Browsing: Illness/injury/hazard type (all)

An employer breached safety laws in failing to ensure a plan to install edge protection around a newly created void was completed before workers were permitted to enter the area, a court has found in fining the company over a fall.

A litany of failures in the way a business approached a high-risk job led to the death of a trainee, a judge has ruled in convicting and fining an individual with the duties of a PCBU $60,000.

A PCBU that allowed a subcontractor to apply a system of work where height workers were forced to unhook their harnesses, to move materials, has been convicted of WHS contraventions.

A WHS regulator has called for members of the public to report any substandard safety practices they witness, and warned that the absence of suitable workplace amenities continues to be a major problem in one industry.

A machine operator who contracted chronic sinusitis while working in dusty conditions at a tip in Darwin, has been found to be permanently incapacitated by the condition.

A PCBU that was initially charged with the industrial manslaughter of a worker, whose role required him to perform manual tasks within touching distance of an unguarded conveyor, has been fined $250,000 under an alternative charge.

Lack of action by an employer to introduce changes to work methods following a vehicle rollaway incident resulted in catastrophic injuries to one of its workers, who has been awarded nearly $1.6 million in damages.

• Workplace flu jabs advised ahead of "horror" season; and
  
• Female-specific cancers added to presumptive workers' comp laws.

A company that was convicted and fined over an apprentice's severe electric-shock injuries has been blocked from recovering, from its insurer, any damages and compensation paid to the worker, with an appeals court finding its director was "indifferent to whether any action was taken to prevent" the electrical risk.

PCBUs have been reminded of their duty to ensure the safety of all types of workers who might interact with equipment, after a business was fined heavily over an employee's serious thumb injury. Employers have also been urged to tackle the increasing risk of mould exposure.