Browsing: Authority/inspectorate (ACT) | Page 13

In this major report, OHS Alert examines all the important work safety and workers' comp developments from the second quarter of 2018, including unprecedented regulatory action against a safety officer and eight other parties after a fatality, the High Court agreeing to determine the reach of the WHS Act, and numerous legislative changes.

Workers can suffer from hypothermia affecting their physical and mental coordination in temperatures as high as 15 degrees, and are particularly susceptible to work-ending slips, trips and falls in winter, regulators have warned.

• Worker exposed assistant to obvious risk of death;
  
• PCBU fined $104k over customer's severe permanent injuries; and
  
• Prohibition and improvement notices up 25% in ACT.

• Fatality alerts and safety notices issued;
  
• Workers' comp premium rate announced in Qld; and
  
• Employer fined over missing injury payments.

• Contractor not informed of chemical hazard;
  
• Procurement policy focuses on WHS performance; and
  
• Major review of WHS compliance regime launched in ACT.

• Decision-making skills trump complex safety procedures;
  
• PCBUs warned of new height safety fines; and
  
• Workers' comp developments announced in SA and Qld.

A site safety officer, a supervisor, a crane driver and a crane dogman could be jailed for years, after being charged with category 1 WHS breaches or manslaughter in relation to the death of a worker at the University of Canberra Hospital construction site.

• PCBU enters $300k WHS undertaking;
  
• Employer failed to protect public from falling objects; and
  
• Workers killed and seriously injured by vehicles and falls.

• New safety bans with $1m fines receive assent in NSW;
  
• ACT adopts final model WHS Regulations and extended "wiring rules";
  
• Workers' comp changes progress in ACT and Tas; and
  
• Hazardous substances regulations commence in NZ today.

A special advisory committee has been tasked with designing more meaningful leading indicators of WHS performance, and reversing a construction industry culture where principal contractors are perceived as over-focusing on paper-based systems and blaming subcontractors for incidents.