An employer has been ordered to pay more than $230,000 in fines and costs, after a man working in inadequate lighting was killed by mobile equipment with unlabelled emergency shutdown and operation switches. Meanwhile, a regulator has issued a safety warning following the latest of a series of work-related quad bike deaths.
An appeals court has upheld and then increased a worker's $2 million damages award, in finding an employer should have tagged out or stored away defective equipment, which was so loud when it was accidentally activated that it seriously injured the startled worker.
A major employer's safety fine has been nearly quadrupled to $110,000, with an appeals court finding its culpability was increased rather than mitigated by the misconduct of a "rogue" supervisor, who seriously injured a non-employee.
A company and its director have been fined a total of $175,000 for dangerous goods offences uncovered by police investigating a burglary. Meanwhile, the ACTU has issued heat and smoke alerts and called for WHS laws that "deal with the reality of climate change".
A government employee who drove a heavy vehicle into a remand prisoner - a fatality that led to two workplace health and safety prosecutions - was directed to drive the vehicle despite raising concerns about his lack of experience or familiarity with the truck, an inquest has found.
The director of a company with a long history of safety and entry contraventions had a "deliberate policy" to breach entry laws because he believed he was being targeted by a union, the Federal Circuit Court has found in fining the director, the company and a supervisor.
A coronial inquest into the death of an Australia Post motorcyclist, who was struck by reversing machinery, has made recommendations for reducing public safety hazards around work sites, and highlighted cross-jurisdictional issues that hampered the regulatory response to the incident.
