A new Code of Practice will help duty holders protect the mental health of fly-in-fly-out workers in the resources and construction sectors, but can be applied to other industries, the draft document says. Meanwhile, a regulator has launched a proactive inspection program for scaffolding across Western Australia.
A worker who was refused further shifts with a company after taking sick leave, due to a domestic violence incident, has failed to prove the company discriminated against her on the basis of her gender.
A worker engaged in serious and wilful misconduct by continually "taunting and baiting" a co-worker until he snapped and assaulted him, a commission has found in rejecting his workers' compensation claim.
A worker "caught up in a series of unfortunate events", like being accused of conspiring with her husband to bomb an Australian consulate and threatened by police in Zimbabwe, has been awarded workers' compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Victorian Department of Justice and Regulation has been handed a $300,000 OHS fine for failing to take special steps to protect prison staff in the lead up to a major riot. Another Victorian employer has been fined $60,000 (including costs) after scaffold parts fell from a crane and crashed through the roof of a Porsche dealership.
A worker injured in a service station fight has won his four-year battle for compensation, with the Federal Court finding that neither the High Court interval test nor a provision on "abnormal risk" applied to his claim.
A commission has overturned the dismissal of a worker who attempted to punch a member of the public in a road rage incident, after finding the other person instigated the incident and provoked him.
A worker's refusal to provide her employer with medical information from her drunken visit to a hospital emergency room was not a valid reason to terminate her employment, a commission has found.
