Browsing: WHS decisions (VIC) | Page 35

• Workers overcome by fumes after confined-space breach;
  
• Crane operator fined for power line shocks;
  
• Regulators join police in work safety blitz; and
  
• More than 1000 businesses consult SafeWork SA's educator arm.

An employer's OHS fine has been increased from $40,000 to $175,000, after a judge found it left workers "to their own devices" when transporting heavy machinery, which represented a "very significant" departure from its duties to those workers.

• Employer fined $275k over collision death;
  
• Four more WHS Codes to be overhauled in Qld; and
  
• New Radiation Regulations commencing in Vic.

An appeals court has ordered a full re-trial of a long-running compensation dispute involving alleged OHS breaches and a High Court judgment in favour of an injured worker.

An employer that claimed it discharged its OHS duties, by ensuring the manufacturer of two of its machines was properly certified, has been ordered to pay nearly $200,000 in fines and costs, after a worker's hand was amputated in one of the machines.

Two Department of Defence contractors face WHS fines of up to $6 million each, after a vehicle rolled and struck a worker. Meanwhile, an employer has been fined for allowing workers to smoke near dangerous goods, and other safety issues that could have been "easily fixed".

In the first WHS penalty handed down in the South Australian Employment Tribunal, an employer has been fined after a worker was struck by a forklift. Meanwhile, three Victorian employers have been fined a total of $110,000 after a spate of incidents, including one where a worker was struck by an object that fell 13 storeys.

• Man hindered WorkSafe after second man seen on fire;
  
• New WHS Code coming to ACT, safety videos released; and
  
• Electrocutions add to work-related fatality toll.

A series of workplace fatalities and a sudden spike in the national death toll have highlighted the importance of effective vehicle maintenance, traffic management, remote-work controls and other safety strategies, according to regulators and a coroner.

• Employers fined for SWMS and secure-storage breaches;
  
• Proposed FIFO safety code extending to all industries; and
  
• SAET to deal with WHS prosecutions soon.