The final quarter of 2023 was marked by wholesale WHS changes affecting all duty holders. This report examines the amendments, as well as changes to other laws and all the need-to-know caselaw from the period.
A WHS regulator has outlined the kinds of risks that employers are obligated to assess for workers travelling to remote regions, while a fellow regulator has explained how WHS laws operate in relation to high-temperature hazards.
Three companies and a supervisor have been fined a total of more than $2.1 million over two serious mine safety incidents, including one where the supervisor removed warning signs from a hazardous area just moments before a worker was killed there.
The first duty holder to be charged under Western Australia's Work Health and Safety Act has become the first entity to enter a WHS undertaking in the State, with its $1.47 million worth of enforceable commitments aligning with the recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry into workplace s-xual harassment.
At a retrial, a court has confirmed a company breached safety regulations by failing to ensure enough expert workers were involved in operating a crane at a workplace where a fatality occurred.
Employers have been urged to identify all powerlines at their workplaces, including around entry and exit points, after a company was convicted and fined over an electrocution. Employers have also been warned about the presence of asbestos in workplace fire doors, following exposure incidents.
