Browsing: Bullying and harassment | Page 13

• New WHS laws, codes and bans to follow NSW election; and
  
• Positive harassment-elimination duties pass in ACT.

Six of Australia's eight harmonised jurisdictions have now implemented regulations explicitly requiring PCBUs to tackle psychosocial risks through a risk management process, with the latest, the Northern Territory, choosing to mirror the national model clauses instead of opting for variations adopted by two jurisdictions.

A company director and a worker in his 20s have been charged with breaching workplace health and safety laws by allegedly s-xually harassing seven workers aged as young as 14.

• Right-to-disconnect Bill tackles "availability creep", poor health; and
  
• Anti-harassment protections extended to Defence workplaces.

Canberra businesses that contravene their WHS duties will be more likely to end up in court under a "hybrid" prosecutorial model championed by a WHS regulator. They also face hefty on-the-spot WHS fines under changes commencing today.

Workers who see psychosocial hazards as "part of the job", or fear being blamed for complaining, are unlikely to report incidents, making it particularly difficult for employers to identify and control risks, a senior safety lawyer says.

An appeals commission has upheld a physically and psychologically injured worker's claims, in a dispute over whether CCTV footage of an incident actually showed the woman sustaining an injury.

A commissioner has upheld the sacking of a supervisor who failed to investigate reports that a subordinate was breaching conduct and safety policies by regularly s-xually harassing co-workers by rubbing his genitals at work.

Workplace bullying and harassment are overshadowing certain "sleeper hazards" in psychosocial risk management, potentially exposing employers to the scrutiny of WHS regulators, safety law experts have warned.

A worker who claimed he was psychologically injured from being required to perform a hazardous task without personal protective equipment, and being bullied by managers and co-workers, has been denied compensation in a case examining the "perception of real events".