Don't get burnt: work health and safety considerations for the solar ...

Article by Liam Fraser and Cameron Kelly ?? DibbsParker Lawyers

The growth of the solar photo-voltaic (PV) panel industry in recent years has brought to light issues relating to safety for importers, suppliers and installers of solar panels.

Under harmonised work health & safety legislation¹, persons conducting a business or undertaking (also known as 'PCBUs') have non-delegable duties for work health & safety (WHS). These duties require PCBUs to eliminate or minimise risks as far as reasonably practicable.

Officers² of a PCBU '

A PCBU that imports plant, structures or substances that are to be used at a workplace must ensure that the design, manufacture, import or supply is without risk to the health and safety of persons at that workplace. Practically, this means that importers and suppliers of solar PV systems should be providing their customers and any installers with information on the safe use and installation of their products.

It will not be enough to demonstrate due diligence by simply relying on compliance with applicable Australian Standards (such as AS/NZS 5033 - see below). Exercising due diligence and discharging the onerous obligations involves providing any relevant information to installers or customers and not relying on any assumed knowledge.

Installers

Installers of solar panels must ensure that the installation or construction of a solar PV system at a workplace is also free from risks to the health and safety of a person. At a minimum, compliance with the codes of practice for working at heights, manual handling and falling objects should be a priority.

Codes and relevant standards relating to electrical installation should be considered. Likewise, the physical environment and the prevailing climatic conditions will also be important factors in minimising the risk of an incident at a workplace.

Key considerations

Installers of solar panels should be performing detailed risk assessments of their workplaces before commencing work. Documented procedures and relevant policies will be necessary to show that a PCBU has complied with their duties of due diligence.

For a supplier, simply subcontracting with an appropriately qualified installer will not remove liability. Entities with upstream duties may also be found liable for breaches of WHS legislation where their subcontractors have failed to adequately train their workers and ensure that risks are minimised as far as reasonably practicable.

Demonstrating due diligence requires more than an officer simply relying upon the assurances of their subcontractor.

PCBUs who contract with installers should have detailed safety management and risk assessment systems in place. There should also be a system for auditing the WHS procedures of contractors. Failure to do so may expose both the PCBU and the officers of the PCBU to liability for any failures of their subcontractor.

Failure by a PCBU to ensure a safe workplace can result in penalties of up to $3,000,000. Failure by an officer to exercise due diligence can lead to personal liability for penalties of up to $600,000 or five years imprisonment. Therefore, if you have any concerns about your WHS duties, you should seek legal advice.

What about complying with AS/NZS 5033?

If a solar installation does not comply with Clean Energy Council (CEC) guidelines and Australian Standards (including AS/NZS 5033), it may be ineligible for inclusion on the Clean Energy Council approved list of modules for buildings.

As recently advised by the Clean Energy Regulator, important changes to the Australian Standards and CEC guidelines for solar PV installations come into effect on 16 July 2013.

Any systems that do not comply with the amended Standards and CEC guidelines after 16 July will not be eligible under the Renewable Energy Target and small-scale technology certificates (STCs) will not be created against them. From 16 July 2013, all solar PV systems that are to be installed to a fixed structure, such as a building, will need to update the testing and certification for the system to meet the new standards.

The REC Registry will also be updated to reflect the requirement for building mounted installations to be fire tested. Specifically, if solar panels are going to be part of a building mounted installation, the system must be fire tested to meet the new requirements.

Footnotes

¹Harmonised work health & safety legislation comprising mirrored acts and regulations have been enacted by the Commonwealth and all state and territory jurisdictions excluding Western Australia and Victoria.

²As defined in section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Source: http://www.safetyinaustralia.com.au/safety-news/7981-dont-get-burnt-work-health-and-safety-considerations-for-the-solar-industry.html

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Source: http://apps.sfcollege.edu/calendar/search.php?eventID=1430878

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Green Energy Companies Accused Of Ripping Off Poor, Minority Customers

(Daily Caller)

Green power companies supplying energy to District of Columbia and Maryland residents are under scrutiny for allegedly luring customers with promises of cheaper monthly energy bills ? then jacking up the prices.

Complaints against green energy companies delivering power to D.C. and Maryland residents are on the rise, The Washington Post reports.

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Source: http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/07/13/green-energy-companies-accused-ripping-poor-minority-customers

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Parenting and Leadership - Fatherhood - About.com

There seem to be a large number of parents who separate their lives into "boxes." ?One box for work, another for home, another for friends, and so forth. ?But the truth is that life is not a set of boxes, but rather one holistic experience into which all these various roles meld. ?Thus, when we talk about work-life balance, its not about equalizing the size or capacity of the various boxes, but about keeping every aspect of our lives into a dynamic equilibrium.

