A PCBU did not satisfy its WHS duty to eliminate or minimise the risk of workers being crushed by an electric rise-and-fall platform (RFP), in a noisy environment, by fitting the RFP with a loud siren, a superior court has confirmed.
Employers cannot avoid liability to injured workers, thought to have wholly or substantially recovered from their conditions, through provisions aimed at providing a "speedy" resolution to questionable claims, a superior court full bench has found.
In this quarterly report, OHS Alert examines all the need-to-know safety and compensation developments from the three months to 30 September 2021, including changes around workplace COVID jabs, the prosecution of a government department, legislative amendments, and a record WHS fine.
A "frustrated" injured worker who was "uncontactable, unresponsive and abusive" to those involved in managing his rehabilitation has been issued a list of actions, by a judge, which he must take to regain his payments.
High-profile health and safety lawyer Michael Tooma has raised serious concerns about proposed vaccine-related amendments to WHS statements of regulatory intent, while the Victorian Government has urged people to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible, in reintroducing its permit system for workers.