of the major facets of depression may bring similar benefits. There are always better health outcomes when illnesses and diseases are recognised and treated at an early stage – the longer they are left, the more damage occurs. In this sense, depression is no different than diabetes or heart disease. Whilst most people will present to sick parade when they notice lumps or have joint pain, few seem to present when the signs and symptoms of depression emerge. Most people with a depressive illness do not seek treatment because many of them do not recognise the symptoms and do not know they have a treatable disease. Early intervention is the key. Sometimes it might take a prod from an interested external source - you.
KEEP NAVY SAFE

BZ Locker

A shore establishment occurrence has shown that personnel who are alert and actively looking for hazards can remove a danger before it is realised. A member was ascending a flight of stairs and noticed a small paint chip on the deck. Upon picking up and inspecting the chip, the member believed that it contained Zinc Chromate and reported the suspicion. The establishment has begun conducting tests to investigate whether Zinc chromate existed and to remove the possible threat to personnel. BZ.

Exemption from COMCARE Notification

Section 7 of the OHS (CE) Act, ensuring that the Act is not prejudicial to Australia’s defence, allows the Chief of Defence Force to declare that section 68 does not apply to members of the ADF who are involved in: a) ADF operational deployments, b) ADF deployments in support of the U.N., or c) organised ADF sporting activities.
The existence of these exemptions should not be interpreted as an excuse to avoid notification action. The intent of the exemptions is to ensure that the ADF cannot be considered to be in breach of legislation when genuine operational circumstances have precluded COMCARE notification. In all circumstances where it is possible to report or notify without prejudice to operational effectiveness, a unit should do so.
Essentially, if you’ve got the time to submit an AC563 and the very valuable OHSIR signal, then you’ve got the time to inform COMCARE.

Ship’s Vibration
Murphy’s Law states, “Anything that can go wrong, will.” The axiom to this is, “and at the worst possible time.”
One of a sailor’s, and I mean any sailor’s, most common encounters with this law has got to be the vibration of the ship. Vibrations that range from various continuous sources (engines, ventilation fans, hydraulics...) to the sharp and ‘shuddering’ (the gun firing or crashing down the other side of that big wave!). However, vibration is always happening around us so we tend to ignore it and what it is doing, which is loosening things, everything. It is a potential danger to all onboard.
OHSIR reports suggest that within the past 12 months, vibration has loosened; a) a 115v terminal to the point of setting the insulation smoking by the time it was discovered; b) a 440v cable securing nut which resulted in a live phase coming away during a routine test; and c) so many bolts, nuts and securing ties from three ship’s Diesel Generators that they had to be shut down to try and find the missing bits for fear of ‘where they went’. (Not all were found, either.) Don’t feel so safe ashore - an incident involving an establishment’s galley’s mixing machine saw a loose screw end up in a muffin and resulted in a chipped tooth.
As an ET, I know that half of the faults that I’ve dealt with over my career were direct results of something ‘working loose’, misaligning or breaking due to vibration (imagine what the birdies have to deal with). No trade is immune.
So what can you do about it? Thorough maintenance procedures, seen through to their pedantic end, are designed to catch many of the ‘usual suspects’. But I highly recommend a habit that ‘an old Chief’ got me into doing - if you’re not doing anything, grab a tool and tighten something.
Because another maxim says that, “Murphy was an optimist.”

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