A PCBU and its director have been handed record-high fines totalling more than $250,000 for ignoring a series of improvement and prohibition notices. Meanwhile, SafeWork NSW has issued nearly 100 height-related on-the-spot fines in a blitz, and SafeWork SA has issued a heat warning.
A union official who encouraged workers to defy a major employer's sun-protection policy was attempting to fulfil the wishes of workers and didn't engage in unlawful industrial action, a full Federal Court has found in setting aside high-range penalties.
Employers owe a duty of care to workers known to engage in "skylarking", a court has reiterated in finding a PCBU guilty of WHS offences relating to the death of a worker who wasn't wearing the necessary PPE.
In a study spanning two decades, researchers have found that a significant proportion of one country's work injuries can be attributed to "non-optimal" ambient temperatures, with the majority linked to moderate increases in heat or cold.
Duty holders have been urged to audit machines that can be activated inadvertently and assess weather-related risks, after a worker was killed by a hydraulic ladder and a work vehicle was struck by lightning.
Heat-related illnesses and respiratory syndromes in workers are two direct outcomes of climate change that require special mitigation and adaptation strategies, a peak occupational medicine group has warned.
Carrying out strenuous tasks that weren't within the scope of his usual duties contributed to a worker falling asleep on his drive home from work and made his serious journey injuries compensable, a commission has found.
