A model WHS guide has been amended to reflect recent Federal and High Court rulings on entering workplaces to assist health and safety reps. Safe Work Australia has also released new guidance on identifying company officers and their duties, a major fatality report, and safety and workers' comp comparison reports.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has allowed a worker to challenge a significant ruling that his refusal to use a fingerprint scanner, to register his presence at work for safety reasons, was a valid reason for his dismissal.
A study of more than 15,000 workers has found that workplace change, especially changes in management, causes a rise in the use of anti-depressant and anti-anxiety drugs among workers.
The Australian Defence Force's failure to implement a safety rule recommended after a 2009 fatality - for which it was handed a near-maximum work health and safety fine - contributed to the death of an inexperienced soldier in a live firing exercise, an inquest has found.
A worker who broke her leg after smoking on a workplace rooftop prior to starting a shift was on an "ordinary recess" and is entitled to compensation, because her employer required her to attend work 10 minutes early, an appeals court has ruled.
An employer that neglected to tell contractors that a structure they were scheduled to work on had failed an inspection, resulting in a roof collapsing under a worker, has failed to overturn its OHS penalty.
The Federal Government has provided in-principle support for WHS amendments that could increase maximum fines by more than 90 per cent, and explicitly ban insurance against penalties.
Rescue exercises and emergency simulations can place workers at risk of cardiovascular stress and heat stroke, and should be carefully monitored and include a recovery plan, Canadian researchers have warned.
The Federal Government has reconfirmed its commitment to slashing the number of industrial chemicals requiring pre-introduction regulatory scrutiny by more than 70 per cent, but has postponed the start date for the new scheme by another year.
