Regulators issue warnings on no-go zones after electrocutions; Queensland disasters expose safety gaps, but employers reluctant to invest more in OHS; Tasmania says it could amend harmonised mining laws; and WorkCover SA suspends rehab provider for misconduct.
Commonwealth to ban synthetic cannabis detected in workers; WorkSafe Victoria to target employers without workers' comp cover; and Western Australian employers fined for electricity and notice breaches.
Master Builders Australia has urged the Senate to reject any changes to the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Bill, which was introduced to the House of Reps this morning. Also in this article, Master Builders has called for the Federal Safety Commissioner's accreditation scheme to be reviewed before harmonised laws take effect.
In this update, OHS Alert outlines all the important OHS and workers' compensation legislative changes made in the second quarter of 2011. We also recap the most significant court and tribunal rulings and other developments in each jurisdiction.
New discrimination laws have broadened the definition of s-xual harassment and could expose unwary employers to claims of harassment, breach of contract and misleading or deceptive conduct, a lawyer has warned.
A Telstra employee who twice fell down a set of wooden stairs that linked her home office to the rest of her house has won workers' compensation for her physical and psychological injuries.
Employers should, from January 2012, urge contractors to conduct risk assessments for every task, even if they are not obliged under harmonised work health and safety laws to do so, OHS lawyer Jacqui Hawkins told attendees at a recent webinar.
Seemingly damning evidence of off-duty injured workers captured on Facebook or by surveillance must be viewed in the context of their medical histories, two recent workers' comp cases have shown.
Employers warned of height and storage dangers after deaths; Greens to push for automatic cancer compensation for firefighters; Western Australian employers fined for scaffold and guarding failures; and Essential safety news from around Australia.
