Browsing: WHS decisions (NSW) | Page 56

An employer has been convicted of OHS breaches after one of its supervisors identified a hazard but failed to tell anyone or implement control measures, and a worker was subsequently struck by falling coal and seriously injured.

NSW's mirror WHS Regulation has been amended to make it more consistent with the model Regulations, to give WorkCover the power to issue on-the-spot fines for certain asbestos-related offences, and to increase prescribed fees.

An employer has been found not guilty of failing to ensure the safety of three contractors, after the NSW District Court found it had adequate measures to control the risk of hazardous plant and materials.

• 457-visa investigation prompts broad workers' comp warning;
  
• Dangerous goods breaches cost employer $90k; and
  
• New judge appointed to Dust Diseases Tribunal.

The NSW Coroner has outlined how practical jokes played on a young apprentice during his employment with a major company significantly contributed to his depression and subsequent suicide.

Two companies have been ordered to pay a worker who was injured when he slipped on a "higher than normal" step more than $2.2 million in damages.

The NSW Supreme Court has clarified the extent of safety inspectors' entry powers under the State WHS Act, in rejecting an employer's claim that an inspector who entered its workplace after a fatality couldn't interview witnesses before seeking any required information in writing.

A worker who injured his back on an EWP has lost the $650,000 in damages awarded to him under motor accident laws, after the NSW Court of Appeal found the vehicle wasn't being driven at the time of the incident.

A NSW employer was negligent in failing to paint an "unusually" high step in a "strongly contrasting colour", the Supreme Court has found in upholding a permanently injured worker's damages claim.

An employer that failed to assign a spotter for a hazardous task has been convicted of OHS breaches, with the NSW District Court yesterday rejecting its claim that a worker's injury wasn't foreseeable because a similar incident had never occurred.