Browsing: Jurisdiction (SA) | Page 5

A worker who was injured during a car trip between home and work was injured "in the course of carrying out the duties of her employment" because she was transporting a suitcase of files between two offices at the time, an appeals bench has ruled.

• Safety fines top $600k after post-fatality breaches; and
  
• "Duty to provide work" overhauled in draft SA RTW Bill.

In an ongoing case involving a worker claiming she was bullied by being barred from working from home, a court has clarified when a person has a workplace right to expect their employer to comply with the Fair Work Act's anti-bullying provisions.

Menopause often causes "debilitating" symptoms in workers in one of the fastest growing employment groups, and the synonymous hot flushes and night sweats have the least impact, according to a study that also identifies the two most valuable workplace supports. Another study has identified widespread discrimination against pregnant workers.

A worker who attempted to return to work after suffering a non-work-related injury has been awarded $44,000 in damages, after a court found his employer discriminated against him by ignoring medical advice and refusing to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate his return.

• SWA outlines work-from-home duties in new resources;
  
• Model WHS amendments for silica applied in SA; and
  
• Paid FDV leave extended to many workers.

An employer is being forced to re-defend its training and safety systems, and to prove it was entitled to rely on a worker to identify safety hazards that required him to seek help, under a retrial ordered in relation to an unrestrained load falling out of a trailer.

The fact that an employer was capable of charging clients for a worker's travel time was one of five "connections" establishing a link between the worker's injury-causing journey and his employment, a judge has ruled.

In this major must-read report, OHS Alert examines all the key workplace health and safety and workers' compensation developments from the second quarter of 2023, including a wide range of actual and proposed WHS amendments, a string of high-profile safety prosecutions, and concerns around surging burnout rates.

PCBUs have been reminded of their WHS duties to children, after one entity was fined over a drowning death and another over a forklift joyride. Meanwhile, the ACT has launched a campaign against workplace violence, and reminded employers of the new WHS duty to report "actual or suspected" incidents of workplace s-xual assault.