Browsing: Workplace safety court and tribunal decisions | Page 7

A PCBU that has been battling fatality-related WHS charges for three years has had a minor victory in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, which agreed to vary the adverse publicity order against the business.

• Missing signage and access issues among multiple chemical breaches; and
  
• Draft safety laws include mandatory jail for most offenders.

A worker has unsuccessfully claimed he was unfairly sacked for raising safety concerns, with a commission hearing a safety regulator investigated and dismissed his concerns, and finding he was sacked for being unable to perform the inherent requirements of his role.

A company that received a record-breaking WHS recklessness fine, over the death of an apprentice, has failed to reduce a $1.3 million payout to an injured labour-hire worker through the application of a "notoriously difficult" legislative provision.

• Safety sign-off deception leads to electrical injuries;
  
• New WHS provisions commencing in WA soon; and
  
• Employers told to utilise WHS "snapshots" in Tas.

A worker has been convicted of safety breaches that caused a colleague to become crushed between two vehicles and sustain life-threatening injuries, with a court finding he should have been aware of the danger his co-worker was in.

Two PCBUs that failed to consult on task planning and mechanical aids have been fined over a teenager's death, while a business owner with a long history of safety breaches has been fined for endangering motorists through the performance of "poor quality" work next to a highway.

A commissioner did not make a mistake when he ordered an employer to reinstate a worker, who had undergone spinal surgery, without explicitly finding he was capable of safely carrying out his role, a full bench has found.

A full Federal Court has partially overturned a ruling made against a union and an official accused of refusing to comply with a worksite's WHS requirements, finding the site's rules only required the official to be "accompanied" rather than "escorted".

A sacked worker has unsuccessfully argued his sarcastic comments about a co-worker being "m-lested" didn't constitute workplace s-xual harassment, but won his unfair dismissal case.