Browsing: Jurisdiction (NSW) | Page 215

NSW's "untenable" WorkCover scheme will be reformed sooner rather than later after its CEO and chair resigned, State Finance Minister Greg Pearce says.

NSW might have been one of the first jurisdictions to pass and enact a mirror Work Health and Safety Act, but the COAG Reform Council has accused it of joining Victoria and Western Australia in "undoing" the harmonisation process. Also in this article, Safe Work Australia has launched new WHS resources for volunteers and HSRs.

The High Court will next week consider two special-leave-to-appeal applications that could affect the application of the landmark Kirk case in OHS prosecutions and the entitlements of injured former employees.

In this update, OHS Alert outlines all the important OHS and workers' compensation legislative changes made in the final quarter of 2011. We also recap the most significant court and tribunal rulings and other developments in each jurisdiction.

A NSW employer has been fined $225,000 after a worker was fatally crushed while working underneath a loader with no park brake. Also in this article, two Victorian employers have been fined for traffic-management breaches following a death.

Workplaces in the five OHS jurisdictions where harmonised safety laws have taken effect are now safer and more productive, according to Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten. But stakeholders continue to squabble over the draft model Codes of Practice.

WorkCover NSW and WorkSafe Victoria have clarified the alarming cost of workers' compensation claims for stress, industrial deafness and musculoskeletal disorders, and outlined what they plan to do to help employers reduce them.

In an important decision, Fair Work Australia has questioned whether it was "really the intention" of a RailCorp enterprise agreement to compensate a worker for a 13-hour medical examination - which he slept through.

Five jurisdictions will be ready to enact a harmonised Work Health and Safety Act by the end of the month, and three further model Codes of Practice have been endorsed, according to a communiqué on Safe Work Australia's latest members meeting.

NSW and Tasmania report falling workers' compensation premium rates; and Essential safety news from around Australia.