Over-reliance on admin controls ends in $160K safety fine; Transport ministers approve national truck and rail safety regulators; and Essential safety news from around Australia.
Victorian employer handed hefty safety fine for scaffolding breach; South Australian employer fined for confined-space confusion; and Comcare reports falling funds and increasing premiums.
Inquiry into the effect of "insecure" work on OHS announced; Finance employees urged to "dob in" workplace bullies; Falls from height and falling objects claim the most lives; ACT's safest employers and workers announced; and New Western Australian workers' comp forms available.
Only one jurisdiction - South Australia - is on track to reach the target set by the 2002-2012 National OHS Strategy for reducing workplace injury rates, according to Safe Work Australia's latest comparative report.
Federal Labor MPs have urged opponents of the model WHS Act not to forget the workers who "fall through the cracks" under current safety laws, but the Liberal Party has warned that the absence of the word "control" in the definition of "reasonably practicable" could create a legal vacuum.
A peak employer group has described as unwarranted the Federal Government's move to abolish the ABCC, saying the Commission targets unlawful behaviour that "denigrates" workplace safety.
In this update, OHS Alert outlines all the important OHS and workers' compensation legislative changes made in the third quarter of 2011. We also recap the most significant court and tribunal rulings and other developments in each jurisdiction.
Proposed regulations to protect OHS whistleblowers; Employer fined for failing to follow instructions after worker loses sight; and Northern Territory to introduce harmonised Bill later this month.
