Employers could face increasing regulatory scrutiny where workplace fatalities or serious injuries occur, with a union pressuring government ministers to "get serious" about safety prosecutions. Meanwhile, a workplace supervisor has been fined over an induction incident.
An Australian Border Force worker's bid for compensation for depression and anxiety has been rejected, with a tribunal highlighting the traumatic circumstances of her personal life. It also found her inexperience impaired her ability to accept reasonable supervision.
An analysis of a manufacturing disaster that killed five workers has shown how "human factors can contribute to a sequence of events that lead to a major incident", and what employers can do to curb this.
A PCBU has been fined $134,000, and it two directors $33,000 each, for failing to "comply with their basic obligations", after a young worker was pinned under 1.2 tonnes of steel sheets when parts of a structure collapsed.
A PCBU failed to take straightforward measures that would have protected a worker from being attacked by a client known to be violent, a tribunal has found in convicting the duty holder.
A PCBU's failure to implement a system for recording machinery faults resulted in unsupervised personnel developing unsafe ways to use inappropriately modified plant, leading to a worker sustaining serious burns, a court has found in convicting the PCBU.
A supervisor's conduct in allowing a crew to drink alcohol at a lunch was "much worse" than that of the team members who drank, a commission has found in upholding his summary dismissal.
A PCBU has been fined $400,000 after a worker sustained fatal injuries falling from an unsuitable ladder, with a court slamming its site induction for being "so inadequate" that it failed to detect that the worker did not have a "white card".
A supervisor with key safety responsibilities has unsuccessfully relied on his extensive experience, in issuing and removing hundreds of safety documents, to overturn his sacking for lifting a job safety analysis and directing a worker to enter a hazardous area.
Being supported by supervisors is the "catalyst" activating workers' motivation to behave safely and prioritise reducing the risk of incidents, a study of more than 300 workers in a high-hazard sector has found.
