Browsing: Legislation, regulation and caselaw | Page 5

Unclear wording, hard to navigate digital systems and time-consuming processes are preventing many workers from reporting safety concerns, near misses and incidents, a landmark Australian study has found.

A commission has rejected a worker's allegations that she was forced to resign because her employer failed to shield her from vicarious trauma and its approach to psychological safety was "stuck in the 1990s".

A second duty holder has been fined over the death of an 80-year-old workplace visitor in a disused stairwell that posed an obvious risk of falling or entrapment, while a business has been fined over a fatality that followed its failure to identify the qualifications and competencies required for high-risk tasks.

• WHS regulator to enforce anti-smoking clauses;
  
• Regulator sends exclusion-zone warning with animated recreation;
  
• New WHS Code of Practice adopted by Tas; and
  
• Body-worn cameras adopted permanently for NT inspectors.

An upstream duty holder has been prosecuted and fined for providing plant with a manual that was missing safety instructions for inspection and cleaning tasks. Another duty holder has been fined for failing to provide a demarcated safety zone for delivery drivers, which led to a double amputation.

Adhering to readily available Safe Work Australia guidance would have helped a PCBU prevent an incident where a worker fell through a penetration after mistaking its cover for spare plywood, a court has found in convicting and fining the business $450,000.

An employer effectively dismissed a worker with autism after it refused to make safety accommodations for him when he reported experiencing sensory and health issues caused by his uniform, a commission has ruled.

An employer has been fined $800,000 for WHS breaches, after a designated work site migrated onto a dangerous stretch of road and a worker was killed by a vehicle driven by a colleague.

• Man originally charged with recklessness gets category-2 fine;
  
• New injury laws start soon in WA, supporting regulations released; and
  
• WHS rules for workplace quad bikes made in Qld.

A union and one of its officials have been handed fines totalling nearly $37,000, after a court found the latter made a frustrated comment that constituted a threat to the future career of a workplace health and safety manager.