Coronavirus controls and restrictions have been stepped up across the country, with exemptions for certain workplaces and workers, while the ACTU's "name and fame" list of businesses providing special paid sick leave to staff is rapidly growing.
Laws establishing a new safety regulator and transferring "serious" resources cases to the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor have passed in Queensland, with amendments. Meanwhile, a timely Bill mandating vaccinations for healthcare workers has passed in Victoria.
NSW has issued advice on commuting safely to work during the COVID-19 pandemic, while both NSW and Victoria have introduced tough penalties for those who breach new isolation orders, and Western Australia has announced special leave arrangements for public servants affected by the coronavirus, in a bid to maintain safe working environments and reduce the spread of the disease.
Employers planning to introduce new safety or health-monitoring procedures are required to consult with health and safety representatives and workers on the issue of gendered violence, and must not wait for formal reports of gendered violence incidents before addressing the matter, new guidelines warn.
An employer that allegedly failed to prepare a safe work method statement for an elevating work platform, after it was advised of a subcontractor's plan to use one, will provide mental health first-aid training to employees and subcontractors under a bid to avoid prosecution.
A medical panel denied a worker procedural fairness when it went outside the "parameters" of his injury dispute to find his traumatic experience as a refugee caused his psychological injury, a superior court has found in rejecting an employer's appeal.
> COVID-19 triggers broad travel ban for education workers; > Eye rolling can constitute workplace violence; > New injury dispute system being made by upcoming NSW Bill; and > Workers' comp amendments commence in ACT.
The Department of Defence has been convicted and fined $300,000 for breaching its WHS duties to provide a safe system of work and proper supervision to children involved in a cadet exercise. Meanwhile, a Victorian "social experiment" has found most young workers are willing to accept unsafe conditions or bullying to secure employment, highlighting the vulnerability of those under 25.
