Browsing: WHS Harmonisation (National) | Page 18

Safe Work Australia has released two draft guides and six more draft Codes of Practice - on such topics as forklifts and cranes - for a two-month public-comment period.

PCBUs must immediately report most eye injuries and injuries that result in "loss of bodily function" to the relevant safety regulator, and preserve the incident site until an inspector arrives, according to a new Safe Work Australia fact sheet.

A Senate Estimates committee has been told the transition to the WHS Act has been "relatively smooth", and that the "floodgates would open" if a federal employee's s-x injury is deemed compensable by a full Federal Court.

The "best available" assessments of the model WHS Act show the new laws could save businesses $370 million a year, and that employers are not more likely to be prosecuted over incidents they could not have controlled, the Productivity Commission has found.

Comcare-covered employers can expect modest premium increases, at worst, after the Federal Government announced that the scheme's claims liabilities will remain "relatively stable", and its total expenses will nearly halve, in the next financial year.

Workplace "wellbeing" programs could be more tightly controlled, and industrial-manslaughter provisions added to the Work Health and Safety Act, under initiatives flagged in a draft ACTU policy paper.

New board appointed in controversial WorkCover "shake-up"; Safety-data-sheet guide released as NT WorkSafe defends harmonised asbestos laws; WorkSafe investigating crush death; and Emergency eye-wash poster published.

Guide on transitioning to new chemical-safety system released; Rail industry body denies link between long shifts and fatigue; Safe driving guide for mining sector published; and Fatality prompts warning about working alone.

Safe Work Australia has today released five new model Codes of Practice - on such topics as traffic management and working near electrical lines - for a 12-week public-comment period.

As Tasmania locks in 1 January 2013 for the commencement of its mirror Work Health and Safety Act, employers in all harmonised jurisdictions have been urged to plug their "compliance gaps".