Alerts

In keeping with the importance of ensuring Parks and Regions staff are advised of safety matters, please find attached a Safety Bulletin on ‘Tyre Pressure’ – this particular edition was provided by the SA Arid Lands region.

The Parks and Regions Group WHS Committee meets quarterly, at which a Safety Bulletin is provided by a region/branch.

I ask that you note the attached bulletin and ensure you and your staff/colleagues take any action required to ensure safety awareness around the correct Tyre Pressure on vehicles.

Thanks.

Stuart Paul

A/Director Regional Programs

Safety Bulletin: Tyre Pressure (410 KB)

In keeping with the importance of ensuring Parks and Regions staff are advised of safety matters, please find attached a Safety Bulletin on ‘Snatch Straps’ – this particular edition provided by the Eyre Peninsula region.

SAFETY BULLETIN: Snatch Straps (419 KB)

Do you or your volunteers:

- Come into contact with unknown dogs?

- Enter landholder properties?

- Undertake work on parks, reserves or beaches?

If so, there is an increased risk of being bitten by a dog.

SAFETY BULLETIN: Dog Bite Prevention (203 KB)

Whenever you use a motor vehicle to facilitate your work you are required to follow DEWNR procedures.

Do you understand the various procedures well enough to differentiate what is required of you under different circumstances?

Can you explain to someone else what communications are necessary when travelling on a day of heightened fire danger?

How about when going to work in a remote or isolated area?

Working alone?

SAFETY BULLETIN: Safe Driving - The importance of Communication (266 KB)

FORD RANGER (post July 2016 Models) EXHAUST SYSTEMS – ELEVATED RISK OF FIRE

Ford Motor Company of Australia advise “that when driven over long grass affected vehicles may accumulate vegetation under the vehicle near the exhaust system of these vehicles. The exhaust system in that area may reach a high temperature. If sufficient grass or other combustible material has accumulated, they may be ignited by the exhaust system, causing smoke or flames to appear from under the vehicle.”

Details of the related safety recall can be found here.

While a known risk in our operations can drivers pay particular attention to this hazard when using Ford Ranger vehicles (post July 2016 models) and avoid driving them in areas of long grass given the elevated risk.

Managers and drivers are to implement checks of the exhaust systems (particularly the area surrounding the Diesel particulate filters) of vehicles to ensure that debris has not accumulated in the manner described above.

16 Ranger vehicles affected by this safety recall have been identified and the Managers of these vehicles have received an email to advise them of the process to have remedial works undertaken by the Ford Motor Company.

Driving in Long grass in these vehicles must be avoided until this problem has been rectified.

Please ensure this Hazard Alert is distributed to all worksites.

Prepared by: Peter Bercys Snr Safety Projects Officer
Issued by: Workplace Safety and Wellbeing Unit
Approved by: Grant Pelton, Chair DEWNR H&S Subcommittee of Executive
Date Issued: December 2017
Remove from Notice Boards: March 2018

The last few months have seen a number of incidents where DEWNR employees have been put at risk due to the failure of wheel studs or nuts on the vehicles they were driving.

In a number of instances the wheel assembly has separated from the axle and resulted in a serious loss of control and the vehicle leaving the road.

SAFETY ALERT: Loss of vehicle control – loose, damaged and broken wheel studs and nuts (486 KB)

UPDATE - September 2017

We are coming into breeding season again for the red-whiskered bulbul, and thought it might be good to contact our communities again, asking for them to keep a look out for the bird given they are more vocal and more active at this time. I have largely contacted all those listed in the communications plan of the original project plan from last year.

Are you able to forward the email below to your ‘Friends of’ groups or any other parties/groups that may be relevant? I will send hard copies to the Natural Resource Centres at Black Hill, Woodside, Mount Pleasant and Adelaide Hills.

Hi all

You may recall that red-whiskered bulbuls were detected in South Australia last year. As you know, these south-east Asian birds feed on and damage soft fruit, spread weeds and compete with our native bird species. They are known to be serious pests in many countries throughout the world, and there are established populations in New South Wales and Victoria.

Biosecurity SA enacted an incursion response in mid-2016, and by the end of 2016 the number of wild birds had been substantially reduced. However, as we cannot be sure that no birds continue to persist in the wild, we ask for your assistance again. The breeding season for the red-whiskered bulbul is about to commence. During this time, the birds are more active and more obvious.

The best way to prevent their establishment in South Australia is to act quickly.

I have attached a Pest Alert Fact Sheet that was developed last year – it has the contact details for the Pest Alert Hotline. Unfortunately the link is no longer available, but the footage can now be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ArSlD6jKjI. Could you please forward this to your members, post on your notice boards, include in your newsletters, or distribute by whatever means works best within your organisation? If you would like hard copies of the fact sheet, please contact me and I will send some by post.

