An employer that "chose to play Russian roulette" with workers' lives has been fined $600,000 for OHS breaches that resulted in a worker suffering serious injuries.
Two major employers have failed to convince a court of appeal that their fatality-related OHS charges should be quashed because the relevant conduct was covered by road safety laws, with maximum fines of just $7300.
An employer has been fined over an illegible safety sign and inadequate guarding, which was ultimately fixed for $400, after a worker's arm was entangled in a machine's rotating parts.
A Court of Appeal has found an employer could have been, and probably should have been, fined much more than $250,000 over a fatality, but declined to intervene and increase the penalty.
A worker whose unwanted pregnancy went undiagnosed after six employment-related medical examinations has been denied damages for injuries resulting from giving birth and raising the child.
An employer has been fined for OHS breaches after a worker was crushed by an unbraced concrete wall, while another has been fined after a worker was dragged into a machine.