WorkCover NSW urges height safety after more serious falls; South Australian employer fined after mobile phone fall; Queensland mines getting safer with more audits and fewer deaths; and WorkSafe Victoria hosting harmonisation sessions.
NSW employers that fail to comply with a WorkCover request for documents can now be handed on-the-spot fines, under new workers' compensation Regulations now in effect.
The number of asbestos-related deaths in NSW will soon dwarf the annual road toll, Ombudsman Bruce Barbour has warned in calling for a State-wide asbestos-eradication plan. But a medical breakthrough announced on this, the first day of Asbestos Awareness Week, offers hope for mesothelioma victims.
A new decision from the NSW Industrial Court should ring alarm bells for directors of all companies, regardless of how remote they are from day-to-day work practices. The Court, in finding that the CEO of a large multi-national company was guilty of an OHS offence, also criticised the common reliance by directors on "alternative" defences to their charges.