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In a panel discussion at the Comcare conference in Melbourne, the OHS director general of the Department of Defence has outlined steps the employer is taking to prepare for harmonised safety laws.

Outstanding work health and safety initiatives - including a rehab program that helped a shark-attack victim return to work - have been recognised at the annual SRCC Safety Awards. Also in this article, South Australia's return-to-work and SISA award winners have been announced.

The cost of implementing harmonised safety laws for employers will be "remarkably small", the Ai Group has acknowledged on the release of the Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) for the model Work Health and Safety Regulations.

Injured workers who have a return-to-work plan with staged goals developed for them - and are given help to follow it - are significantly more likely to return to and stay in their jobs, a new report has found.

A recent Fair Work Australia decision has shown just how important it is for managers to lead by example on safety, and how costly it can be for employers if they don't.

HR expert calls for change in attitude to disability; Tasmanian injury rates to increase with high impairment threshold; and Tasmanian regulator develops manual handling guide and asbestos website.

Senior lawyer calls for laws to "stop bullying in its tracks"; Safety trainer fined $121K after explosion injures six people; Victorian employers to pay $110K over missing handrail; and WA employer fined for interlock and training failures after amputation.

Australia's OHS regulators will from January focus on "encouraging and assisting compliance" with the Work Health and Safety Act in the event of an alleged breach, and will be more likely to investigate employers that have been issued improvement notices in the past, according to the National Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

Employers urged to enforce seatbelt use after crane death; and Falling objects claim the most lives as workplace fatality rate increases.

Australia is one step closer to having national safety regulators for the heavy vehicle, rail and maritime sectors, with the Council of Australian Governments signing three new intergovernmental agreements on Friday.