Browsing: Authority/inspectorate (VIC) | Page 51

The High Court has upheld a ruling on the interaction of health and safety representatives and Federal right-of-entry laws, refusing permission to WorkSafe Victoria and a union official to challenge the full Federal Court judgment.

• Lack of acclimatisation increases heat risks;
  
• Pre-Christmas period accounts for 25% of workplace deaths;
  
• New safety rules gazetted and made in WA and Qld; and
  
• "Ritualize" available in Tas from Monday.

• Workers killed in bee and train incidents; and
  
• Flawed management plan for vehicles caused serious head injury.

A safety regulator will attempt to convince the High Court, this Friday, to accept its application for special leave to appeal against a decision that reduces the "pool of persons from whom an HSR can appropriately seek assistance".

An employer that failed to consider whether the use of attachments could affect a forklift's lifting capacity has been ordered to pay nearly $100,000 in fines and costs, after the vehicle tipped over and trapped two workers.

A company charged with 10 OHS breaches relating to the 45-day Hazelwood mine fire has convinced a superior court that it would not get a fair trial in the communities most affected by the disaster.

An employer has been convicted and fined $90,000, plus more than $13,700 in costs, after 1760kg of sheet materials fell on a worker, leaving him a quadriplegic. Meanwhile, a site supervisor and a principal contractor have been fined after an apprentice fell four metres.

• Employer fined over OHS breaches caught on film;
  
• Older worker accused of being workers' comp threat; and
  
• Vic's safest and most innovative employers announced.

An employer has been convicted and fined for breaching OHS laws in allowing one of its directors to repeatedly bully a worker for nearly three years. Meanwhile, a company has been convicted and fined after its CEO and others pretended they'd never seen, let alone employed, a workers' comp claimant.

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.