Browsing: Jurisdiction (WA) | Page 5

Significant amendments were made to workplace health and safety laws in every Australian jurisdiction in the third quarter of 2023, including many increasing penalties and making it easier to prosecute duty holders. This major report - the only one of its kind in the country - examines all the need-to-know legislative changes, workers' compensation developments and court decisions from July, August and September.

Two major pieces of legislation have passed the NSW and Western Australian Parliaments: a WHS Bill nearly tripling fines and doubling jail terms for category-1 breaches, and a complete workers' compensation rewrite that has been a decade in the making.

• Fabricator and designer both charged over Curtin fatality; and
  
• Boland announced as Safe Work Australia CEO.

With National Safe Work Month starting this week, employers are being urged to host SafeTea chats, focus on issues like mental health and workloads, and provide safer workplaces for women. Employers have also been warned to properly maintain their defibrillators.

• WHS changes commence in Commonwealth jurisdiction;
  
• Two companies fined over labour-hire safety incident; and
  
• Violence reports increasing in mining workplaces.

• New work safety laws and codes to follow major explosion;
  
• Two new WHS Codes of Practice made in ACT; and
  
• Roll-away alert quickly followed by serious roll-away incident.

A coroner has expressed his "fervent hope" that companies and heavy vehicle drivers will cease the common dangerous practice of placing modified window shades on windscreens, in his inquest into the blind-spot-related death of a worker in a parking area.

There remains a lack of awareness and concern about the serious health dangers posed by welding fumes, an important and timely Australian study has found, with stakeholders noting industry-wide education and legislative changes are needed to remove barriers to the use of proper safety controls.

• Individual fined nearly $50k over five-metre fall; and
  
• More death benefits pursued for gig families.

In a rare case, an employer has been prosecuted and fined for workplace health and safety breaches after high levels of the hazardous substance lead were detected in the blood of four of its workers.