In an Australian first, the practice of workers' compensation "claim farming" will be banned, under an Amendment Bill that also curtails the impact of a Queensland judgment on benefits for workers with terminal conditions.
A business owner will spend at least 18 months in jail - a record under Australian workplace health and safety laws - after being found guilty of the industrial manslaughter of his friend, in a case highlighting the broad meaning of "worker".
An employer has been fined for workplace management and control breaches, after a heavy object fell 160 metres from a 58-storey development in the heart of Melbourne. Meanwhile, a regulator has outlined safety control measures for hydraulic equipment, after an apprentice was killed.
A company and its director have been fined a total of $126,000, after their electrical safety contraventions were referred to a WHS prosecutor. Another company was recently fined for similar breaches, after an apprentice was nearly killed.
A major employer breached its safety duties by producing inaccurate sectionalised diagrams for an infrastructure upgrade, a court has found in convicting and fining it $100,000. Meanwhile, Queensland's workplace safety awards have opened.
An employer took quick and "responsive" steps after a worker complained of not coping with her workload, but its efforts to mitigate her "unattainable" and injury-causing load came too late, a commission has found.
A WHS Code of Practice and regulations for elevated work platforms could be amended in Queensland, and the changes applied nationally, under recommendations from a coronial inquest into a renowned photographer's death.