Browsing: Duty holders | Page 103

Employers have been urged to prepare worksites for more "wild summer weather" and prioritise electrical safety, while a resources regulator has warned that recent hot weather shows operators must ensure heat hazards are effectively managed.

• WHS comparison table aids multi-jurisdiction duty holders; and
  
• Safety assumptions result in life-threatening incident and prosecution.

The International Organisation for Standardisation has released an OHS Standard, available for free in a read-only format, on working safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The document includes practical guidance on protecting employees as they return to their usual workplaces under easing pandemic restrictions.

A company has been convicted and fined $300,000, and ordered to undertake a WHS project, after a worker was killed performing a high-risk task she was "completely unqualified" for.

• Directors face high WHS fines over helicopter fatality; and
  
• Heat linked to hundreds of work injury claims.

A PCBU's WHS fine over a worker's death in a fall has been increased four-fold to $300,000, with an appeals court finding the fatal risk would have been obvious from a single "glance" at the relevant work area, and the PCBU's safety personnel failed to take steps to reduce the risk despite discussing it in meetings.

End-of-year work celebrations are likely to be very different this year due to COVID-19, with mental health issues and the possibility of restricting attendee numbers just some of the new things to think about, a senior safety lawyer says.

An employer has been convicted and fined $150,000, plus $32,500 in costs, for allowing an unqualified labourer to perform a high-risk crane task, which resulted in a heavy load falling on two workers.

• COVID increases usual work-related Christmas risks; and
  
• Alert issued over guardrail failure and fall.

Employers with outdoor workers or involved in industries like mining must identify potential emergency situations caused by severe weather or natural disasters, and should conduct seasonal risk assessments based on weather forecasts and local events, according to a WHS regulator.