Browsing: Authority/inspectorate (NSW) | Page 83

• Workplace harassment driven by sense of entitlement, says police chief;
  
• NSW issues heat warning and small business safety guides; and
  
• WA employers told to establish coordinated cyclone plans.

Plant designers, suppliers and users are being reminded, in light of an excavator death, that they are obligated under safety laws to provide fit-for-purpose equipment and manage risks according to the hierarchy of controls.

An employer that failed to assign a spotter for a hazardous task has been convicted of OHS breaches, with the NSW District Court yesterday rejecting its claim that a worker's injury wasn't foreseeable because a similar incident had never occurred.

• WorkCover embarks on Barangaroo-inspired safety blitz;
  
• Vic employers fined and placed on adjourned undertakings; and
  
• SA employer fined for failing to act on identified chemical hazard.

• Employers fined $470k over death and fatigue breaches;
  
• SA's presumptive cancer comp laws extended to volunteers; and
  
• Workers killed in nine industries in July, while five workers killed in 11 days.

In this update, OHS Alert examines the most important workplace safety and workers' comp news from the third quarter of 2014, including Safe Work Australia's controversial decision to dump draft Codes of Practice in favour of guidance packages, and other legislative developments.

• NSW Bill clarifies link between WHS Act and mining laws;
  
• NSW response to bullying inquiry quiet on proposed legislation; and
  
• BHPB appeals against $2.2m asbestos payout.

Proposed laws for protecting NSW public servants, and others excluded from the Fair Work Act's anti-bullying provisions, should complement the Commonwealth legislation and be overseen by the State IRC, according to State Greens MP David Shoebridge.

A NSW employer is expanding its due diligence program for senior managers as part of a $200,000 WHS enforceable undertaking (EU), which provides valuable insight into the EU process and how the employer tackled height risks.

Workplace fatality rate creeping up in NSW; Presumptive cancer comp laws to cover all WA firefighters; and Queensland launches bullying and harassment review.