Queensland's WHS Amendment Bill has passed through Parliament, with the Bill's architect - the Attorney-General - repeating his seemingly incongruous boast that work injury rates are falling under the current laws. Meanwhile, Safe Work Australia is keeping tight-lipped on its position on the Queensland changes.
Three major employers have claimed, in their latest performance reports, that they have improved health and safety by inviting contractors and customers on safety walks, restructuring OHS systems, and offering health and wellbeing initiatives, such as skin screening.
OHS committees that conduct safety walkthroughs prior to meetings can observe real risks and improve health and safety by engaging workers, says OHS consultant Jenny Lewis.
A Parliamentary Committee recommends passing Queensland's WHS Amendment Bill, which aims to make regulators the "first port of call" for workers with safety concerns by reducing the powers of HSRs and unions, but it says employers will have to pay for additional inspectors.
Managers set the tone for respectful and harassment-free workplaces and should be careful when taking part in a swearing culture, the Queensland IRC has stressed in awarding an injured worker compensation.
An employer has been found guilty of breaching Queensland's mirror WHS Act in a case, according to a leading safety lawyer, that demonstrates how important it is for companies to challenge questionable prohibition or improvement notices.
Employers need to contact employees who work alone or in remote locations at the start of, during and at the end of shifts, as a number of recent safety tragedies have shown, says WorkSafe WA director Joe Attard.
New Zealand's new workplace bullying prevention guide is superior to Australia's for a number of reasons, including that it recognises "institutional bullying", which helps employers determine if their culture is creating the problem, an OHS consultant says.
Employers should conduct occasional mock safety inspections, rotating senior managers' and workers' roles in the process, to make safety more interesting to staff and identify more risks, an OHS consultant says.
WA employer fined after poorly trained foreign worker killed; Fines for building-defect breaches increased 10-fold in ACT; and Tasmanian safety regulators going through transformation.
