> Manslaughter offence without limitation periods introduced; > WHS Code released and new exposure threshold flagged in Qld; and > SWA releases guide for hazardous prefabricated concrete sector.
A WHS inspector impermissibly issued a prohibition notice with the aim of focusing a PCBU's attention on a risk instead of addressing a particular "activity", a commission has ruled in quashing the notice.
Two workers who bullied new employees made it "very difficult" for them to gain experience and posed a risk to their safety and welfare, but their employer should not have sought to force the bullies to resign by ignoring their text messages, a commission has found.
Queensland has introduced new safety laws to avert the risk of regulatory capture and hand the prosecution of "serious" offences in the resources sector to the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor, in the latest of a series of reforms including $4 million fines.
NSW's WHS laws are likely to be amended to prescribe an exposure limit for diesel emissions if Safe Work Australia declines to add diesel to the workplace exposure standards. Meanwhile, a regulator has warned that 50 per cent of respirable dust exceedances result from maintenance cleaning.
Limited training and delayed access to new software contributed to a worker developing a stress-related psychiatric injury trying to meet an unworkable deadline, a commission has found.
Two leading universities, including Australia's Monash University, will join forces to investigate how to best support workers diagnosed with silicosis, which now number more than 168 in Queensland alone, the State's Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace has announced.
An employer has committed nearly $400,000 to install remote temperature measuring devices and other safety measures that remove the need for workers to interact with hot substances, after a worker was seriously burned by molten metal ejected from a furnace.
A PCBU's WHS fine has been increased by 25 per cent because of the greater need for general deterrence, after a customer was injured by its failure to follow an equipment manufacturer's specified inspection regime.
Psychologically injured workers will no longer need to prove their employment was the "major" cause of their injury, while employers will be able to apologise to injured workers without fear of admitting liability, under a 79-page Bill introduced in Queensland.
