FWA full bench dismisses Endeavour Energy's urine-test appeal; Control measures outlined after Victorian trench collapse; Western Australian inspectors investigating machinery death; WA and Queensland regulators issue fatality and fatigue alerts; and NT Coroner recommends load-cover requirements after road death.
Labour-law expert Professor Ron McCallum has given the OHS harmonisation process the "thumbs up", but expressed dismay at Victoria's reluctance to adopt the new laws. Also in this article, manufacturing employers and others have been warned they could be captured by the model Act's broad definition of "construction work".
SA department fined heavily after student falls 4.5m; SWMS requirement overlooked by hundreds of Victorian employers; National Rail Safety Week encouraging people to use their brains; and FSC accreditation scheme applied to 800 projects.
The ACT will become the "work safety capital of Australia" under a plan to crack down on psychosocial hazards and provide levy-funded health and safety training, according to the Greens.
Workplace bullying victims and witnesses in Victoria are being encouraged - on the first anniversary of the introduction of Brodie's law - to "take a stand", while the federal inquiry on bullying has heard, in Perth and Adelaide, that the problem is rife among younger workers.
OHS shortcuts reduce business saleability, lawyers warn; Two more model Codes of Practice take effect; and Funds injected into workplace suicide-prevention program.
Employers have been advised to educate shift workers on cardiovascular problems to stop early manifestations of disease, after a Canadian study of more than two million people found shift work is linked to heart attacks and strokes.
Designers of structures are obligated, under the harmonised WHS Act, to provide safety information to "any person who carries out activities in relation to the structure" if requested, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland says in a Q&A for the construction sector.