Metal products and machinery manufacturing industry

The Steel Fabrication and Metals Manufacturing industry involves over 650 employers in South Australia. While the industry accounts for approximately one per cent of employers, it accounts for over three percent of injuries reported.

Injuries

Muscular stress injuries make up almost 41 per cent of injuries. This is followed by eye injuries (24 per cent) and hitting moving objects (12 per cent).

Occupations within the industry that reported injuries include:

• Metal fabricators, (reporting 19 per cent of all injuries).
• Welders (13 per cent of injuries).
• Production and systems workers (12 per cent).
• Fitters (9 per cent).
• Non-trades occupations in the industry accounted for 29 per cent of injuries.

Welding equipment, grinders and other abrasive cutting tools were involved in almost one in five injuries.

Welding website

The welding website requires the Macromedia Flash 4 Player. If you have it, you can enter by clicking the link below, otherwise you can download the player by clicking the Flash logo in the 'free downloads' section of the page footer.

The Interactive Welding website, contains a wide variety of safety tips and information for the industry. It provides a forum for educating welders in occupational health and safety issues related specifically to their work.

The website covers:

• electrical safety
• emergency, fire and explosion
• eye, face and head protection
• first aid
• fume and gas control
• gas cylinders
• noise
• personal protective equipment
• the law
• welding fumes and gases
• workplace environment.

The target audience for this product is predominantly managers, supervisors, health and safety representatives and employees working within the metal fabrication industry. It is also a useful tool for the vocational education industry, and upper high school levels.