The NSW WHS Act will be amended to impose new duties on PCBUs that "provide food delivery services", if an Opposition Bill (which forms part of a broader safety strategy for gig workers) passes Parliament. Meanwhile, Tasmanian employers have been told to "stay COVID safe" as border restrictions ease.
> COVID work restrictions eased slightly in Vic, with UK lesson; > Comcare updates transition-to-usual-work guidance; and > Industrial manslaughter laws demanded for Tas WHS Act.
> West Gate Bridge anniversary sends work safety message; > PCBU failed to enforce exclusion zones; and > Safety blitz moves to next Canberra suburb, issues 31 notices.
Two major PCBUs have been fined $375,000 each, plus a total of $90,000 in prosecution costs, after their failures to meet their own safety-in-design requirements caused pipework to fail and kill a worker.
The Federal Government has been accused of "inaction" affecting work safety standards, with Safe Work Australia's latest statistics report showing the national work-related fatality toll increased for the first time in more than a decade.
A PCBU allegedly failed to enforce safety standards and created a culture of non-compliance that led to a fatality, a judge has heard in upholding the business's WHS charge. However, the judge struck out a complaint against the business's co-defendant.
A company and its director have been handed maximum OHS penalties, totalling more than $466,000, after a truck with poorly maintained brakes crashed and killed its young driver, while a safety regulator has issued a string of notices in the latest phase of its Canberra blitz.
A business operator who failed to instruct workers on how to self-manage their work capacity in hot conditions has been fined over the heat stress death of a backpacker employee. Meanwhile, a company and one of its directors have been fined for failing to comply with or display a forklift-related prohibition notice.
