A company and its director have been fined nearly $160,000 after two young workers, including a work experience student, were injured in an explosion after being directed to mix hazardous chemicals in a home-made contraption.
A PCBU has been found guilty of breaching WHS laws in failing to revise its work methods after being allocated an additional task, which exposed two young workers to serious safety risks and resulted in the death of one of them.
Workplace policies and programs that drive home the broad safety repercussions of turning up to work with a hangover, and impaired coordination, are far more likely to reduce risky drinking behaviours than warnings on the impact of alcohol on individuals' health, a study of NSW workers suggests.
> Employer fined for non-causal failures after fatal fall; > COVID-19 work cluster sparks renewed calls for WHS overhaul; and > COVID-19 safety strategies announced in Tas and NT.
Employers must implement processes for rewarding young workers who ask questions and display safe behaviours, in light of a recent experiment that found young people will accept unsafe conditions or bullying to secure employment, high-profile psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg says in this Q&A with OHS Alert.
A PCBU and its director have been fined a total of $385,000, and handed training orders, after a worker was killed by an unsecured hose, with a court finding the director failed to ensure his company had the necessary resources to comply with WHS laws.
An employer has been convicted for failing to take measures against workers being injured in the "shadow" zone of falling objects, after a worker was crushed by a 400kg steel coil.
An employer that negligently failed to identify and remove a slip hazard, which injured a labour-hire apprentice, is entitled to recover the $614,000 damages bill from its public liability insurer, an appeals court has ruled.
The Department of Defence has been convicted and fined $300,000 for breaching its WHS duties to provide a safe system of work and proper supervision to children involved in a cadet exercise. Meanwhile, a Victorian "social experiment" has found most young workers are willing to accept unsafe conditions or bullying to secure employment, highlighting the vulnerability of those under 25.
A franchisee of a major fast food chain has claimed that WHS laws do not confer an entitlement on its workers to have a drink or go to the toilet outside their scheduled 10-minute drink break, in an ongoing Federal Court case.
