Browsing: Jurisdiction (National) | Page 442

A Commonwealth employee who injured his back while playing a social soccer game has been awarded workers' compensation, after the AAT found he was regularly allowed to take extended lunch breaks - without loss of pay - to participate in the matches.

Australia's safest employers and workers were announced at a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra last night.

Company managers should be trained to "shape" and support workplace climates where bullying and destructive conflict are unlikely to occur, according to a new guide from the Victorian State Services Authority (SSA).

Safe Work Australia chair Tom Phillips has hit back at claims the draft model Work Health and Safety Regulations are too complex and long, saying employers are only required to be up to speed on provisions that are relevant to their business.

In this update, OHS Alert outlines all the important OHS and workers' compensation legislative changes made in the first quarter of 2011. We also recap the most significant court and tribunal rulings and other developments in each jurisdiction.

Stressed worker wins payout after "horseplay" deemed harassment; Study finds safety gaps in sustainability reports; and Fatality alerts and other safety publications released.

Australia's work-related fatality rate falling; and ACT workplace surveillance law takes effect.

Changes to company safety policies must be "clearly and openly communicated" to all employees before they can take effect, Fair Work Australia has ruled, in reinstating a speeding worker who was dismissed under a policy he denied knowledge of.

Comcare reintroduces recess compensation; Petroleum employers to pay three new safety levies; and Tasmania calls for comments on no-fault asbestos compensation Bill.

The absence of risk management provisions and the hierarchy of controls in the model Regulations and Codes of Practice will result in a "clear and unambiguous diminution" of workplace health and safety standards, two prominent OHS experts say.