A tribunal has found that a previous full-bench ruling on what constitutes surgery for workers' comp purposes is not exhaustive or "even relevant to each case", and stressed that "penetration of the body is not always involved".
In a case where "parallel" duty holders were charged over a worker's death, a PCBU has been found guilty of breaching WHS laws in relying on training and signage rather than engineering measures to control risks arising from new equipment with an unusual design.
A PCBU's lack of safety processes for preventing work being performed near overhead powerlines caused a worker to suffer "devastating" burns and lose both legs, a court has found in convicting the PCBU and its director.
A company and one of its directors have been fined, and handed a hefty decontamination bill, for embarking on a clean-up exercise that could have exposed hundreds of people to asbestos fibres. Meanwhile, a regulator has issued a warning to PCBUs following a "horror month" of nail gun incidents.
A PCBU has been convicted and handed a near-record WHS penalty over the mechanical asphyxiation death of a worker in plant, with a safety measure that was assumed to be effective but not tested.
A worker's fatal heart attack, while using a hotel gym on an overseas work trip, arose from his employment, a tribunal has ruled in awarding his widow workers' compensation.
