Browsing: WHS decisions (NSW) | Page 9

A PCBU whose "deficient" work systems led to a transformer exploding, and causing serious oil burns to a nearby worker, has been handed a pre-discount penalty of $600,000.

In a unique case, the Ambulance Service of NSW has been fined nearly $200,000 for category-3 WHS breaches, after its auditing processes failed to reveal that a worker was tampering with vials of the opioid fentanyl for personal use.

WHS fines relating to a confined-space fatality have surpassed $1 million, after the sentencing of a PCBU over failures to enforce coherent plant isolation procedures and causing the death of a worker, as well as serious injuries to two others attempting to rescue him.

A company has failed to overturn a $2 million-plus damages ruling examining the "transfer of employment". It unsuccessfully contended it was not vicariously liable for a labour-hire worker's negligence that caused a crush injury to a fellow employee.

A commission full bench has affirmed an earlier ruling revoking a WHS regulator's improvement notice issued to a site's principal contractor after a fatal fall.

A PCBU that pleaded guilty, after an employee suffered a fatal electric shock, to failing to mandate the use of locks and tags in electrical work, has been found guilty of further charges, including failing to provide adequate supervision and training on the use of volt sticks and power isolation.

A senior judge has described the ongoing spate of injuries and deaths in the roofing industry as "carnage", adding that the vast majority of incidents could have been avoided by using simple "well-known and effective safety precepts".

A PCBU has been fined for category-3 WHS breaches at a site where a fatality occurred - an incident that also led to the largest WHS-undertaking spend in NSW history.

An employer unlawfully discriminated against a job applicant with disabilities through its HR manager's "impressionistic" conclusion that employing her would involve safety risks and possible breaches of WHS laws, a tribunal has found.

A company and its sole director, who failed to take specific steps to protect workers from falling, have received significantly reduced fines, because of the director's inexperience and the company's limited capacity to pay penalties.