A major energy company that failed to implement an adequate visual inspection regime for power poles, and a business that failed to manage asphyxia risks, have been fined a total of nearly $500,000 over fatalities. Meanwhile, duty holders have been urged to assess the risk of heat-related illnesses, after an outdoor worker died in hot weather.
A PCBU has failed to overturn its fatality-related WHS conviction in an appeals court, in a case demonstrating the key role that updating safety documents to reflect new practices plays in preventing incidents.
A PCBU has been handed a pre-discount fine of $400,000 for failing to provide an apprentice, who fell four metres at the home of the PCBU's director, with adequate supervision, a fall protection system, or any working at heights training.
Assigning "human supervisors" for drones will mitigate some of the emerging safety risks associated with the increasing use of the aerial vehicles in workplace settings, according to Europe's peak safety agency.
An employer's commitment to spending nearly $1 million on safety undertakings, including piloting a drone program to eliminate fall-from-height risks, is the "preferred enforcement option" over a worker's four-metre fall, a regulator has revealed.
A PCBU has been convicted and fined for WHS breaches that involved a worker's decision to operate mobile plant that wasn't fitted with FOPS - falling object protective structures.
A company charged with safety breaches, after a subcontractor who didn't realise he was working at height dropped a tool 40 metres down a shaft onto another worker, has committed to spending more than $240,000 on safety undertakings.
