This latest instalment of OHS Alert's long-running quarterly update series, dating back to 2004, outlines all the major safety and workers' compensation developments in every jurisdiction from January, February and March 2016.

Each brief summary includes a link to the original article (which could be contained within set of news briefs), and we've also included a list of some of our most popular articles from the first quarter of the calendar year.

You can view all of our quarterly updates on our WHS Links page at any time.

• Commonwealth/National
• Australian Capital Territory
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Tasmania
• Victoria
• Western Australia
• Popular articles

Commonwealth/National

The 23 Codes of Practice underpinning the Commonwealth WHS Act were revoked and remade as separate instruments with a range of technical amendments, while Seacare stakeholders were asked to comment on whether the WHS Act should be extended to their scheme.

Safe Work Australia sought comments on whether to amend the model WHS Regulations to reduce mandated blood lead removal levels, and NICNAS proposed a "more risk-based" regulatory framework to reduce the number of industrial chemicals needing pre-market assessment by 70 per cent.

One of the Federal Government's three controversial SRC Amendment Bills passed the Senate, allowing Comcare to collect "exit contributions" from authorities that abandoned its workers' comp scheme.

The National Transport Commission proposed extending an officer's due diligence obligations, under the Heavy Vehicle National Law, to both chain of responsibility (CoR) and non-CoR provisions. Meanwhile, the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal launched its online calculator for the 2016 remuneration order (which eventually commenced on 7 April but appeared likely to be postponed or abolished).

A Senate inquiry recommended passing two Bills that restored the Australian Building and Construction Commission, while the inquiry into non-conforming building products heard that more and more asbestos-containing materials were being used in the construction industry, and the Fair Work (Building Industry-Accreditation Scheme) Regulation 2016 replaced the 2005 Regulations.

The Fair Work Commission quashed a prohibition notice issued to a petroleum employer, after finding the notice required "a practice in excess of industry standards" and identified an "extremely low" OHS risk.

The head of the FWC's anti-bullying panel flagged the possibility of ordering employers to restore personal leave days to workers who took time off work because of bullying and harassment. Another Commissioner rejected a major employer's claim that the FWC only had jurisdiction to make stop-bullying orders when there was a "discernibly identifiable" rather than "speculative" risk of an applicant being bullied in future.

A worker who was sacked for refusing to see a company doctor after complaining of bullying and taking one day off was awarded nearly $44,000 in compensation, while an employment "specialist" that sacked a worker without notice after a meeting on her return-to-work program was ordered to pay her more than $20,000.

An FWC full bench quashed a sacked worker's $46,000 award, after finding his failed attempt to report a serious safety incident to his supervisor "lacked the necessary level of candour and diligence".

In upholding the dismissal of a worker who fought his general manager at a work Christmas party, a Commissioner found intoxicated employees must be held accountable for misbehaviour at functions, even where an employer failed to provide responsible service of alcohol.

A full Federal Court found a worker couldn't combine her permanent impairments from separate injuries to reach the lump-sum threshold in the SRC Act, while the AAT found that only one of the multiple causes of a worker's psychological injury needed to be reasonable administrative action to block a compensation claim.

A company and three executives were ordered to pay nearly $1 million in fines and costs for engaging in a scam where employers were told they needed to buy certain safety wall charts and first-aid kits to comply with OHS laws.

A major Safe Work Australia report found the health problems associated with sedentary work weren't mitigated by daily vigorous exercise. The agency also appointed a new chair.

Australian Capital Territory

A Bill requiring employers to appoint trained return-to-work coordinators, and expanding WorkSafe's entry powers, passed Parliament, with the new entry rules taking effect immediately.

The Government introduced a Bill allowing employers to conduct covert surveillance of employees (for workers' comp purposes, for example) outside the workplace, and to transfer enforcement of the ACT Workplace Privacy Act 2011 from police to the Work Safety Commissioner.

The ACT introduced its second red-tape reduction Bill (affecting the WHS and workers' comp Acts and dozens of other laws) in less than a year. It also became one of the first jurisdictions to adopt the new version of the National Heavy Vehicle Inspection Manual (providing operators and others with a nationally consistent set of criteria for conducting inspections and improving truck safety), and created a new road safety portfolio as part of a cabinet reshuffle.

Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe retired after eight years in the role.

New South Wales

New safety regulations for the mining and petroleum industries commenced, completing the harmonisation of WHS laws for the State resources sector, while high-risk work licence exemptions for mines expired, and the Government made a Regulation prescribing or increasing penalties for offences against the Heavy Vehicle National Law (NSW).

An employer and its director were fined $165,000 for failing to comply with a WHS Code of Practice after a fatal fall, in a decision, according to a leading safety lawyer, which placed a "more onerous expectation" on officers than previously thought required under the due diligence provisions of the WHS Act.

A company officer unsuccessfully argued, in the District Court, that he shouldn't be fined over a near-fatal electric shock because the directors of two other culpable entities escaped prosecution. Meanwhile, the Court quashed a director's OHS charge after finding a workplace fire was caused by a worker's "casual act of negligence".

In a case examining the difference between managing and eliminating safety risks, the Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed an employer's appeal against an OHS conviction, and doubled its fine.

The Court of Appeal quashed a $1.5 million damages award, after finding employers couldn't be considered negligent for failing to identify and eliminate insignificant foreseeable risks.

A WCC Deputy President awarded death benefits to the family of a finance worker who had a cardiac arrest, after finding the stress of being placed on a probation "watch list" in a "ruthless" industry contributed to his death.

In separate journey-related workers' comp disputes, WCC arbitrators found that:

• the family of a worker who died in a car crash, after working long hours in the sun with only one break, was entitled to $490,000 in compensation;
• the widow of a worker killed in a car crash was entitled to $524,000 (plus funeral expenses) because the man died "in the course of his employment", but wouldn't have been eligible for death benefits if the crash had been a "journey" incident; and
• a worker who had a car crash while driving to meet her employer, after being abused by her manager and quitting her job, was injured in the course of her employment.

In separate judgments on the transitional provisions of the 2012 workers' comp overhaul, a WCC Deputy President found that three injured workers weren't entitled to compensation for pain and suffering, even though they were injured 15 years before the benefit was scrapped.

A NSW worker who was denied workers' compensation for serious injuries sustained at a party at her employer's premises, more than a decade ago, failed to convince the High Court that it should assess her claim to clarify the application of the Hatzimanolis test for interval injuries.

A worker who claimed he was bullied and sacked for reporting WHS concerns to the Independent Commission Against Corruption was denied an unfair dismissal remedy in the IRC. The IRC also upheld the dismissal of a mechanic whose failure to read and comply with a work order caused the wheels to fall off a public bus.

Northern Territory

In a case examining limitation periods and coronial rules, the Supreme Court found that WHS charges laid three years after a fatality were valid and could be amended to include the particulars of the alleged offence.

A major employer entered the first enforceable undertaking under the Territory's mirror WHS Act, committing to a large minimum spend of nearly $1 million. Another employer entered a $77,000 undertaking with WorkSafe, after its employees were allegedly exposed to asbestos while renovating the company office.

The Anti-Discrimination Commission found an employer vicariously liable for two workers' racist comments, and stressed that a company's anti-discrimination policies must be "communicated effectively" to staff.

In a move that could affect the heavy vehicle industry, the Territory implemented new laws allowing police to randomly test drivers' saliva for prohibited drugs.

Queensland

The State Government flagged plans to introduce a new industrial relations statute, including Commonwealth-style anti-bullying laws, by the end of 2016.

The Workers' Compensation Regulator announced that "fit notes" (capacity certificates for ill and injured workers) were likely to be rolled out by July 2016, and fully implemented by 1 January next year.

A new WHS Code of Practice for formwork commenced on 31 March, while two Marine Safety Bills passed Parliament.

The Government developed a five-point plan to tackle the re-emergence of the incurable work disease black lung – a health issue that also prompted a Federal Senate inquiry.

