A local council failed to comply with its legislative duty to properly review an injured worker's medical records, or consult his doctor, when preparing a return-to-work plan for him, a tribunal has ruled.
A worker seeking common law damages has proved her employer breached its safety duties to her during her post-injury return to work, but failed to show any breach caused or worsened her condition.
European researchers have confirmed, from a study of more than 400,000 workers, that a common disabling hand disorder can be caused by manual work. They identify those most at risk and say their findings should inform workplace safety strategies.
A major clothing retailer had a system for lightening trolleys but failed to enforce it, negligently allowing workers to choose their own method of loading and unloading them while under pressure to meet quotas, a superior court has found.
Two businesses have been fined a total of $800,000 over separate but alarmingly similar fatalities involving the handling of heavy materials in confined spaces. A regulator has explained how to prevent such incidents, including through consultation processes.
A company that supplied a 200 kilogram door to a worksite did not owe a safety duty of care to a worker who sustained serious injuries trying to lift the door at the site, an appeals court has found in setting aside a ruling against the company.
An employer might have provided workers with safety stools to help them reach high objects, but the pace of the work and the scarceness of the stools meant they couldn't be used practically, a court has found in awarding a worker more than $800,000 in damages for a manual handling injury.
A worker who injured her back while lifting heavy trays has been awarded nearly $160,000 in damages, after a court found her employer negligently failed to provide proper manual handling training or enforce a 10kg lifting limit.
An organisation in an industry with unique physical and emotional hazards is designing out manual handling tasks and improving workers' psychological health through research projects and other strategies, its executive general manager of health, safety and sustainability has revealed.