A senior worksite manager allowed his preconceptions of a union to "colour his attitude" when he breached the Fair Work Act, and showed disregard for WHS laws, by ripping up entry notices and telling officials they couldn't investigate serious safety issues until after a site meeting, the Federal Court has found.
The Fair Work Commission has advised an employer and a union to adopt a "new cooperative approach" to workplace safety concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic, after the former sought orders curtailing the union's entry rights in light of current health restrictions.
WHS entry permit holders are permitted, from today, to photograph or film suspected safety contraventions at ACT workplaces, under a Bill that also adopts $500,000 "prohibited asbestos" fines and amends workers' compensation laws.
Employers will be forced to make quickfire decisions on right-of-entry disputes, under recent amendments to the Queensland WHS Act, according to workplace health and safety lawyers.
A union has launched Federal Circuit Court proceedings against a company and two safety managers, alleging they hindered an investigation into suspected safety breaches by failing to disclose a worksite's WHS management plan.
A recidivist union official who entered a workplace to exercise WHS rights without an entry permit has been handed a $10,000 penalty and personal payment order.
A union and its OHS advisor, who abused a safety inspector attempting to discharge his duties at a worksite, engaged in conduct in the "worst category of cases" of hindering or obstructing a person, a court has found.
