A company director who bullied a subcontractor for four years, and abused him for raising safety concerns to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, has been convicted of workplace health and safety contraventions.
The final PCBU to be sentenced in relation to the December 2019 Whakaari volcanic eruption, which killed 22 tourists and workers, failed to relay critical risk information, which only it possessed, to its contractors, a court has found.
A local council's innovative contractor management system (CMS) has dramatically improved its safety communication and messaging processes and compliance activities, a spokesperson has revealed.
The fine imposed on an employer that failed to fully implement a mandatory safety measure, because it ran out of the required materials, has been increased more than five-fold on appeal, with a judge stressing penalties must be significant enough to dissuade others from "cutting corners".
A PCBU should have ensured the safety procedures in its paper systems were put into practice and checked and maintained, to prevent a worker being pinned between a wall and a crane load, a court has found.
A company and its director have been fined $420,000, after the latter identified serious safety issues at a site but failed to act to prevent a worker's seven-metre fall. Another PCBU has already been fined $300,000 over the fall.
A company has been found liable to pay death benefits to the dependents of an uninsured contract worker who suffered a fatal heart attack while performing "light" work at the site of one of the company's clients.
A PCBU that has been battling fatality-related WHS charges for three years has had a minor victory in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, which agreed to vary the adverse publicity order against the business.
A man has been ordered to stand trial for the industrial manslaughter of a worker who fell through an unguarded penetration, while employers have been urged to assess and control the risks associated with the potentially deadly disease melioidosis, after a work-related case was recorded.
Two PCBUs that failed to consult on task planning and mechanical aids have been fined over a teenager's death, while a business owner with a long history of safety breaches has been fined for endangering motorists through the performance of "poor quality" work next to a highway.