A court has recorded a conviction against a company and nearly doubled its fine for failing to reduce or eliminate height risks, while a regulator has called for employers to review their engineering control plans, following a string of electric shock incidents.
A coronial inquest has found a major workplace's "grossly deficient" record keeping was the main cause of a worker's asphyxiation death, and referred the actions "or inactions" of the manager allegedly responsible for updating the relevant records to a safety regulator for further investigation.
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.
The worker convicted and a fined over the Sydney hospital gas incidents that killed one newborn baby, and severely injured another, could have averted the tragedies by conducting the simple tests he was qualified and paid to perform, the sentencing remarks show.
Safety processes for staff working alone or in remote locations must include strict training regimes and call-in procedures that don't place "unreasonable reliance" on "personal vigilance", a coronial inquiry into a worker's death has shown.
> 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.
A PCBU has been found guilty of WHS breaches after a structure it erected fatally crushed a worker, with a court rejecting its claim it wasn't responsible for any post-erection safety control measures.
> SWA launches COVID-19 hub and home setup guide; > More work-related COVID-19 guides and fatality alerts issued; and > HSEQ manager appointed boss of NT WorkSafe.
A major PCBU has been found not guilty of WHS charges relating to the installation and mislabelling of gas pipes, which led to the death of a newborn baby and serious injuries to another in a Sydney hospital, with a court finding a subcontractor "lied" about completing the pipeline tests.
