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Principal contractors are being advised to review their procedures relating to safe work method statements (SWMSs), with OHS regulators likely to audit them in the coming months.

ACT employers are likely to pay higher workers' comp levies, under a Government plan to support all 28 recommendations of the recent construction industry inquiry, and to reduce the burden to taxpayers of administering the OHS and workers' comp schemes.

A parliamentary inquiry has found that FIFO workforce practices are a "cancer" on regional communities and are likely to exacerbate substance abuse and depression among workers, but AMMA says the report unfairly demonises legitimate workplace practices.

Unions have called for a national portability scheme for annual and sick leave to protect workers in non-permanent employment relationships.

An independent contractor has been found vicariously liable for the actions of a man who started a fire that injured a worker, while the worker's employer - which failed to implement an OHS plan for hot work - has been ordered to pay 60 per cent of the injury damages bill.

A worker's death in a trench collapse has highlighted how vital it is for company directors to maintain high safety standards when undertaking a project for friends, the NSW Industrial Court has stressed.

The Sydney Institute of TAFE has revamped its approach to contractors as part of its transition to the new WHS legislation, its WHS manager says.

Queensland's mirror WHS Act could be significantly amended to remove subcontractors from the definition of "worker", and limit union entry rights, under a roundtable plan to reduce the "cost burdens" on employers.

A South Australian employer that exercised a degree of control over a "contractor", for more than "incidental or collateral matters", has been found liable for an injury he sustained at work.

Employers must conduct periodic inspections and have preventative maintenance systems in place for cranes, the NSW Industrial Court has advised, in fining an employer and its director over serious workplace injuries.