Browsing: Authority/inspectorate (NT) | Page 2

• WHS regulator targeting notification failings;
  
• Business owner faces jail under WHS intimidation charge; and
  
• Two workers hospitalised with heat-related illnesses.

Significant amendments were made to workplace health and safety laws in every Australian jurisdiction in the third quarter of 2023, including many increasing penalties and making it easier to prosecute duty holders. This major report - the only one of its kind in the country - examines all the need-to-know legislative changes, workers' compensation developments and court decisions from July, August and September.

A PCBU has been ordered to pay nearly $700,000 in fines and costs over the death of a superintendent, but it could have been much worse for the business, which initially faced a maximum penalty of $35 million under a string of reckless-conduct charges.

With National Safe Work Month starting this week, employers are being urged to host SafeTea chats, focus on issues like mental health and workloads, and provide safer workplaces for women. Employers have also been warned to properly maintain their defibrillators.

• Record-shattering fatality fines upheld by Supreme Court; and
  
• Annual workplace fatality toll increases, 1,850 killed in 10 years.

• Director and manager face jail over arm amputation; and
  
• Safe-rates provisions included in Bill that increases WHS penalties.

• "Most egregious" injury fraudster jailed for 22 months; and
  
• High-risk licence fraud prompts reminder of WHS obligations.

A business owner could be jailed for up to five years, after he was charged with reckless conduct relating to a similar incident to one that recently attracted a record WHS penalty. Meanwhile, a train driver who was accused of recklessly using his mobile phone has been sentenced.

In this major must-read report, OHS Alert examines all the key workplace health and safety and workers' compensation developments from the second quarter of 2023, including a wide range of actual and proposed WHS amendments, a string of high-profile safety prosecutions, and concerns around surging burnout rates.

• More duty holders plead guilty to White Island breaches; and
  
• Carbon monoxide warning issued after forklift incident.