> "Safety reset" agreed on after string of fatalities; > PCBU allegedly failed to act on induction advice before death; > Health department charged with OHS discrimination; and > Prohibition notice numbers nearly tripled in ACT.
A PCBU has been fined after an inexperienced teenage worker's fingers were amputated, just months after another worker was killed at the same site. Meanwhile, a worker has been awarded nearly $1.4 million after he was seriously injured moving 250kg slabs on his second day on the job.
> Four entities including manager charged over teenager's death; > OHS improvement notices maintained after quad case withdrawn; and > New drug testing rules commencing under RSNL.
In a major review, Canadian and Australian researchers have found new workers are significantly more likely to sustain acute injuries like cuts, burns and sprains, signalling a need for specific workplace policies and reduced turnover.
A supervisor whose purported "brain fade" exposed a teenage apprentice to the risk of serious burns and death, in a case of "high jinks gone wrong", has been convicted and fined for the most serious WHS offence of reckless conduct.
A judge who jailed a company director for a category 1 WHS breach failed to direct the jury to consider whether the man had a "reasonable excuse" for not installing a safety rail, an appeals court has ruled. In another case, a director has been jailed over a young worker's death.
A PCBU could have complied with its duty to apply the hierarchy of risk controls through a simple and inexpensive purchasing decision, a court has found in fining the business over a teenage worker's serious injuries.
The Department of Defence has been charged with multiple WHS offences relating to the shooting death of a soldier, after a coronial inquest found it failed to implement safety rules recommended by a probe into another death, over which it was heavily fined.
