Browsing: Authority/inspectorate (NSW) | Page 77

A coronial inquiry into the 2012 fire and crane collapse at the University of Technology Sydney has outlined what a contractor has done to prevent a similar incident occurring, and commended Lend Lease's evacuation of the site.

• Workers' comp reforms commence in NSW today; and
  
• Qld launches WHS self-assessment tool and RTW campaign.

• Stena Clyde plea sends risk assessment warning;
  
• Fatality investigation reveals unrelated safety breaches; and
  
• LPG fire foreseeable and foreseen.

The state and territory governments have agreed to a four-year national plan to remove the riskiest asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) from the built environment - as opposed to removing all ACMs within a designated timeframe - while safety regulators have issued more warnings on asbestos-containing imported products.

An investigation into the death of a worker on a mobile elevated work platform has found his employer relied on lower-order risk controls, and stressed that special risk assessments are needed for platform tasks involving complex three-dimensional movements.

NSW's workers' comp overhaul Bills have passed Parliament, with amendments that ensure emergency workers receive the benefits of the changes and the Dust Diseases Board continues to fund research into disease prevention and treatment.

The NSW workers' compensation scheme is being overhauled to provide safe employers with premium discounts of up to 20 per cent, restore a number of worker benefits that were scrapped in 2012, speed up the dust diseases claim process, and replace WorkCover with three separate agencies.

NSW has updated seven of its mirror WHS Codes of Practice to reflect changes that Safe Work Australia made to the model versions of the documents earlier this year.

• Harmonisation of explosives laws examined in SWA paper;
  
• Qld releases new safety guides and scaffold warning;
  
• WA releases draft isolation guide and safety alerts; and
  
• NSW tweaks rules on explosion-protected plant.

• FIFO rosters and motelling targeted at ALP conference;
  
• FIFO drug and alcohol helpline launched in WA; and
  
• Workers' comp tool for employers launched in NSW.