SafeWork NSW has committed to ensuring inspectors' decisions to issue prohibition notices aren't driven by political pressures, and to pushing WHS reforms at a national level, after the State Ombudsman found the regulator imposed unreasonable asbestos-related requirements on a local council.
> Admin-control warning issued after PCBU fined; > Managers warned after vehicle falls 25m, kills operator; and > SA launches asbestos blitz, suspends another licence.
WHS entry permit holders are permitted, from today, to photograph or film suspected safety contraventions at ACT workplaces, under a Bill that also adopts $500,000 "prohibited asbestos" fines and amends workers' compensation laws.
James Hardie has been ordered to pay for expensive, advanced immunotherapy treatment for a mesothelioma sufferer, in a landmark case setting a "significant precedent" for future damages awards for workplace victims and others.
An "unprepared" company director has pleaded guilty to failing to exercise due diligence to ensure her company complied with its WHS duties, after a young worker was hospitalised with burns, while an asbestos assessor's licence has been suspended for issuing clearance certificates to sites littered with debris.
> HSE adviser allegedly unlawfully snubbed by official; > New WHS Code of Practice commences in NSW; > Two more jurisdictions halve workplace silica threshold; and > Draft national safety guidelines for asbestos-cement pipes released.
An employer has been ordered to pay more than $230,000 in fines and costs, after a man working in inadequate lighting was killed by mobile equipment with unlabelled emergency shutdown and operation switches. Meanwhile, a regulator has issued a safety warning following the latest of a series of work-related quad bike deaths.
A Federal Circuit Court case has re-highlighted the significant safety issue of new products containing asbestos being imported and used in Australian workplaces, potentially exposing workers to the deadly substance in their day-to-day tasks.
In a significant development, given the recent safety scandals involving the importation and use of asbestos-containing materials, the model WHS Act has been amended to make it mandatory for regulators to issue notices when they believe "prohibited asbestos" is present at a workplace, with maximum fines of $500,000 for those that fail to comply with a notice.
