Residual current devices (RCDs) should be installed in all workplaces, regardless of the construction date, while defibrillators need to be more widely available, particularly at remote sites, an inquest into an electrocution has found.
In an unusual case, a worker has been denied workers' compensation after a tribunal found his injury probably resulted from serious and wilful misconduct, with his employer asserting he cut his own finger to get out of a jail sentence.
An employer has been found not liable for an injured worker's suicide, which his widow claims was caused by using cannabis to cope with the pain from his work injury.
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.
A superior court has confirmed an employer isn't liable for an "injury" sustained by a worker while walking at work, but stressed that the man's claim wasn't defeated by the boxes his doctor did or didn't tick on his medical certificate.
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.
