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An appeals court has quashed a ruling that the WHS prosecution of a major company was invalid because of the process used to delegate the applicable regulatory powers. Meanwhile, a play centre has been charged with multiple safety breaches after a child fell seven metres.

A major work health and safety Bill has passed in Queensland, with amendments aimed at facilitating a plan that could extend industrial manslaughter provisions to bystander deaths, and ensure multiple duty holders can be charged with manslaughter after a fatality.

A PCBU has successfully paused the operation of a WHS notice by arguing such a step will not affect the safety of workers or others, and that in the absence of a stay, it could be forced to overhaul its safety management system unnecessarily.

The commencement date for South Australia's new offence of industrial manslaughter has been confirmed, while a WHS regulator has announced a crackdown on poor housekeeping in an industry with a high rate of serious musculoskeletal disorders.

The High Court has agreed to consider quashing the application of allegedly outdated judgments that bar damages for psychiatric injuries caused by dismissal processes, in the case of a worker who was subjected to a sham dismissal after an incident on a work trip.

A PCBU exhibited "multiple failures at management levels" to respond to violent workplace incidents, which escalated after it accepted additional high-risk clients and led to workers being assaulted, a court has found.

Employers have been reminded of their WHS duties to pregnant and parent workers, and urged to make ergonomic adjustments where needed, after a major project found these workers continue to face "vast discrimination, disadvantage, and bias".

• Safety fines doubled to $10m under NSW asbestos Bill;
  
• Industrial manslaughter promised ahead of Tas election;
  
• Manslaughter jailings needed, says union after Vic fatality; and
  
• Ten WHS Codes amended for GHS 7 in SA.

Another employer has been fined for workplace health and safety breaches affecting children, with its failures including not maintaining a safe supervision ratio of employees to customers.

Disingenuous attempts by companies to curb s-xual harassment in response to increased attention on the matter are damaging the chances for change, according to the latest instalment of a landmark Australian study.