> Employer and director fined $330k for fatal height breaches; > Winter safety tips and precast panel alert issued in ACT; and > Safety regulations for mine medical records tweaked in Qld.
A tribunal has rejected claims that surgery severed the causal relationship between a worker's employment and her carpal tunnel syndrome, and stressed that her overseas move didn't void her former employer's rehabilitation obligations to her.
In this comprehensive report, OHS Alert reviews all the major WHS and workers' comp developments from the first quarter of 2019, including the unprecedented jailing of company directors, the outcomes of the national WHS review, and significant legislative changes in every jurisdiction.
> WHS and surveillance changes unlikely after NSW election result; > Four new WHS Codes of Practice coming to ACT; and > Safety laws made in NT and Tas.
A tourism operator has been fined for WHS breaches, including failing to follow a manufacturer's instructions, which led to a woman sustaining "cannon ball" injuries. Meanwhile, regulators have issued alerts after two fatal falls and two serious crane incidents involving counterweights.
An employer has failed to convince a superior court a worker was not "forced" to undertake a risky activity and negligently failed to refuse to perform it.
Safety regulations for exclusion zones and equipment in the construction industry could be overhauled under recommendations from an inquest into a young worker's death, which led to the first reckless conduct charges under Australia's harmonised WHS laws.
> Infringement notice priorities and alerts issued in Qld; > WHS amendments step up asbestos training rules in ACT; and > UK increases enforcement of carcinogenic welding fumes.