The State Government launched an action plan targeting fatigue, drug use and driver distraction in the road transport sector, and released a three-year plan aimed at reducing the high number of quad bike-related deaths and serious injuries.

A coronial non-inquest into a double Queensland Rail fatality, which resulted in a record $650,000 safety fine, identified 12 factors that contributed to the incident, including "tick and flick" service checks and poor communication between work groups.

The Industrial Court upheld fatality-related OHS charges against an employer and three company officers, including an executive whose tenure ended four months before the fatality occurred.

A supervisor successfully appealed against an OHS conviction, with the Industrial Court finding there was no evidence he failed to comply with a safety management plan, or that the relevant "operating plant" even had one.

An employer was ordered to pay more than $112,000 in damages to a worker who injured his back while trying to keep up with an unreasonably fast production line.

The Supreme Court found an employer wasn't entitled to amend its fatigue management procedures to reduce the number of rest breaks per shift, because it failed to obtain unanimous support from a cross-section of workers.

South Australia

The State Government announced that a range of sectors could be made exempt from new time caps on weekly workers' comp payments and medical expenses, after agreeing to provide indefinite income support to injured police officers.

ReturnToWork warned that it was cracking down on labour-hire companies and host employers that under-declared wages for workers' comp purposes, and successfully prosecuted two workers for injury fraud, including one who was caught playing cricket and football while receiving total incapacity payments.

In a case involving the transition to the Return to Work Act 2014, an injured worker unsuccessfully argued, on appeal, that the compensating authority should have assessed his lump-sum claim with urgency to prevent him losing the benefit during the transition.

A worker who suffered a "devastating" stroke was awarded workers' compensation, after the Workers Compensation Tribunal (WCT) found her injury was caused by a "very high level of work-related stress".

The WCT closed (with all remaining matters transferred to the new South Australian Employment Tribunal – SAET), while WCT and IRC Deputy President Judge James McCusker was appointed President of the SAET.

The IRC found an employer guilty of OHSW breaches, after rejecting its claim that its contraventions – failing to introduce formal hazard and risk assessment processes – weren't causally related to a worker's crush death.

An employer that responded to an identified hazard by replacing an engineering control with an administrative process was fined for WHS breaches, after a worker's thumb was severed.

Tasmania

The Supreme Court found that all matters in a $40 million injury damages claim – including liability, quantum and overlapping issues like the use of PPE – must be determined in a single trial, in rejecting the defendant employers' bid for liability to be decided separately.

The Supreme Court stressed that employers bore the onus of proving a "reasonably arguable case" against a workers' comp claim, in awarding compensation to a psychologically injured worker. In another case, the Court found that the WRCT incorrectly identified a workers' comp dispute as a safety matter when it rejected an injured worker's claim.

WorkSafe declared that a recent full Federal Court decision in favour of an injured NSW worker showed Tasmanian workers were entitled to accrue leave while receiving workers' compensation.

WorkSafe warned that all mining operations must now have a health and safety management system, with the Mines Work Health and Safety (Supplementary Requirements) Act 2012 extending to small quarries on 1 January.

Tasmania became one of the first jurisdictions to adopt the new version of the National Heavy Vehicle Inspection Manual, which provided operators and others with a nationally consistent set of criteria for conducting inspections and improving truck safety. Meanwhile, the Government was urged to ensure its proposed "sharing economy" legislation, which provided for the legal operation of ride-sourcing businesses, didn't undermine OHS standards.

Victoria

The State Government introduced a Bill to more than double the maximum OHS fine, making it higher than the maximum $3 million penalty in the harmonised states. Meanwhile, Victoria was urged to re-think its stand against the harmonised WHS laws during its new "expert panel" review of WorkSafe.

The Essendon Football Club was convicted and fined $200,000 for failing to provide players with a safe working environment under its notorious 2011-2012 supplements program. Two weeks earlier, the international Court of Arbitration for Sport imposed two-year bans on 34 current and former Essendon players for using prohibited substances during the program.

A second employer was fined $250,000 over the Swanston Street wall collapse that killed three pedestrians in 2013, while a company was charged with 10 OHS breaches relating to the 2014 Hazelwood coal mine fire.

