Weak WHS standards and poor complaint processes for victims of bullying and harassment have emerged, again, as major concerns in parliamentary workplaces. The latest review into the issue, this time in Tasmania, has made recommendations around HR functions that should be noted by all organisations.
A worker who was "strongly encouraged" by his employer to get vaccinated against COVID-19, before sustaining an incapacitating injury from his booster shot, has been denied compensation, under a system where a dispute with "some merit" is enough to block a person's access to benefits.
In this report, OHS Alert reviews all the key work health and safety and workers' compensation developments from the second quarter of 2022. Highlights include major changes to the model WHS Act and Regulations, High Court judgments, inquests into work-related deaths, an inquiry into harassment, and "claim farming" bans.
An on-call worker who broke his leg while walking his dog was not injured in the course of his employment, a superior court has ruled, finding an earlier decision in the man's favour misapplied the High Court test for interval injuries.
The national model Work Health and Safety Act, Regulations and related materials have been amended to reflect a wide range of recommendations from Marie Boland's independent review of the laws. Some states have already adopted some of the changes, while other jurisdictions are likely to follow suit soon.
An inquest into a man's death from a seizure has provided a stark reminder of the potentially devastating long-term consequences of poor workplace processes, including one practice that "should never occur in a controlled work environment".
Despite the fact that a worker's ankle injury occurred in his employer's VIP car park, a Tasmanian tribunal has found he was not at his "place of employment" and rejected his compensation claim.
A worker who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after being exposed to the Port Arthur massacre, more than 26 years ago, has been denied the costs of massage treatment, in a judgment examining the reach of injured workers' entitlements to medical expenses.
