A Commonwealth agency breached the WHS Act in over-relying on contracted helicopter pilots to assess the safety of landing sites in Antarctica, in the lead up to a pilot's death from hypothermia, a court has found. The helicopter company was found not guilty of breaching the Act.
Workplace bullying is often perpetrated by supervisors and managers, but workers bullied by their colleagues are more likely to develop depression, European researchers have found.
Employers must implement and enforce safe systems of work for seemingly straightforward tasks like stacking materials, a fatality and a $400,000 fine have shown. Meanwhile, regulators have issued alerts after workers were killed in telehandler and hoist incidents.
Two companies and an engineer who allegedly failed to ensure a worksite was supervised in his absence have been charged over a fatal crane incident, while an employer has been fined $110,000 after a worker was nearly struck by a falling object - weighing two tonnes.
A worker has been given a second opportunity to show his employer unreasonably disciplined him for refusing to sign a new fatigue management policy, with a court stressing that mental conditions can be compensable "irrespective of the diagnostic label".
> Presumptive PTSD compensation introduced in second state; > National transport safety amendments made, and proposed; and > Four sets of electricity and rail safety regulations commence in Vic.
A second PCBU has been fined after roof infrastructure damaged by workers went unreported and pierced another worker's head, bringing the total penalty imposed on two related entities over the incident to $316,000.
A PCBU that made a half-hearted attempt to comply with three improvement notices has been prosecuted and fined $24,000. Meanwhile, workplace safety regulations for using equipment in non-explosive atmospheres have been simplified in Queensland.
A government employee who drove a heavy vehicle into a remand prisoner - a fatality that led to two workplace health and safety prosecutions - was directed to drive the vehicle despite raising concerns about his lack of experience or familiarity with the truck, an inquest has found.
