Safe Work Australia members have endorsed by majority six further model Codes of Practice, but the controversial Code on preventing and responding to workplace bullying is yet to be finalised.
Induction flaw ends in death plunge and $250k fine; Employer placed on bond after worker killed by unguarded machine; and Harmonisation guides for major hazard facilities and Queensland rural sector released.
Safe Work Australia and WorkCover NSW have released new harmonisation guides on discriminatory conduct, slips and trips and incident notification. Also in this article, the Northern Territory's new work health and safety laws have commenced for miners.
SafeSearch's latest remuneration survey has found the gap in OHS salaries between the mining sector and other industries is closing for the first time in six years, and that safety professionals aren't particularly worried about the new work health and safety laws.
Employers must consider previously unthought-of hazards - such as typing and handling mail - when conducting risk assessments, or risk breaching the manual task provisions of the harmonised WHS Regulations, according to a specialist workplace lawyer.
Global hazardous chemicals system takes effect under model laws; Queensland employer fined for maintenance failure after death; Free Tasmanian service to boost worker health and productivity; and Western Australia's veteran Mines Minister announces retirement.
Employers, workers and volunteers have been assured that the duty to ensure workplace safety is much the same as it was prior to harmonisation, and that regulators are unlikely to increase prosecution rates under the new regime.
An insolvency practitioner appointed to a PCBU must exercise due diligence under harmonised OHS laws, lawyers have advised. Also in this article, lawyers have outlined what the new laws mean for the Queensland construction industry.
Workplaces in the five OHS jurisdictions where harmonised safety laws have taken effect are now safer and more productive, according to Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten. But stakeholders continue to squabble over the draft model Codes of Practice.
SWA urged to keep non-core drug testing rules out of mining Regulations; Reports on reducing risks of laser printer emissions released; and SafeWork SA investigating manufacturing death.
