Yesterday's sentencing of South Australia Police (SAPOL) over the death of an employee in a freezer has provided crucial WHS lessons for PCBUs with workers who work alone. Meanwhile, the State Government has flagged laws to protect the health of emergency workers from "disgusting behaviour".
A WHS regulator's investigative function will receive a $390,000 boost, after South Australia Police (SAPOL) was handed a record-equalling fine over the death of a worker in a freezer at a training facility.
> SIA demands free safety-related Australian Standards; > Workplace Safety portfolio created for new Vic cabinet; and > SA introduces Bill to scrap labour-hire scheme with WHS test.
A coroner has warned that industrial manslaughter laws will increase "defensive litigious strategies", but recommended a review that could shift the focus of WHS management from risk assessment to mandatory rules.
A PCBU over-relied on a worker's extensive experience and failed to realise that his high-risk tasks went beyond the scope of his qualifications and licensing, a court has found in fining the PCBU.
A judge has restored a record-high fatality fine imposed on BHP, but found it should have been about 15 per cent higher, regardless of the employer's "impressive" response to the death.
Three major government employers face WHS fines of up to a total of $7.55 million, after a worker died in a freezer and a high school student disappeared on a camp exercise. Meanwhile, a WHS regulator has unsuccessfully appealed against a 40 per cent fine reduction.
A court erred in law in handing a record high, fatality-related WHS fine to a BHP subsidiary, but the penalty appears likely to be maintained, with BHP not complaining about its severity, and the matter being remitted to a judge with jurisdiction to impose high fines.
An employer that incorrectly assumed a WHS manager had implemented its safety systems at a new site has become the second entity to be convicted over a serious forklift incident.
The High Court has partly upheld a James Hardie company's appeal against an economic-loss ruling in favour of one of its many asbestos victims, in a case involving an Australian-first punitive damages payment.
