Browsing: Dangerous substances | Page 93

A new study has identified seven occupational groups that are at increased risk of thyroid cancer.

A company director's OHS charge has been dismissed, after the NSW District Court found a workplace fire was caused by a worker's "casual act of negligence which was not condoned by any of the systems which [the director] had put in place".

Seventy per cent fewer industrial chemicals will need to be subjected to pre-market assessment by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS), under proposed reforms for a "more risk-based" regulatory framework.

• Safety reprimands better than dismissals, lawyers say;
  
• One-strike policy demanded for asbestos crimes; and
  
• Incident-prevention strategy and alerts released.

• Managers failing to warn workers of widespread asbestos risks;
  
• Manager fined for shooting worker with nail gun; and
  
• Queensland extends anti-smoking laws.

• Agencies release new guides on hazardous substances; and
  
• Carbon monoxide poisoning costs employer $43k.

A safety offence relating to asbestos samples attracts fines of up to $500,000 and imprisonment for individuals, a regulator has warned. Meanwhile, an inquiry has heard a growing number of asbestos-containing materials are being used in the building sector, prompting calls for a significant increase in penalties.

A worker who was based in Maralinga in the wake of the notorious British nuclear testing program has been denied workers' compensation for skin cancer.

European researchers have identified a range of factors that increase the well-known high risk of lung cancer from welding.

• National inquiry into black lung applauded; and
  
• Inquiry into unsafe building products holds hearing.