A European holiday worker, whose heat stroke death in Queensland resulted in two WHS prosecutions, was neither acclimatised to the area nor provided with adequate opportunities to escape from the sun, a coroner has found.
In one of two important judgments involving a long-running battle between an employer and a union, an appeals court has warned that a trespass finding against four WHS entry permit holders could have encouraged workplaces to deliberately obstruct such officials, hindering the objectives of safety laws.
An employer that failed to implement a safe system for inflating tyres has been fined $200,000, after a worker was killed in a "percussive pressure" incident. Meanwhile, a company and its director have been sentenced for repeatedly refusing to allow WHS inspectors to enter a workplace.
A court has nearly quadrupled the damages awarded to a worker who sustained psychological injuries from being subjected to "lewd and disgusting behaviour" from her manager, and from the prospect of being humiliated and demeaned on a daily basis.
An employer has successfully challenged a WHS inspector's improvement notice targeting its emergency response plan and firefighting equipment, contending the inspector relied on building codes he had no jurisdiction to enforce.
A union official has successfully challenged a ruling that he contravened WHS laws in intimidating a safety inspector during a discussion on a site's evacuation plan, where the inspector cast "apparently demeaning aspersions" against the union.
A company and its director have failed to overturn their WHS convictions and fines by claiming they had no control over, and therefore no safety duty to, a labour-hire worker who fell through a void.
A second PCBU has been fined over the heat stress death of a worker, with a court finding it breached its duties as the entity in control of the workplace by failing to provide suitable rest areas or shade.
A major government employer has successfully stayed two WHS improvement notices aimed at its violence prevention processes, with a commission finding the notices could be overturned, and having to comply with them in the meantime would not be fair on the employer.
An employer has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 million in damages to a worker with white finger syndrome, for allowing him to operate machinery with dangerous vibration levels for far more hours per shift than advised by engineers and safety guidelines.
