The NSW WHS Act will be amended to impose new duties on PCBUs that "provide food delivery services", if an Opposition Bill (which forms part of a broader safety strategy for gig workers) passes Parliament. Meanwhile, Tasmanian employers have been told to "stay COVID safe" as border restrictions ease.
While direct employers are often considered more culpable for employees' injuries than overseeing contractors, a court has found a principal is as responsible as a subcontractor for a six-metre fall, and fined it $180,000.
A contract worker who sustained spinal injuries, which led to his death, in a fall from a scissor lift, should have been more closely supervised, given his and his colleague's limited experience at the incident site and their "insufficiently defined" work method, an investigation has found.
A WHS regulator has identified the absence of adequate controls for preventing three-metre-plus falls as a major area of non-compliance in the high-risk construction sector. It has also, coincidentally, accepted a PCBU's bid to enter an enforceable undertaking after a worker fell four metres.
Two major PCBUs have been fined $375,000 each, plus a total of $90,000 in prosecution costs, after their failures to meet their own safety-in-design requirements caused pipework to fail and kill a worker.
A PCBU allegedly failed to enforce safety standards and created a culture of non-compliance that led to a fatality, a judge has heard in upholding the business's WHS charge. However, the judge struck out a complaint against the business's co-defendant.
An employer has failed to overturn its $300,000 WHS fine by claiming the trial judge failed to address the extent to which it controlled a workplace or whether it was obligated to implement the measures identified by the prosecution.
BHP responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing "digital personal protective equipment" to staff, expanding its psychological support services and ensuring its 9,000-plus suppliers applied stringent health and safety standards to their own workforces, it claims in its annual report.
> Admin-control warning issued after PCBU fined; > Managers warned after vehicle falls 25m, kills operator; and > SA launches asbestos blitz, suspends another licence.
> John Holland charged with category-2 WHS breach; > Multiple electrical cases being referred to WHS Prosecutor; and > One WHS prohibition notice closes 13 sites.
