Browsing: Right of entry | Page 2

A case involving a "chaotic" workplace visit and suspected safety contraventions has provided a first-of-its-kind examination of whether WHS laws allow entry permit holders to consult with workers in private.

The Federal Court has overturned a finding that two union officials made homophobic slurs towards a project's safety advisor. The Court reduced their pecuniary penalties, but confirmed they "deliberately" breached the site's WHS requirements.

A company accused of breaching Fair Work laws by blocking a union official from testing respirable dust levels, on a major project, has claimed it complies with all air-monitoring-related WHS rules, and the suitability of the union's testing device is questionable.

PCBUs will soon be: required to proactively facilitate the election of health and safety representatives; banned from blocking WHS entry permit holders through technicalities or impractical induction requirements; and handed on-the-spot fines for failing to provide adequate toilets, under review recommendations accepted in Queensland.

A union and two of its officials have failed to overturn a ruling that they unlawfully obstructed work on a major project. They claimed the finding was erroneous because their conduct involved ensuring a PCBU was complying with its WHS duties.

The Federal Court has rejected claims by union officials that they genuinely believed they did not need right-of-entry permits to enter a site for the purpose of "resolving" WHS issues.

A range of WHS amendments, including some improving harmonisation, are set to follow the root-and-branch review of SafeWork SA, but they won't include the softening of an entry rule pertaining to health and safety representatives, with the State Government emphatically rejecting a recommendation around this area.

An employer has been ordered to pay $30,000 to a union for unlawfully hindering an official by telling him he was required to surrender his mobile phone - purportedly for health and safety reasons - before entering its site.

In this Q&A with OHS Alert, leading WHS lawyer John Makris warns that the practice of unlawfully leveraging safety issues for industrial purposes occurs across multiple sectors, and outlines 10 factors for employers to consider when determining whether WHS entry rights are being exercised properly.

A PCBU has been fined a total of $100,000, in the Federal Court, for unduly delaying and physically blocking WHS permit holders from entering a worksite to investigate suspected safety contraventions, including after the site was evacuated because of hazardous fumes.