I read a blog post this week from Dana Theus about how parenthood helped her become an empowered leader. ?She comments:

I'd like to say that it was my worklife that taught me to be a good parent. After all, I was working for over a decade before I had kids. But looking back on it, I really wasn't all that great a manager or leader in my 20's and early 30's. Putting "work" before "life" meant I was still trying to figure it all out on the job. I wanted to be a "cool" leader that everyone looked up to, but I failed as often as I succeeded. I felt too competitive with my staff; I overworked myself and resented my staff when they didn't follow my lead.

Parenting was the force that made me grow up -- at work and at home. Here are the two key lessons in leadership I owe to my kids.

Dana talks about the lessons of tough love at home and how she used the same concept with an employee who felt she wasn't getting enough of her boss' attention. ?She also writes about the need to set boundaries with her teenagers and how that same practice has worked in her relationships with clients and staff. ?Then she concludes by thanking her husband and boys for making her a better and more competent leader in her career as well as in her family.

I recently read CDO - Chief Daddy Officer in which Chris Efessiou talks about bringing business skills into the family, and this blog suggests that there are skills that go the other way as well. ?It is just a good reminder that we are whole people as parents and in our careers. ?What we learn in one role can translate to the other if we are careful and thoughtful about how we blend all of these skills to be better at home, at work and in the other aspects of our lives.

More on Work-Life Balance

Image courtesy of?Digital Vision / Getty Images

Follow me on Twitter |?Join my LinkedIn Group |?Connect with me on Facebook |?Join me on Google+

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Source: http://fatherhood.about.com/b/2013/07/12/parenting-and-leadership.htm

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Jury could begin deliberations in Zimmerman trial

Assistant state attorney Bernie de la Rionda shows George Zimmerman's gun to the jury while presenting the state's closing arguments against Zimmerman during his trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Thursday, July 11, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

Assistant state attorney Bernie de la Rionda shows George Zimmerman's gun to the jury while presenting the state's closing arguments against Zimmerman during his trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Thursday, July 11, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

Assistant state attorney Bernie de la Rionda shows a picture of a bloodied George Zimmerman to the jury while presenting the state's closing arguments against Zimmerman during his trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Thursday, July 11, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

George Zimmerman, second from right, stands with his defense team Mark O'Mara, left, Don West, second from left, and Lorna Truett, right, during his trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Thursday, July 11, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

Trayvon Martin's mother Sabrina Fulton, center, sits in court during the state's closing arguments against George Zimmerman, Thursday, July 11, 2013, in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Martin. (AP Photo/Gary W. Green, Pool)

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? When jurors begin deliberating in the racially charged murder trial of George Zimmerman, they will also be able to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin.

The defense, which claims Zimmerman killed Martin in self-defense, was expected to give its closing arguments Friday, a day after the prosecution spent two hours summarizing its case.

Prosecutors reserved one hour of the three they are allotted for rebuttal once the defense concludes. After that, the jurors will begin deliberating.

"A teenager is dead. He is dead through no fault of his own," prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda told the jurors during closing arguments. "He is dead because a man made assumptions. ... Unfortunately because his assumptions were wrong, Trayvon Benjamin Martin no longer walks this Earth."

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder, but the jury will also be allowed to consider manslaughter. But because of the way Florida law imposes sentences for crimes committed with a gun, the lesser charge could also carry a life sentence.

Judge Debra Nelson's ruling to allow consideration of the manslaughter charge came despite the objections of Zimmerman's lawyers. The six jurors will have three options for their verdict: guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter and not guilty.

Zimmerman attorney Don West had argued an all-or-nothing strategy, saying the only charge that should be put before the jury is second-degree murder.

"The state has charged him with second-degree murder. They should be required to prove it," West said. "If they had wanted to charge him with manslaughter ... they could do that."

To win a second-degree murder conviction, prosecutors must prove Zimmerman showed ill will, hatred or spite ? a burden the defense has argued the state failed to meet. To get a manslaughter conviction, prosecutors must show only that Zimmerman killed without lawful justification.

Allowing the jurors to consider manslaughter could give those who aren't convinced the shooting amounted to murder a way to hold Zimmerman responsible for the death of the unarmed teen, said David Hill, an Orlando defense attorney with no connection to the case.

"From the jury's point of view, if they don't like the second-degree murder ? and I can see why they don't like it ? he doesn't want to give them any options to convict on lesser charges," Hill said of the defense attorney.

