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.
Queensland has introduced new safety laws to avert the risk of regulatory capture and hand the prosecution of "serious" offences in the resources sector to the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor, in the latest of a series of reforms including $4 million fines.
NSW's WHS laws are likely to be amended to prescribe an exposure limit for diesel emissions if Safe Work Australia declines to add diesel to the workplace exposure standards. Meanwhile, a regulator has warned that 50 per cent of respirable dust exceedances result from maintenance cleaning.
Over-confidence and a subjective perception of low risk are contributing to a "remarkable under-reporting" of needle stick injuries, as well as poor observance of vital safety response measures, research on the healthcare sector has found.
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.
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.
Two leading universities, including Australia's Monash University, will join forces to investigate how to best support workers diagnosed with silicosis, which now number more than 168 in Queensland alone, the State's Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace has announced.
A major employer breached a WHS clause in failing to identify and block all hazardous areas of a machine that workers could access, either accidentally or deliberately, and has been fined over a fatality.
