Browsing: Consultation | Page 3

• PCBUs reminded of the four principles of WHS duties;
  
• Safety Code for traffic management overhauled in Vic; and
  
• New distraction cameras detect thousands of breaches in a month.

Harmonised WHS laws and their prescriptive consultation requirements have been in place in most jurisdictions for more than a decade, but there have been few duty-to-consult prosecutions. According to a WHS lawyer, this could be because regulators prefer to conflate consultation failings with more serious breaches to pursue higher penalties.

A local council that failed to conduct the proper checks before authorising a company, with a dismal safety record, to operate an amusement device at a festival, has been penalised for consultation contraventions relating to an incident where 12 people, mainly children, fell from heights of up to 12 metres.

A major employer has been fined $70,000 for serious contraventions of its consultation obligations, with the Federal Court finding it pursued a "commercial benefit" ahead of the safety of its workers and others affected by its undertaking.

Employers have been urged to learn from, persist with and improve on the safety strategies they implemented for the COVID-19 pandemic, and warned against reverting to past practices that will alienate workers in the post-COVID era.

A local council failed to comply with its legislative duty to properly review an injured worker's medical records, or consult his doctor, when preparing a return-to-work plan for him, a tribunal has ruled.

• Are you meeting your HSR-information duties? and
  
• "Injured" worker handed $51k fraud bill.

Two businesses have been fined a total of $800,000 over separate but alarmingly similar fatalities involving the handling of heavy materials in confined spaces. A regulator has explained how to prevent such incidents, including through consultation processes.

Two PCBUs have been convicted and fined a total of nearly half a million dollars after a labour-hire worker died of traumatic head injuries, with a court stressing that consultation failings represented a lost opportunity for identifying safety deficiencies.

A commission has found a major employer was required to consult with staff before removing anti-fatigue matting, rejecting the employer's unsubstantiated claim the mats were a trip hazard and ruling it failed to maintain a healthy and safe environment for certain personnel.