A worker who failed to alert his supervisor to unsafe working conditions, before slipping and falling two metres, has been found contributorily negligent in his damages case against three companies.
An employer has been convicted and fined $120,000, plus costs, after using an apprentice to carry out high-risk rigging work because its usual dogman was unavailable, resulting in a beam falling and seriously injuring the young worker.
An employer has been convicted and fined after a worker fell three metres while performing a task that was previously outsourced to an expert company, while another employer has been fined after a worker's face was lacerated by an unguarded powered hand tool.
An employer has been convicted and fined heavily for WHS offences after a worker was fatally crushed when a forklift with a faulty handbrake rolled and pinned him against a wall. Meanwhile, an education provider has been fined after a 12-year-old boy was killed.
A PCBU has been convicted and fined for WHS offences after an offsite worker used the wrong chemical to clean a machine, resulting in a man sustaining facial burns. Meanwhile, another employer has been fined after a worker fell off an unguarded platform.
The recent WHS conviction of a company officer drives home the importance of establishing due diligence plans and governance structures for senior management, Ashurst partner Trent Sebbens says in this comprehensive Q&A with OHS Alert.
A superior court has found a major employer harassed a female employee for suffering a gynaecological disability requiring extended absences, but stressed that employers aren't obliged to grant unpaid sick leave to such workers. Meanwhile, a s-xually-harassed apprentice has been awarded $30,000 in compensation.
A second PCBU has been fined after a young excavator operator's skull was pierced by a flying steel bar because his supervisor neglected to instruct him to close the vehicle's window.
In an unusual case, an appeals court has rejected an employer's claim that damages awarded to an employee, who was injured while visiting her workplace on her day off, should have been restricted by workers' compensation laws.
An "injured" worker has been denied more than $1 million in damages, after a court found he tripped in wet conditions because he negligently left a designated workplace walkway.
