Browsing: Remote work | Page 34

An employer has been ordered to reinstate a worker accused of unsafely driving a vehicle and causing a rollover, after the Fair Work Commission found the company relied on an inconclusive report from an expert when it sacked the man.

Western Australia will amend existing safety Codes of Practice, rather than introduce a new Code, to improve FIFO workers' mental health, according to the State Government's response to the inquiry into the issue. The Government declined to support a recommendation to acknowledge that FIFO workers are at risk of suicide.

An inquiry into FIFO work practices has called on the Queensland Government to establish minimum accommodation standards for FIFO workers, including adequate protection from noise and light and access to health services, and to ban "motelling".

• Employers told to prevent rather than react to mental health problems;
  
• Four workers' comp reforms commence in NSW next week;
  
• NT sends workers' comp reminder and issues safety alerts; and
  
• NHVR flags start date for electronic fatigue diaries.

• Employer fined $150k over remote-worker death;
  
• Abetz urges all work stakeholders to consult deemed diseases list;
  
• SA flu victims told to stay away from work in light of high case rate;
  
• WA releases three safety guides and issues dangerous goods warning; and
  
• Victoria updates "Injury Hotspots" tool.

• FIFO rosters and motelling targeted at ALP conference;
  
• FIFO drug and alcohol helpline launched in WA; and
  
• Workers' comp tool for employers launched in NSW.

Employers that allow employees who work from home to self-assess their workspace risks have been warned that such assessments "fall a long way short" of providing a comprehensive view of potential safety risks.

A manager who injured his back at home while he was "hurrying" to answer his work phone has been awarded workers' compensation, with a commission finding he satisfied the test established by the High Court motel s-x case.

Employers are being advised to establish a "workplace heat alert system", after Australian researchers found occupational heat illness claims increase by nearly 13 per cent for every one-degree rise in temperature during hot conditions.

Western Australia's proposed mirror WHS laws for the resources sector should include a duty of care at worker accommodation facilities, suicide-specific provisions and a special Code of Practice that addresses rosters, fatigue and bullying, the parliamentary inquiry into FIFO arrangements has recommended.