An employer has been found 40 per cent liable for a serious workplace injury, which was caused by a subcontracted excavator operator negligently using his mobile phone while operating the vehicle.
An employer has entered an enforceable undertaking worth nearly $1 million after a worker was killed between an elevated work platform and a concrete slab, while regulatory action taken against two major companies after the incident has been withdrawn.
The ABCC Amendment Bill passed the Senate unamended last night, meaning employers can only be awarded and perform Commonwealth building work if their enterprise agreements comply with new drug testing rules and other provisions of a controversial Code.
A company could have lawfully terminated a worker's contract for accusing an HR manager of causing a fatality. Instead, it has been ordered to pay him compensation, after it dismissed him over a "relatively minor" incident several weeks later.
Building industry participants have fewer than seven months to ensure their enterprise agreements comply with new Federal fitness-for-work and entry rules, under a Bill slashing the transitional period for the rules.
Employers have been urged to ensure their contractors have the skills to manage fatigue, after three companies were found liable for a worker's car-crash injuries and $1.25 million damages bill.
A worker who incorrectly lowered a loading platform more than 300 times in 18 months, before falling onto a concrete floor, was "wholly responsible" for his injuries, a court has ruled.
A company director and one of his employees were denied access to a building site for failing to provide a safe work method statement, and not because they refused to pay their union dues as claimed by the ABCC, the Federal Court has found.
An employer that relied on a "specialised expert" contractor to ensure site safety has been convicted and fined $120,000, after a worker fell six metres, while the "more culpable" contractor has escaped conviction, entering an enforceable undertaking instead.
The abolition of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal contributed to unsafe practices identified in the recent labour-hire inquiry, the Victorian Government has claimed in launching a review of contractor laws.
