The South Australian Coroner has recommended a national strategy to improve the design of Australia's "inherently unsafe" heavy road rollers, after a worker was struck and killed by one of the machines.
A study of nearly 368,000 workers has found that injured workers are 43 per cent more likely to be treated for depression than their non-injured counterparts.
Unions have stepped-up their campaign against insecure work, in highlighting the crucial role that employees - who are "empowered to speak up" - play in maintaining high safety standards.
Employers are being warned by Victorian regulators about the risks associated with petrol generators, gas appliances and synthetic fibre crane slings, following several fatalities.
The Queensland Mine Safety and Health Commission has outlined a three-step "hearing conservation program" to reduce the risk of noise-induced hearing loss among workers.
Endeavour Energy commits to saliva drug tests at end of FWA dispute; Tasmanian employer outlines its harmonisation-preparation steps; Safe Work Australia looking for safety ambassador of the year; South Australian RTW winners announced; Audit of South Australian asbestos removalists launched; and Western Australian haulage employer fined for multiple fatigue breaches.
A prominent employment lawyer has described Brodie's Law as little more than symbolic, and warned that workplace bullying will never be eradicated while it continues to be treated as an OHS issue.
In this article, OHS Alert looks at a discussion paper on engineering controls for quad-bikes, the ACT's plan to establish an industrial court for safety issues, new harmonisation guides from Queensland, a Western Australian workers' comp Bill, and more.
Workplace incidents will continue to occur unless employees are engaged through consultation and executives resist over-relying on "leading" indicators, according to a global environmental and sustainability consultancy's NSW health and safety manager.
