A PCBU has been fined a total of $600,000 over two incidents resulting in the electric-shock death of one worker, and the hospitalisation of two who fell four metres, with a judge slamming its "hands off" approach to safety.
A company's managing director regularly attended the workplace where a full-arm amputation occurred and had the requisite level of control to implement safety improvements at the site, a court has found in fining the man $70,000.
In a case providing an important reminder of the WHS duties around the interaction of paid workers and volunteers, a not-for-profit business has been fined over a forklift incident that broke a volunteer's pelvis and foot.
An employer that failed to implement straightforward safety measures, like instructing personnel to turn off a gas main, has been convicted and fined $600,000 over the death of an apprentice in a confined space.
An employer's WHS duties to the operators of heavy vehicles, and the members of the public they encounter, go far beyond ensuring drivers are properly licensed, a recent superior court case involving a double fatality and a dozen WHS charges has shown.
New workers, especially younger employees, can benefit from special training to improve "hardiness" and coping skills, according to researchers, who warn occupational burnout risks have increased with the COVID-19 pandemic.
A litany of failures in the way a business approached a high-risk job led to the death of a trainee, a judge has ruled in convicting and fining an individual with the duties of a PCBU $60,000.
A coronial inquiry into the death of a recently immigrated worker has highlighted the very real dangers faced by inexperienced workers and posed by power tools, particularly tools with unsafe modifications or faults.
A judge has revealed her reasons for imposing a high-level penalty on an employer when she re-sentenced it after quashing its gross negligence conviction. She rejected the company's claim it had believed certain labour-hire workers provided to its site were well trained and fully inducted in safety issues.
A manager's comments about a subordinate's body shape, even without intended s-xual innuendo, constituted s-xual harassment and caused the subordinate's post-traumatic stress disorder, a tribunal has found in awarding her damages.
