Browsing: Dangerous substances | Page 87

Two related companies and their director have been ordered to pay an estimated $890,000 in fines and costs for dumping asbestos and lead-contaminated waste on an unlawful site owned by one of the companies.

Safe Work Australia has launched a major review of its 644 workplace exposure standards, with a view to amending outdated legal concentration limits. SWA has also published a range of new guidance and statistical reports.

• CoR laws aligned with WHS Act under host Bill;
  
• Last jurisdiction joins national rail safety regime; and
  
• Expanded cancer comp laws pass in WA.

• Safety regulator issues GHS warning; and
  
• New "atlas" to map banned chemicals in Qld.

• Catastrophic injury Bill passes with major amendment in Qld;
  
• New dust regulations imminent, national plan discussed; and
  
• Transitional arrangements for reach stackers end soon.

Unions have called for all asbestos-containing materials to be removed from the Royal Hobart Hospital, following a potentially "deadly" asbestos incident on the weekend, but the Tasmanian Government says it is more practical to "encapsulate" some of the asbestos at the site.

A company director, who decided to proceed with height work after a shipment of safety rails didn't turn up, has been convicted of WHS breaches. Meanwhile, a regulator has warned of the risks of unloading pipes from trailers, after two serious incidents.

Workers potentially exposed to asbestos fibres in the latest import debacle appear to have gotten a lucky break, having used PPE to guard against another hazardous substance.

• Senior employee fined over serious "horseplay" injury; and
  
• Victoria locks in quad-rebate date, and issues alerts.

The Queensland Government has secured an inquiry into the "re-emergence" of black lung, but the State Opposition is calling for a royal commission, saying the work disease has caused multiple deaths since 1995.