Browsing: Dangerous substances | Page 8

In a rare case, an employer has been prosecuted and fined for workplace health and safety breaches after high levels of the hazardous substance lead were detected in the blood of four of its workers.

• WHS insurance bans and other changes introduced in Tas; and
  
• Presumptive cancer Bill applauded for world-first development.

Australia has taken a significant step towards the blanket ban of certain silica-containing workplace products, with the Australian Labor Party declaring the ban "necessary" under an amended WHS resolution.

A worker could be jailed for up to five years, after being charged with recklessly endangering a colleague who was killed by a toppling forklift load. Meanwhile, a safety regulator has issued a special warning to "pranksters", after five workers sustained burns in a gas explosion.

The resurgence of debilitating lung diseases in a major industry has come with a shift in disease type and severity, which researchers have attributed to modern work methods. They say their findings highlight the importance of controlling respirable dust.

The employer of a WHS risk manager, who was prosecuted for failing to finalise a risk assessment for an infectious disease, has successfully applied to enter a $950,000 undertaking to halt the proceedings against it, in relation to the same matter.

• SWA outlines work-from-home duties in new resources;
  
• Model WHS amendments for silica applied in SA; and
  
• Paid FDV leave extended to many workers.

• Safety officer's brother gets 20 months' jail;
  
• Breakthrough heat study should inform WHS practices, says Monash; and
  
• PTSD-presumption laws further amended in WA.

• Comcare WHS case studies reveal psychosocial failings;
  
• WHS regulations and protections covered by gold and lead probe; and
  
• ACTU re-demands stone bans after alarming US findings.

• Workplace health and safety officer jailed over cover-up; and
  
• Everything you need to know from April, May and June.