Two PCBUs and their directors have been charged with WHS breaches, and face fines of up to $3.6 million, after a teenage worker fell three metres and wasn't provided with immediate medical assistance.
A supervisor who failed to provide safe access to a workplace has been charged with a category 2 breach of the WHS Act, after a FIFO worker drowned, while two companies have been charged over an incident involving inherited safety procedures and head injuries.
A coronial inquest has found that WHS offences "may have been committed" in connection with the death of a worker in a 66-metre fall, after rejecting a regulator's finding that such workers weren't required to hold high-risk work licences.
An appeals court has quashed WHS charges laid against a ballooning company after a fatal ground incident, finding Commonwealth aviation laws were intended to cover the circumstances that led to the death, and not intended to operate in conjunction with WHS legislation.
The third quarter of 2017 was a busy period for work health and safety and workers' compensation professionals, with a raft of laws introduced or amended in all jurisdictions. In this report, OHS Alert outlines all the need-to-know changes, case law and controversies from the last three months.
An employer has been convicted and fined heavily for WHS offences after a worker was fatally crushed when a forklift with a faulty handbrake rolled and pinned him against a wall. Meanwhile, an education provider has been fined after a 12-year-old boy was killed.
A series of workplace fatalities and a sudden spike in the national death toll have highlighted the importance of effective vehicle maintenance, traffic management, remote-work controls and other safety strategies, according to regulators and a coroner.
An employer whose CEO was unaware that residual current devices (RCDs) were mandatory under the WHS Act has been charged with safety breaches, nearly four years after a worker was electrocuted.
Two employers have been fined for WHS breaches after a worker was killed by a 345kg pole and a company director was filmed walking along a crane boom. Meanwhile, a court has rejected a company owner's appeal against his lengthy manslaughter sentence.
