Browsing: Work at heights | Page 12

A worker who threw a six-kilogram object from an elevated work platform in a "moment of madness", seriously injuring an apprentice, has been found guilty of recklessness and handed a suspended prison sentence.

An individual operating as a PCBU, who was found guilty of multiple WHS contraventions relating to a crane and powerlines incident that seriously injured two workers, has been fined just $15,000, despite facing a maximum total penalty of $600,000.

A PCBU that failed to properly supervise its workers has been fined $300,000, after an unqualified labourer, who had been allocated groundwork, fell to his death from a height of nearly three metres.

A PCBU fined $170,000 for endangering "other persons", by allowing an unqualified labour-hire worker to perform high-risk cranage work, has lost its appeal against its conviction, with a bench rejecting is claim the task was outside the scope of its undertaking.

A PCBU has been fined a total of $100,000, in the Federal Court, for unduly delaying and physically blocking WHS permit holders from entering a worksite to investigate suspected safety contraventions, including after the site was evacuated because of hazardous fumes.

• OHS insurance bans take effect in Vic, new chair appointed; and
  
• Employer fined over EWP incident and verification failure.

A PCBU, whose slapdash fall prevention efforts created a trip hazard that increased the risk, has been fined $150,000 and ordered to put its director through safety training, after a young worker fell nearly 8.5 metres and suffered multiple permanent traumatic injuries to his limbs and face.

A PCBU that "dismissed" warnings concerning the proximity of powerlines at a worksite has been fined $600,000, and ordered to fund a safety education video, after becoming the second entity to be convicted over a labourer's electric-shock death.

• WHS Code of Practice approved in ACT, in rare move; and
  
• WHS Regulation remade with new diesel rules in NSW.

A coroner has recommended mandating the use of "secondary guarding technology" on all elevated work platforms (EWPs), following an inquiry into the death of a worker who was crushed between an EWP's guardrail and a roof truss.