A PCBU has been fined heavily after its efforts to overcome a chemical supply issue nearly killed a worker through fluoroacetate poisoning. Meanwhile, an employer has been fined over a worker's crush injuries, in a case showing that interlocked guarding should prevent, rather than just discourage, access to hazardous machine parts.
A PCBU on Sydney's WestConnex road project has been fined for failing to communicate critical safety information on the high-risk tests it conducted, causing a worker from another work group to be struck and injured by pressurised water.
A company and its director have been fined a total of $270,000, after the company modified its work procedures to require staff to be in a position where they were at the greatest risk of being struck by falling forklift loads.
A PCBU has been to ordered to pay nearly $550,000 in penalties and costs, after two of its clients died in similar circumstances in less than three years. Meanwhile, a WHS regulator has revealed the two main electrical hazards recently identified in workplaces.
An employer that failed to ensure certain "particulars" of its "comprehensive" safety management system were followed has been fined $150,000, after a worker came into contact with powerlines.
A major Deloitte review has highlighted the role that prescribed officer duties play in "lifting the corporate veil" and increasing compliance with work health and safety laws, in recommending adding these duties to provisions for offshore facilities.
Employers should consider and incorporate, where reasonably practicable, technologies like proximity detection systems to control mobile plant interactions, according to one of 11 recommendations in a report on a fatality.
