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.
A coronial inquest into a worker's death has pointed to the differing expectations of safety regulators, and the fact that one's policy on "generational" change could be exposing the current generation of workers to "risks that legally should not exist".
A coronial inquest has found that WHS offences "may have been committed" in connection with the death of a worker in a 66-metre fall, after rejecting a regulator's finding that such workers weren't required to hold high-risk work licences.
