Employers are being warned by Victorian regulators about the risks associated with petrol generators, gas appliances and synthetic fibre crane slings, following several fatalities.
The Queensland Mine Safety and Health Commission has outlined a three-step "hearing conservation program" to reduce the risk of noise-induced hearing loss among workers.
Endeavour Energy commits to saliva drug tests at end of FWA dispute; Tasmanian employer outlines its harmonisation-preparation steps; Safe Work Australia looking for safety ambassador of the year; South Australian RTW winners announced; Audit of South Australian asbestos removalists launched; and Western Australian haulage employer fined for multiple fatigue breaches.
A prominent employment lawyer has described Brodie's Law as little more than symbolic, and warned that workplace bullying will never be eradicated while it continues to be treated as an OHS issue.
In this article, OHS Alert looks at a discussion paper on engineering controls for quad-bikes, the ACT's plan to establish an industrial court for safety issues, new harmonisation guides from Queensland, a Western Australian workers' comp Bill, and more.
Workplace incidents will continue to occur unless employees are engaged through consultation and executives resist over-relying on "leading" indicators, according to a global environmental and sustainability consultancy's NSW health and safety manager.
Smoking-cessation support programs and smoke-free worksite policies are just two steps employers can take to reduce absences linked to smoking-related health problems, according to a Tasmanian toolkit.
Toll Group reveals six-step response to s-xual harassment complaint; Vigilance urged in Queensland after report points to high work death rate; and Major ACT inquiry prompted by construction deaths commences.
The Queensland Government has hinted, ahead of roundtable discussion with industry groups, that it will trust businesses to "do the right thing" on OHS under a less prescriptive WHS Act. It has also "streamlined" health and safety laws for the mining sector.
Australian researchers have called for offices to be redesigned to stimulate physical activity, after they found advances in office ergonomics over the last 30 years have done little to reduce the high rate of neck pain and other musculoskeletal symptoms among desk workers.