The Court of Appeal increased the fatality-related fines imposed on two related companies from a total of $450,000 to $1.5 million, stressing that prosecutors weren't required to prove that a safety breach caused an incident.

In an Australian first, WorkSafe declared rollover protection devices as "appropriate means" for reducing the risk of quad bike deaths, meaning employers were more likely to be prosecuted for OHS breaches if an unprotected quad bike crashed. It subsequently released a Q&A to counter misinformation on the new enforcement strategy.

The health sector failed its third OHS audit in two years, with the Auditor-General finding workers in the industry were at significant risk of being bullied and harassed because employers weren't holding senior staff accountable for inappropriate behaviour. Meanwhile, the ongoing inquiry into the labour-hire industry received widespread reports of poor OHS practices and mistreatment of workers.

A worker who was sexually harassed by her manager was awarded a record $332,280 in damages under the State Equal Opportunity Act 2010. Another worker was awarded more than $13,000 under the Act, after a tribunal found her employer wrongly focused on her pre-injury duties when it decided to sack her for safety reasons.

Workers historically exposed to chemicals linked to cancer were urged to undergo free health screening, under the State Government's response to an inquiry into at-risk Lands Department employees. The Government was urged to expand the inquiry to examine all chemicals used by all public sector workers in all parts of the State.

The State Government announced that it was establishing a dedicated agency to identify and prioritise the removal of asbestos from workplaces, in a move supported by the national Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency.

The Supreme Court examined non-delegable duties of care in finding an employer ignored dust regulations and the Health Act, and was negligent in failing to address the asbestos risks faced by an employee at workplaces it didn't control.

Western Australia

A decision RIS recommended amending the modernised WHS Bill for the resources sector to clarify that a worker's right to cease unsafe work extended to protecting others, and reviewing the fact that IR right-of-entry rules didn't apply to worker accommodation sites.

Some 58 amendments to the range of Regulations made under the State Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004 commenced in February.

An employer that failed to properly assess the risks associated with moving heavy pipes was fined $130,000, after a worker was crushed to death. Meanwhile, two employers and a worker were fined a total of $83,500 following two serious safety incidents involving unlicensed forklift and crane operators.

The State Chief Psychiatrist's review of suspected paramedic suicides identified the need for workers to have "ownership" of wellbeing services. St John Ambulance outlined the steps it was taking to "maximise ownership" in its official response to the review.

The District Court ordered two workers' compensation advisors to pay an injured worker nearly $500,000 for failing to file his "meritorious" damages claim against a negligent employer within the limitation period.

The Court of Appeal found a worker wasn't entitled to compensation for the cost of wrist surgery, ruling that an arbitrator wrongly determined that she needed fusion surgery to resolve a compensable injury, rather than an unrelated injury in the same wrist.

WorkSafe outlined the range of controls – including local extraction ventilation – which led to a downward trend in blood lead levels among lead-risk workers from the mid-1990s. It also warned that wall-chasing workers could be exposed to numerous serious health hazards, including dust, carbon monoxide and noise, as well as lacerations from hand-held power tools.

And make sure you didn't miss...

Some of OHS Alert's most-viewed articles from the January-to-March 2016 quarter included:

• Officer conviction tightens due diligence laws: Tooma
• WHS advisor sacked for inappropriate comments
• One officer and three PCBUs fined for electric shock
• Special OHS team crucial to wellbeing strategies
• Employer fined for WHS Code and ladder breaches
• Employees liable for drunken behaviour at functions
• Twelve factors caused double work fatality
• Employer fined after opting for admin control
• Twenty-three WHS Codes revoked and remade
• Safety salaries rise with infrastructure boom
• Sit-stand desks reduce back pain within days
• Long service a reason for, not against, safety dismissal
• Four duty holders fail to overturn OHS charges
• Harassed worker awarded record $332k in damages
• Q4 2015: What you should know from the last three months

Did we miss anything? Send your comments or feedback on this article to the editor Brad Hamilton.

Remember, all of our quarterly updates, dating back to December 2004, are available on our WHS Links page.