Browsing: Jurisdiction (TAS) | Page 13

An employer has convinced a tribunal that intense computer work did not cause a worker's hand injury, but it failed to avoid one of the other "pathways to liability".

Australian researchers have called for the long-term use of rigorous occupational hygiene measures and working-from-arrangements to reduce the risk of a resurgence of COVID-19, while paid pandemic leave schemes have been introduced in two more states, providing a financial incentive not to attend work while infectious.

A High Court majority has upheld Federal Government and employer appeals against a finding that workers performing 12-hour shifts are entitled to 10 individual days of sick or carer's leave per year under the National Employment Standards.

In this article, OHS Alert reviews all the need-to-know workplace safety and compensation developments from the second quarter of 2020, including Australia's first industrial manslaughter conviction, recklessness cases, work-related pandemic restrictions and wholesale legislative changes.

A worker's incapacitating condition was triggered by the strong odours in her new work building, but she did not suffer from controversial syndrome multiple chemical sensitivity, a tribunal has found.

The suicide death of a worker, who started abusing marijuana to relieve the pain from a work injury, did not arise from his employment, a superior court has ruled.

A worker who claims he was unable to urinate over a three-hour period was lawfully summarily dismissed for refusing to provide his employer with a sample for a drug and alcohol test, a commission has ruled.

• COVID-19 work recovery plans due now;
  
• Workplace COVID-19 controls mandated in Tas;
  
• COVID-19 lift policy and 15-minute rule announced in NT;
  
• Coronavirus construction checklist launched in Vic; and
  
• SA's workplace silica threshold halving in two weeks.

In a long-running WHS case, involving a forklift fatality and a seemingly incongruous category 3 charge, a superior court has found a magistrate should have recused himself from the matter to avoid ruling on particulars of the charge that he himself drafted.

• Regulator releases more details on WHS recklessness case;
  
• Revised WHS Code for first aid adopted by Tas; and
  
• NSW freezes workers' comp premiums for COVID-19 pandemic.