A company director has successfully argued his safety breaches didn't warrant the near-record fine imposed on him, with an appeals court finding he had been negligent rather than reckless. Meanwhile, a number of employers have been charged and entered undertakings after a child was killed and a young trainee fell six metres.
Western Australia recently adopted Australia's second highest maximum work safety fines, but a major employer has been fined just $65,000 over a preventable fatality, with the State's former, notoriously lenient penalty regime continuing to apply to offences committed prior to October this year.
In an important safety study for all employers with vehicles on public roads, researchers have found that even highly experienced professional drivers experience a significant deterioration in overall driving performance while using mobile phones.
A PCBU over-relied on a worker's extensive experience and failed to realise that his high-risk tasks went beyond the scope of his qualifications and licensing, a court has found in fining the PCBU.
An Australian study on musculoskeletal disorders has highlighted the need to educate young workers on correct working postures, including how to manage their "postural variations" with different workstations.
One of three entities charged after the death of a teenager in the Work for the Dole (WFD) program has been handed less than 20 per cent of the maximum penalty for a category 3 WHS breach.
