Employers will be required to cooperate and communicate with labour-hire providers on suitable employment options for injured workers, under a South Australian Bill that also includes special arrangements for self-insured companies, and enhances benefits for those with dust diseases and terminal illnesses.
An employer is entitled to direct workers to remove their moustaches or beards to comply with safety policies and manage deadly risks, a commission has ruled in examining WHS laws.
All work processes where workers might be exposed to respirable silica will be considered high risk and subjected to tougher WHS regulations unless risk assessments prove otherwise, under one of a string of changes agreed by Australia's WHS ministers.
An employer has pleaded guilty to 16 safety breaches and been hit with $545,000 in fines, including over fire safety failures that led to staff using a flammable liquid and cardboard instead of a fire extinguisher to put out a fire on a machine and on two workers.
The rate of work-related dermatitis has nearly doubled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a major review has identified two effective methods to prevent the "ubiquitous" skin condition.
The final PCBU to be sentenced in relation to the December 2019 Whakaari volcanic eruption, which killed 22 tourists and workers, failed to relay critical risk information, which only it possessed, to its contractors, a court has found.
