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.
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.
A major employer breached a WHS clause in failing to identify and block all hazardous areas of a machine that workers could access, either accidentally or deliberately, and has been fined over a fatality.
> Employers without "safety resets" to be named in Parliament; > WHS Amendment Bill improves accountability in ACT; > Workers' comp changes for police pass in Tas; and > New dangerous goods guide for all WA duty holders released.
A coronial inquest into the death of a worker, who inadvertently enlivened old electrical equipment he reasonably believed was safe, has highlighted the safety risks around old "decommissioned" plant.
> Dark day declared after workplace exposure standard meeting; > Electrocution prompts powerline warning to employers; and > $3m fund aims to prevent construction injuries.
