Browsing: Authority/inspectorate (QLD) | Page 8

A superior court has warned against placing "undue focus" on employment contracts when determining an injured worker's state of connection, in finding a chef's employment is connected to a state with more generous common law rights than the jurisdiction an insurer claims it belongs to.

A PCBU has been prosecuted and fined for failing to ensure forklift loads were properly secured when raised onto high racking, while a company and one of its workers have been fined for breaching safety laws and the "Wiring Rules".

In a case examining WHS clauses on the provision of PPE, a commission has stayed an improvement notice blocking a university from charging students to be fit tested for masks, finding it is arguable the students are the "workers" of placement providers rather than the university.

A company that failed to implement a proper inspection regime for the overhead cranes in a building it leased to a business has been fined for WHS breaches, after debris fell from one of the cranes and struck a worker. Another company has been fined for a string of safety and dangerous goods breaches identified by an investigation into a worker's serious burns.

• Inquiry into companies' responses to major explosion announced;
  
• Lung diseases and asbestos targeted by Qld grants and workplace audits; and
  
• Clarified WHS Code takes effect in Qld.

A commission has upheld a decision to deny compensation to a worker who suffered an aggravation of her psychiatric illness from an interaction with her supervisor, ruling the supervisor's imperfect actions were reasonable enough under injury laws.

• WHS intimidation fine and fatality alerts issued in Qld;
  
• New stair-height rule commences under Qld WHS Code;
  
• WHS changes and criminal checks commencing in NSW;
  
• Truck-fire-prevention guide should be used by all fleets: NSW EPA; and
  
• Occupational licensing arrangements tweaked in NT.

One of the growing number of employers charged with COVID-related workplace health and safety breaches has been sentenced in Victoria. In Queensland, a PCBU has been fined after its failure to act on safety complaints led to a worker suffering serious wrist injuries.

A company that was fined $250,000 over safety contraventions that led to a worker suffering an electric shock from powerlines, has had its appeal rejected for the second time, with a court highlighting the control measures the PCBU failed to implement.

• Controversial injury amendments have failed in NSW: McKell;
  
• Workers' comp fraudster faces jail under Crimes Act; and
  
• Premiums increase for the first time in years in Qld.