An employer that required employees to access a machine by moving under it and opening heavy doors that swung down has been convicted and fined $200,000, after the doors fell and struck a worker, causing permanent brain injuries. Another employer has been fined for contraventions that included leaving keys in forklifts, facilitating unauthorised use.
A union official who was physically aggressive towards a site manager, while inspecting suspected safety breaches, has been fined and handed a "partial" personal payment order.
Company executives must ensure systems are in place to deal with non-compliance with safety requirements and those systems are properly monitored, a regulator has stressed after an employer was handed a record recklessness fine relating to the deaths of four police officers.
Lawyers have urged companies to keep on top of emerging evidence on the effects of medicinal cannabis on workers and testing regimes, outlining a wide range of challenges in this area. Meanwhile, Victorian stakeholders have just weeks left to contribute to a parliamentary inquiry into workplace drug tests.
Two employers have been sentenced for safety breaches resulting in life-changing amputations, including one company that failed to comply with an authorisation requiring only certain personnel to work near overhead powerlines.
A tribunal has applied a 14-fold increase to the damages awarded to a worker who was psychologically injured by her manager making "vulgar" remarks about her body, and making "repeated physical contact" with her.
A commission has recommended a worker be provided with "self-awareness" and "conflict avoidance" training, finding a "shared language" between him and his supervisors could have prevented most of the 40 or so bullying allegations he raised in his stop-bullying bid.
