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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1975
PROTECTION FOR WORKERS IN COMPRESSED AIR CONDITIONS
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NEW REGULATIONS APPROVED BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY WILL PROTECT PEOPLE FROM SICKNESS AND ILL HEALTH CAUSED BY WORKING IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF COMPRESSED AIR.
MOVING A RESOLUTION FOR THE APPROVAL OF THESE COMPLEX REGULATIONS, THE COMMISSIONER FOR LABOUR, THE HON. IAN PRICE, SAID HE HAD NO DOUBT THAT CONTRACTORS WHO WOULD BE USING COMPRESSED AIR FOR THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY PROJECT WERE AWARE OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE REGULATIONS BECAUSE THEY WERE BASED ON INTERNATIONALLY ACCEPTED STANDARDS.
BUT HE STRESSED THAT WORKING IN COMPRESSED AIR COULD BE HAZARDOUS. IF PROPER PRECAUTIONS WERE NOT TAKEN, AND IF THE CORRECT PROCEDURES WERE NEGLECTED DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS COULD RESULT.
HE EXPLAINED THAT COMPRESSED AIR WAS REQUIRED TO KEEP OUT EXCESS WATER WHICH MIGHT BE ENCOUNTERED, FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN TUNNELLING THROUGH POROUS ROCK OR SOIL. +THE PRESSURE OF THE COMPRESSED AIR DEPENDS, TO SOME EXTENT, UPON THE DEPTH BELOW GROUND AND THE POROUSNESS OF THE SOIL IN WHICH THE WORK IS BEING PERFORMED.+
THE ILLNESS DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS WHICH MAY RESULT FROM WORKING IN COMPRESSED AIR IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FACT THAT WHEN A PERSON LEAVES THE WORKING AREA HE MUST ENTER A MAN LOCK AND BE BROUGHT BACK BY CAREFULLY CONTROLLED STAGES TO THE NORMAL PRESSURE.
+UNLESS THIS IS DONE WITH METICULOUS REGARD FOR THE PROCEDURES LAID DOWN IN DECOMPRESSION TABLES (WHICH ARE PART OF THE REGULATIONS), THE COMPRESSED AIR WHICH HAS BEEN ABSORBED IN THE BLOOD. OR TISSUE FLUIDS, WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE, WITH THE RESULT THAT BUBBLES OF GAS FORM IN THE BODY,+ MR. PRICE SAID.,
THIS COULD CAUSE PAIN, PARTICULARLY IN THE JOINTS AND LIMBS RANGING FROM RELATIVELY MILD DISCOMFORT TO REALLY INTENSE SUFFERING, LEADING TO COLLAPSE. OTHER SYMPTOMS INCLUDED HEADACHES, GIDDINESS, CONVULSIONS, VOMITTING AND NUMBNESS OF THE LIMBS.
THE ONSET OF DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS, MR. PRICE SAID, COULD OCCUR HOURS AFTER THE WORKER HAD LEFT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE.
+THE SYMPTOMS MAY BE SIMILAR TO THOSE OF DRUNKENESS, BUT NOT NECESSARILY SO. OR THE WORKER MAY COLLAPSE. IT IS VITAL THAT HE BE TAKEN TO THE NEAREST MEDICAL LOCK WITHOUT DELAY.
+THEREFORE THOSE WORKING IN COMPRESSED AIR EXCEEDING 14 P.S.1. MUST WEAR, NEXT TO THE SKIN. A WARNING BADGE SUPPLIED BY THE EMPLOYER GIVING THE ADDRESS OF THE MEDICAL LOCK TO WHICH HE MUST BE SENT IF TAKEN ILL.+
/HR. PRICE