Employers must implement and enforce safe systems of work for seemingly straightforward tasks like stacking materials, a fatality and a $400,000 fine have shown. Meanwhile, regulators have issued alerts after workers were killed in telehandler and hoist incidents.
A tribunal has accepted a worker's claim that her heavy workload and stressful work environment caused a relapse of her anorexia, but rejected her claim that an associated cognitive impairment diminished her obligation to give her employer timely notice of the injury.
> Gig economy workers demand WHS work groups and HSRs; > Tough dangerous goods penalties and WHS changes pass in Vic and ACT; and > Work safety and RTW winners announced in NSW and Vic.
A major employer's duties as the occupier of a premises did not extend to ensuring a specialist contractor, engaged by another company, strictly complied with suitable safe work method statements, an appeals court has confirmed in an important damages case.
In this update, OHS Alert revisits all the important work health and safety and workers' compensation legislative changes from the third quarter of 2019. We also recap the most significant court and tribunal rulings and other developments from across the country.
> Workplace champions key to reducing excessive sitting; > Federal Govt bans unprotected quads, with transitional periods; and > ACT amends WHS Act, hints at manslaughter changes.
> Workplace stress training urged for World Mental Health Day; > Alerts with tips issued after trench and formwork collapse; and > Safe ladder system among WHS and RTW winners in Qld.
> Walk to work and hold walking meetings tomorrow; > Pre-start checks urged after death, alerts issued in three jurisdictions; and > WHS exemptions made for ACT chemicals, ARPANSA releases guide.
Building workplace cultures where both official and unofficial leaders demonstrate a commitment to health and safety, and workers are shielded from the stigma associated with injury claims, is one of five action areas of a new national return-to-work strategy.
