A PCBU and its director have escaped prosecution for fatality-related category 2 WHS breaches because of "evidentiary issues", but have been convicted and fined for failing to cooperate with the investigation into the death.
A supervisor has become the second entity to be convicted and fined over a FIFO worker's drowning, after he pleaded guilty to failing to follow his employer's safety manual or provide safe access to the workplace.
A man sleeping in a loading dock would not have been killed if a subcontractor had been inducted in and followed basic operating procedures, a regulator says. Meanwhile, an individual has been fined over a serious safety incident that could have been prevented at little cost.
A PCBU faces a fatality-related fine of up to $1.5 million, after a High Court majority found that Federal civil aviation laws operate within the framework of WHS legislation and other state, territory and Commonwealth laws.
The Australian Defence Force's failure to implement a safety rule recommended after a 2009 fatality - for which it was handed a near-maximum work health and safety fine - contributed to the death of an inexperienced soldier in a live firing exercise, an inquest has found.
In a case prompting renewed calls for industrial manslaughter laws, a PCBU that failed to comply with its own safety management manual or apply available controls has been convicted over a death, while another employer has been fined over a painter's fatal fall.
A High Court full bench has reserved its decision on whether the harmonised WHS laws operate in conjunction with other legislation, like civil aviation laws, which previously "covered the field".
A coroner has condemned an employer's actions in demoting a worker struggling with mental illness, instead of seeking to accommodate her condition as required by its procedures and anti-discrimination laws, in an inquest into the worker's suicide.
The High Court will determine whether the harmonised WHS laws extend to all workplaces and operate in conjunction with other legislation that previously "covered the field", after granting a regulator special leave to appeal against the quashing of fatality-related charges.