I thank you in advance for assisting us in keeping this pest bird species out of South Australia.

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards

Lindell Andrews | Biosecurity Officer, Pest Animals

Division | Primary Industries and Regions SA - PIRSA

Government of South Australia | CSIRO Building 1, Entry 4, Waite Rd Urrbrae

GPO Box 1671 Adelaide SA 5001 | DX 66710

P: +61 8 8429 0831 | M: + 61 438 351 002

I am working on a project for Biosecurity SA (in partnership with AMLR NRM) trying to eradicate feral Red Whiskered Bulbuls (birds) that have been showing up in the hills. Part of this process is community engagement so that the community is aware of the issue and can cooperate with the program by reporting sightings.

• NR AMLR engaging with known bird breeders in the Adelaide Hills and neighbouring areas to investigate the possibility of RWBB being kept by breeders/fanciers as the source of the current incursion.
• DEWNR communicating the legal status of RWBB in SA to bird breeders/fanciers and offering an amnesty for surrender. Seizing birds not voluntarily surrendered.
• NR AMLR and NR SAMDB assisting with community engagement efforts where required and displaying fact sheets at Natural Resources Centres.
• DEWNR continuing to support the dissemination of key messages to Friends of Parks groups.
• NR AMLR continuing to support PIRSA with the development and approval of media releases when required.

FYI last week (Feb 2016) PIRSA Biosecurity received confirmation of the presence of 2 Red-whiskered Bulbul birds in Houghton, the first sighting since 1993.

Follows a link to the fact sheet for further information about this pest species…

http://pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/232023/Red-whiskered_Bulbul.pdf

If you happen to see a Red-whiskered Bulbul, it’s important that your sighting is reported to the National Pest Alert Hotline: 1800 084 881

To help spread the word, please forward this information onto your networks.

Catherine Austin

District Officer – Lower Torrens

Natural Resources Adelaide & Mt Lofty Ranges Region
Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources | South Australian Government

P: (08) 8336 0989

M: 0418 810 086

A: 115 Maryvale Road, ATHELSTONE SA 5076

Hi NRM community 

Thank you for the email. This looks like the introduced plant Lachenalia aloides, commonly called soldiers.

This is a plant species with few collections (only 11) from South Australia, most from ALMR, one from KI, and one near Mount Gambier see:

http://flora.deh.sa.gov.au/google_maps_data.html?census=1&name=Lachenalia_aloides&name=Lachenalia_tricolor&name=Phormium_aloides#topmap

Check out this website as it has some good images of the plant, and is a great web site for bulbs in general, worth ‘adding to favourites’.

http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/LachenaliaSpeciesOne#aloides

It does look like it could be a problem (that’s my feeling), and is regarded by some as a sleeper weed. For further information on this as an ‘Alert weed’ and this includes limited control methods, etc. See: https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/weeds/publications/guidelines/alert/pubs/l-reflexa.pdf

& for chemical control, see: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/13562

& general basic info (no control info): https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/weeds/bulbs-become-bushland-weeds?page=0%2C2

I would dearly love a collection, from all locations / populations you find. If anyone else finds this, a collection would be great! Please find the attached collection sheet to include with your collection. Please dig up the bulb and you can cut this open to help with drying. Please include all the leaves and flower if you can. I’ll need a specimen to add the records to the dataset, an email and photos don’t make it on, so sorry.

I’ll try and spread the word about this. Perhaps you could spread the word in the wider NRM / bush care community? It’s you guys out and about, killing nasties that can jump on it and stop this potential new weed from spreading.

And NO you are not a pain, I really appreciate your email and I’m always here to help with the identification of weeds.

Please contact me any time! However, I will be away on annual leave for most of September and early Oct, so you may not hear from me during that period.

However, Chelsea (CC ed in here) will be available to answer questions or push emails through to others that can help when she is about, ( I hope, Thanks in advance Chelsea).

Kind regards

Chris Brodie
Weeds Botanist

Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium
Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources
Ph (08) 8222 9468 | M 0437 825 685

Parks and Regions Group – Safety Bulletin

A new procedure was developed in 2016 governing the use of quad bikes, motorcycles and light utility vehicles (LUVs)

SAFETY BULLETIN: Quad bikes, motorcycles and light utility vehicles (450 KB)

Following the recent sustained wet weather and high river levels, an increased number of mosquitoes has been noted in the region.

In addition, the recent storms left a lot of debris that allowed water to collect, which has created a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

There are a number of mosquito-borne disease that are well established in SA and for which we should be taking preventive measures.

It is always best to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, by following the strategy of ‘Exclusion, Restriction and Destruction’ similar to ‘Slip, Slop and Slap’ for sun protection.

The strategies used to reduce this risk can include the following ...

Download to read more

DEWNR WHS - Mosquitoes (186 KB)