Performance appraisals are formal processes to assess a worker's "overall" performance and don't include employers informally managing specific problems with their work, a tribunal has ruled in an injury dispute.
The company director jailed for recklessly endangering a roofer, who fell to his death, over-relied on the diligence of workers and skimped on safety controls, the Queensland Office of Industrial Relations has revealed.
A company director has been jailed for a year, while his company has been fined $1 million, in the latest of a series of cases that show the increasing trend for safety regulators to target individuals and push for harsh penalties, according to a WHS and employment relations lawyer.
Employers and safety professionals could be on the verge of having cheaper or even free access to Australian Standards incorporated into work health and safety laws and other legislation, with Standards Australia describing a recent judgment as an "exciting step towards delivering greater value and improving access" to the documents.
> Three PCBUs charged with four category 2 breaches; > More WHS inspectors exposed to violence, this time in NSW; and > Guarding set-up breached Australian Standard and OHS Act.
> Major OHS discrimination case prompts warning; > PCBU failed to learn from amputation, fined $594k; and > Improvement notices stalled under Qld work bans.
A host employer breached its duty of care to a worker by allowing him to work in a poorly lit area and failing to act on his request for better lighting, a court has ruled.
> Families contributing to workplace manslaughter reforms; > Missing beeper and beacon constitute OHS breach; and > NSW launches eToolkit to improve young workers' safety.
An employer's duty to provide a safe system of work extends to maintaining and enforcing such a system, including where an alternative system creates a foreseeable risk of injury of any severity, an appeals court has found in upholding an injured worker's $1.4 million award.