Under Florida's laws related to gun crimes, manslaughter could end up carrying a penalty as heavy as the one for second-degree murder: life in prison.

It is standard for prosecutors in Florida murder cases to ask that the jury be allowed to consider lesser charges that were not actually brought against the defendant. And it is not unusual for judges to grant such requests.

Prosecutor Richard Mantei also asked that the jury be allowed to consider third-degree murder, on the premise that Zimmerman committed child abuse when he shot the underage Martin. Zimmerman's lawyer called that "bizarre" and "outrageous," and the judge sided with the defense.

As the nation awaits a verdict in the trial, police and city leaders in Sanford and South Florida say they have taken precautionary steps for the possibility of mass protests or even civil unrest if Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, is acquitted, particularly in African-American neighborhoods where passions run strongest over the case.

Zimmerman, 29, got into a scuffle with Martin after spotting the teen while driving through his gated townhouse complex on a rainy night in February 2012. Zimmerman has claimed he fired in self-defense after Martin sucker-punched him and began slamming his head into the pavement. Prosecutors have disputed his account and portrayed him as the aggressor.

During closing arguments, de la Rionda argued that Zimmerman showed ill will and hatred when he whispered profanities to a police dispatcher over his cellphone while following Martin through the neighborhood. He said Zimmerman "profiled" the teenager as a criminal.

"He assumed Trayvon Martin was a criminal," de la Rionda said. "That is why we are here."

The prosecutor told the jury Zimmerman wanted to be a police officer and that's why he followed Martin. But "the law doesn't allow people to take the law into their own hands," de la Rionda said.

De la Rionda's two-hour presentation also included moments when he seemed to appeal to jurors' emotions by showing a head shot from Martin's autopsy and a face-up crime scene photo of Martin. Several jurors looked away.

The prosecutor also repeatedly asked why Zimmerman left his truck the night of the shooting.

"Why does this defendant get out of his car if he thought Trayvon Martin is a threat to him?" de la Rionda asked. "Why? Because he had a gun."

Later, when he straddled a foam mannequin to dispute Zimmerman's account of how the struggle unfolded, the entire back row of jurors stood. One juror even stepped down to get a better view.

De la Rionda implored jurors to believe the account of Martin's friend Rachel Jeantel, who was on the phone with him moments before the shooting and said she heard him yelling, "Get off!" The prosecutor asked jurors to discount her "colorful language," and he put a twist on a quote by the Rev. Martin Luther King to persuade them.

"She should be judged not by the color of her personality but by the content of her testimony," de la Rionda said.

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Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/khightower .

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-07-12-Neighborhood%20Watch/id-c22652a0a7254503a7e03af73d8e2565

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Your Fuelband Knows When You're Having Sex

Everybody loves these Fuelbands and other activity trackers because they supply you with troves of data about your everyday life. Sometimes, however, it's a little bit too much information.

Your fitness wristband knows when you're having sex. If it's sensitive enough to detect minute movements while you're sleeping, it can certainly pick up on the patterns of intercourse. Plus how else do you explain getting a half hour of exercise late at night without taking a single step. Fast Company's Michael Grothaus just published a lengthy feature not only about the fact that your wristband is keeping up with your sex life but also the implications of such data collection. Fitness wristbands, amazing as they are, not only know when you have sex, they could also tell when you fake an orgasm and possibly alert your spouse or significant other if you're having an affair. (At least you'll get an accurate count of how many calories you just burned.)

If this all sounds horrifying, that's because it is. But as Grothaus points out, it's an inevitable consequence of the rise of wearable computing. While fitness wristbands are the main culprits now, we can look forward to imminent arrival of the smartwatch era and, in the more distant future, wired clothing and even data-collecting patches that stick right to your skin. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though. This fitness wristband trend is complicated enough, the best thing you can do is figure out what your data means and how to protect it. That is, unless you want people to know your sex habits 24 hours per day, seven days per week, it is. Then again, that's exactly what some people want. [Fast Company]

Image via Flickr / kawanet

Source: http://gizmodo.com/your-fuelband-knows-when-youre-having-sex-755620844

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50-Year-Old Assumptions About Muscle Strength Tossed Aside

Muscle power is purely a function of size or volume. Some people's muscle is inherently stronger than others, whether by nature or nurture.

I grew up working in the field, building houses with my dad, and otherwise getting the crap worked out of me from an early age. Went to grad school, and would regularly see the jocks working out at the gym who had much more muscle mass than me, but I could take their max weight, add 20%, and do more reps. I enjoyed watching them boggle at that.

On the flip side, there

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/DD2LGdWnryw/story01.htm

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