A company director failed to exercise due diligence by failing to, among other things, ensure his company had a system to alert him of near misses, a court has found in convicting him and the company for WHS breaches.
In this comprehensive report, OHS Alert reviews all the major WHS and workers' comp developments from the first quarter of 2019, including the unprecedented jailing of company directors, the outcomes of the national WHS review, and significant legislative changes in every jurisdiction.
An employer had three control measures for a serious risk but failed to ensure they were included in safe working procedures or workers knew about them, a court has found in convicting the employer.
A facilities management company was entitled to rely on an expert contractor to set up and service a building maintenance unit (BMU), but wasn't entitled to rely on it to push for a mandatory major inspection of the BMU, which could have prevented a serious safety incident, a court has ruled.
Employers using hazardous chemicals must implement systems for identifying and containing spilled substances to prevent the risk of serious injuries like chemical burns, a WHS prosecution shows.
A major employer's "significant efforts" to comply with its WHS obligations were undermined by a manager giving a worker unsafe instructions, which led to him suffering third-degree burns, a court has found in convicting the employer.
NSW Labor says it will introduce industrial manslaughter laws, double SafeWork's compliance functions and make it harder for employers to conduct covert surveillance of injured workers, if it wins this weekend's State election.
Employers providing workers with mindfulness training to combat stress need to ensure leaders are also accessing the program, to get the most out of their investment, icare says. The insurer has also identified a number of steps employers can take to reduce the impact of customer abuse.
