In this major report, OHS Alert examines all the must-know work health and safety, workers' compensation and work-related COVID-19 developments from the fourth quarter of 2020, with highlights including a series of important legislative changes and near-record WHS fines.
An employer has been ordered to pay $120,000 in damages to an office worker who was injured while running to answer the phone, in a case highlighting the risks posed by systems requiring staff to rush.
Safe Work Australia has updated the model WHS Regulations and its guidance on the meaning of "person conducting a business or undertaking", while WHS provisions have been amended in NSW and South Australia, and the ACT has established a public register for reporting infringements by WHS licensees.
OHS Alert is taking a break for a few weeks, and we're leaving you with a list of our most popular articles from the last 12 months - a list dominated by our leading stories on managing the work-related risks of COVID-19, and high-profile court cases.
A worker with serious strain and lifting injuries has been awarded $1.3 million in damages, with a court finding his employer, a major joint-venture company, could have prevented the risks through simple precautions, including one involving a $400 spend.
An employer that responded sluggishly to a series of improvement notices and then failed to preserve the scene of a serious incident, resulting in head-crush injuries, has been handed multiple workplace safety fines. Meanwhile, a WHS regulator has expressed disappointment at the results of a follow-up blitz.
This article examines all the must-know workplace safety, workers' compensation and COVID-19 developments from July, August and September 2020, with highlights including a new WHS Code for the pandemic, the Dreamworld judgment, a record double-fatality fine and gross negligence cases.
