An upstream duty holder has been prosecuted and fined for providing plant with a manual that was missing safety instructions for inspection and cleaning tasks. Another duty holder has been fined for failing to provide a demarcated safety zone for delivery drivers, which led to a double amputation.
Safety shoes are important pieces of personal protective equipment, but they also cause a wide range of injuries and incidents, leading to workers abandoning them, a major review has found.
Adhering to readily available Safe Work Australia guidance would have helped a PCBU prevent an incident where a worker fell through a penetration after mistaking its cover for spare plywood, a court has found in convicting and fining the business $450,000.
An employer effectively dismissed a worker with autism after it refused to make safety accommodations for him when he reported experiencing sensory and health issues caused by his uniform, a commission has ruled.
An employer has been fined $800,000 for WHS breaches, after a designated work site migrated onto a dangerous stretch of road and a worker was killed by a vehicle driven by a colleague.
A union and one of its officials have been handed fines totalling nearly $37,000, after a court found the latter made a frustrated comment that constituted a threat to the future career of a workplace health and safety manager.
All work processes where workers might be exposed to respirable silica will be considered high risk and subjected to tougher WHS regulations unless risk assessments prove otherwise, under one of a string of changes agreed by Australia's WHS ministers.
An appeals court has quashed a ruling that the WHS prosecution of a major company was invalid because of the process used to delegate the applicable regulatory powers. Meanwhile, a play centre has been charged with multiple safety breaches after a child fell seven metres.
A worker who claimed repeated safety incidents and near misses caused his psychological injury has been denied compensation, with a judge finding a number of his concerns were "misplaced" and reasonable administrative actions taken by his employer were the predominant causes of his condition.