A supermarket giant has been convicted of WHS offences after a "blind spot" in its inspection and maintenance regime allowed degraded equipment to fall on a worker, inflicting multiple fractures.
In convicting and fining an employer $245,000, after a worker's legs were amputated in an unfit-for-purpose machine, a judge has stressed that post-incident acts of contrition are far inferior to proactively avoiding injuries in the first place.
PCBUs are obligated to implement procedures and training that "deal with any shortcomings" of employees and eliminate unsafe process shortcuts, a judge has ruled in handing a company a pre-discount WHS fine of $300,000, and refusing to apply the maximum reduction for its early guilty plea.
A PCBU has been handed a record WHS penalty, while a second PCBU has been fined heavily, after they failed to prohibit or halt impromptu modifications to "extremely powerful" plant, and a worker was crushed to death.
In fining a company director for WHS breaches, a tribunal has found she failed to ensure her business complied with its duty to refuel a burner in a safe manner. The tribunal also questioned the suitability of equipment where risk-control hinges on strict compliance with every safety step in a manual.
An "unprepared" company director has pleaded guilty to failing to exercise due diligence to ensure her company complied with its WHS duties, after a young worker was hospitalised with burns, while an asbestos assessor's licence has been suspended for issuing clearance certificates to sites littered with debris.
A tribunal full bench has quashed a finding that an injured worker's purported disciplinary issues and poor attendance record should not be taken into account when deciding whether to provide him with suitable employment.
