Workplace leaders learn the majority of what they know about health and safety from their employers, showing employers should use that influence to drive safety outcomes, according to the head of health, safety and security for one of Australia's biggest infrastructure projects.
A PCBU has entered a $200,000 undertaking, in lieu of prosecution relating to the death of a customer's employee, in a case that examined the temporal and geographical limitations of the WHS duty to "other persons".
A PCBU and its director exposed four worksite neighbours to the risk of serious injury or death in ignoring their WHS obligations under time and cost pressures, a court has found in fining them a total of more than $200,000.
A PCBU that incorrectly believed an expert contractor was obliged to advise it when a building maintenance unit (BMU) was due for a major inspection has been convicted and fined $400,000, after two workers were seriously injured in a 12-storey fall.
A PCBU that failed to identify the risks posed by a damaged footpath outside a worksite has become the second entity to be convicted over the death of an elderly man in a mobility scooter crash, and been handed a significant penalty.
WHS offences with long jail terms have a direct impact on decision makers and force them to turn their minds to the best available protections for workers, a union secretary says. But an industry representative has claimed that "penalties don't save lives".
A PCBU knew workers from other businesses were removing parts of its scaffold without authorisation but failed to routinely check its integrity, a court has found in fining it $225,000 over a major scaffolding collapse where workers were forced to ride falling material down seven storeys.
A regulator has warned workplace leaders that they have a duty to "live and breathe" their anti-bullying policies, after securing its second reckless conduct conviction involving a life-threatening attack on an apprentice.
An employer that allowed a substation where a double fatality occurred to be used as a storeroom has been fined for access and egress breaches, while the Department of Defence has been charged with three category 2 WHS breaches, after a man's leg was amputated.
Western Australia has announced a two-level industrial manslaughter offence, revealed plans to beef up its safety inspectorate and released a draft WHS framework. Meanwhile, Victoria has introduced a new reckless conduct offence with $6.4 million fines for employers.
