Impacts of Hot Climate Conditions on Work, Health and Safety in Australia
In Australia, workers in many outdoor industries are frequently exposed to hot ambient conditions, as most parts of the country experience hot summer and frequent heatwaves that can last for a week or longer.
Maintenance Pleas Ignored by Company in the Farming Industry
A worker at Agrigrain Pty Ltd will be paid damages after a machine had exploded in his face.
Fatigue Management System Failure – Manager Jailed After Four Death
An Operations Manager at Connect Logistics Pty Ltd, Cris Large, was sentenced to 3 years in jail after four deaths at work. In April 2020, Mohinder Singh was driving a Connect Logistics truck and fell asleep at the wheel, consequently killing four police officers.
Importance of Maintaining Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs)
October has been National Safe Work month with all state regulatory bodies urging employers to focus on various issues relating to safety and wellbeing.
(Just In) Workplace Health and Safety laws Amendments in every Australian jurisdiction.
In the third quarter of 2023, significant amendments were made to workplace health and safety laws in every Australian jurisdiction.
Does your business have documented safe work practices?
The decision made in case SafeWork NSW v JBS Australia Pty Ltd [2023] NSWDC 382 (19 September 2023) has demonstrated the need for businesses to ensure they have documented safe work practices in place to prevent serious risk of harm.
Is management aware of workplace policies? A case where important guidelines were not followed
A glass manufacturer terminated an employee with an alcohol dependency problem who had previously considered suicide after he was found to have consumed alcohol at work.
Privacy Reminder and COVID-19 VIC Update
Victorian employers that collected ‘vaccination information’ in accordance with the state Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (COVID-19 Vaccination Information) Regulations 2022 must now destroy that information within the next 14 days, as the Amendment Regulations have now been revoked.
Industrial Manslaughter – What’s New?
Every state but Tasmania recognises industrial manslaughter as a crime with varying but substantial financial penalties for businesses and prison time for individuals.
Safety failure – Fines for not addressing key workplace hazard
Boral Resources (Vic) Pty Ltd was charged with six breaches of the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, relating to workers' exposure to respirable crystalline silica at its Montrose quarry.
Do you have safe work methods in place?
Oricon Group Pty Ltd has been sentenced for breaching the Victorian OHS Act after five workers were injured in a scaffold collapse at a multi-townhouse development in Craigieburn Victoria.
Many WHS Codes amended to reflect the national transition of Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS 7 ) and for other purposes.
A total of nearly 30 WHS Codes of Practice have been amended in the ACT, NSW and Queensland to reflect the national transition to the seventh revised edition of the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS 7), and for other purposes.
Knife-attack ruling misapplied workplace injury test
A ruling that a worker's knife-attack injuries weren't compensable, because of a possible drug-dealing connection, has been revoked for misapplying the "course of employment" test and considering "irrelevant matters".
Unsafe unloading processes kill two workers in quick succession, Best Benchtop and Stone Pty Ltd and Australian Rong Hua Fu Pty Ltd were heavily fined.
Two businesses have been fined a total of $800,000 over separate but alarmingly similar fatalities involving the handling of heavy materials in confined spaces.
The Port Augusta Steel Centre Pty Ltd has been fined $200k for lack of “active” management
A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) has been fined $134,000, and its two directors $33,000 each, for failing to comply with their basic obligations, after a young worker was pinned under 1.2 tonnes of steel sheets.
The scrapping of COVID-19 isolation rules – what this means for your business
On Friday 30 September, the National Cabinet announced its decision to scrap mandatory isolation requirements for COVID-19 cases from 14 October 2022.
Workplace Manslaughter
Industrial manslaughter laws were introduced in most states over the past several years as a result of increased safety risks that resulted in death, primarily in the construction industry.
Managing Workplace Injuries
Where an employee is injured at work, the business should take all reasonable steps to assist that employee to recover from their injury and to remain at work, or to make a safe and suitable return to work at the earliest opportunity.
Return to Work (RTW) Program
While the concept of RTW is the same across the country, each state has different legislation and regulations that the parties must comply with, but it is important that everyone involved works together
