Browsing: Authority/inspectorate news | Page 9

A PCBU that has been battling fatality-related WHS charges for three years has had a minor victory in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, which agreed to vary the adverse publicity order against the business.

A man has been ordered to stand trial for the industrial manslaughter of a worker who fell through an unguarded penetration, while employers have been urged to assess and control the risks associated with the potentially deadly disease melioidosis, after a work-related case was recorded.

• Missing signage and access issues among multiple chemical breaches; and
  
• Draft safety laws include mandatory jail for most offenders.

A worker has unsuccessfully claimed he was unfairly sacked for raising safety concerns, with a commission hearing a safety regulator investigated and dismissed his concerns, and finding he was sacked for being unable to perform the inherent requirements of his role.

Provisions enabling the "aggregation of conduct" are being added to the ACT's WHS laws to deal with offences like reckless conduct, hindering inspectors and supplying incorrectly labelled chemicals, under a Bill that also significantly increases WHS penalties.

A company and its director have been charged with WHS recklessness, which was allegedly identified during an investigation into a helicopter crash that occurred just moments after a worker suspended under the aircraft was cut free and fell to his death.

• Safety sign-off deception leads to electrical injuries;
  
• New WHS provisions commencing in WA soon; and
  
• Employers told to utilise WHS "snapshots" in Tas.

A worker has been convicted of safety breaches that caused a colleague to become crushed between two vehicles and sustain life-threatening injuries, with a court finding he should have been aware of the danger his co-worker was in.

A regulator's claim that to prevent double-dipping it is entitled to recover compensation payments from a worker who received a s-x-discrimination settlement, could, if accepted, have a "chilling effect on the bringing of such complaints" and undermine anti-discrimination laws, a full Federal Court has warned.

• Five deaths in four days trigger WHS compliance warning;
  
• SWA issues update on WHS changes for stone ban; and
  
• New WHS Code commences, fulfils Dreamworld recommendation.