Browsing: Drugs and alcohol | Page 2

A commission has upheld the dismissal of a worker for taking medicinal cannabis on his days off, finding his conduct was compounded by his failure to update his employer on his changing medicinal regime.

Training that busts the myth that drugs and alcohol are the only notable causes of workplace impairments can be an "aha" moment for managers, and help them properly respond when they suspect a worker might be impaired, researchers say.

An employer ignored its own alternative "rehabilitative" paths to termination for alcohol and drug breaches, which, if applied, would "very likely" have prevented a worker's death, a coronial inquiry has found.

A workplace supervisor who was initially charged with four counts of manslaughter, in relation to the deaths of four police officers in a road crash, could now be jailed for up to five years for a reckless breach of safety laws, with an appeals court reversing a decision to stay the recklessness case.

• WHS regulator targeting numerous NSW businesses;
  
• Key WHS measure for Cth parliamentary workplaces introduced; and
  
• WHS Regulations amended in WA.

The High Court has quashed a ruling that a company is vicariously liable for the injury-causing act of an intoxicated employee urinating on a sleeping colleague in an accomodation facility.

A commission full bench has upheld a ruling that a manager responsible for communicating drug safety messages to staff - in a hazardous industry - was rightly dismissed for failing to disclose he had been charged with possessing a commercial quantity of cannabis.

Ambulance Tasmania's "dysfunctional" manager-to-staff ratio contributed to its "gross failure" to hold a paramedic to account for his erratic behaviour or support his welfare, immediately before his death, an inquest has found.

A full Federal Court has given a safety-critical worker - who was sacked for drink driving on his day off, and whose case was blocked by his alleged misconduct after he was charged - another opportunity to prove his dismissal was unfair.

A worker's numerous and exaggerated reports on his co-workers' conduct, including unfounded suggestions that some were impaired by drugs, alcohol or mental illness, created psychosocial safety risks and justified his dismissal, a commission has found.