Browsing: Jurisdiction (WA) | Page 10

• $300k safety fine sends warning on pre-start checks;
  
• Three safety Codes of Practice revoked in WA; and
  
• Comcare and WA safety awards open.

Employers and insurers will be banned from attending injured workers' medical appointments, under one of hundreds of provisions of a major Bill that completely rewrites Western Australia's workers' compensation laws, and implements the recommendations from a legislative review conducted nearly a decade ago.

Three employers have been fined a total of nearly $1.5 million over an explosion and a structural collapse, including one company that failed to ensure customers transported dangerous goods in a safe manner, and a business that failed to properly instruct personnel on an unfamiliar work procedure.

Mining giant Fortescue Metals Group could be fined up to nearly $1.9 million, after being charged with dozens of counts of failing to produce documents, relating to alleged s-xual harassment at its sites, in the first case launched under Western Australia's version of the national model WHS laws.

A crane supplier that was fined for safety breaches at a site, where one of its workers was killed, has failed to convince a superior court it had little control over the relevant activities. But the court ordered a retrial, finding a key matter was overlooked by all parties.

This major OHS Alert report reviews all the need-to-know workplace health and safety and workers' comp developments from the past few months, including the passage of game-changing Respect@Work laws, numerous WHS amendments, COVID rulings, a state-first workplace manslaughter charge, and a record-smashing reckless conduct fine.

• Everyday object causes numerous workplace fires; and
  
• Unused seatbelt linked to one of three recent work deaths.

• WHS regulator targets psychosocial risk assessments; and
  
• WHS Code aligned with WA regulations.

An analysis of a manufacturing disaster that killed five workers has shown how "human factors can contribute to a sequence of events that lead to a major incident", and what employers can do to curb this.

• New WHS regulations clarify psychosocial duties; and
  
• GHS 7 takes effect in all but one jurisdiction.