Browsing: Coronavirus, COVID-19 | Page 3

Workplace safety professionals were among the first to foresee the extensive threats created by COVID-19, showing that involving them more in emergency decision-making can facilitate more effective responses for organisations and the community, an international study has found.

In a case highlighting the remote-work-related WHS duties of employers and workers, the Fair Work Commission has upheld the pay sanction imposed on a teacher who drank from a cask of wine in a video meeting.

A worker who claimed she suffered a psychological injury from her employer sending her "very intense" emails on a COVID-19 vaccine mandate has been denied compensation, with a commission finding there was nothing unreasonable about the employer's communication.

• Employer fined $551k over rock fall and hazardous rescue;
  
• SafeWork discusses Qantas case, targets high-risk sector; and
  
• New ASEA chief to have broader role.

A tribunal has expressed sympathy for an injured worker's frustrations with his compensation claim, finding a major employer failed to provide him with clear advice or fulfil its obligations to assess his application properly.

Qantas Ground Services Pty Ltd has been found guilty of engaging in unlawful discriminatory conduct against an elected health and safety representative during the emergence of COVID-19, with a judge ruling that consultation failings on the HSR's part did not invalidate his cease-work directions or help Qantas's defence.

An appeals commission has upheld the psychological injury claim from a worker who was ridiculed for pushing for better COVID-safe standards. It rejected his employer's argument that his case was defeated by the fact that an alleged assault never occurred.

A worker who chose not to return home between deployments and suffered a fatal heart attack in temporary accommodation did not die during an "ordinary recess" or on a work "journey", a commissioner has ruled in a dependency dispute.

A worker who was attacked by a dog while working from home under COVID-19 restrictions was injured in the course of her employment, a commission president has ruled in rejecting the employer's appeal.

A worker injured by his unergonomic home setup and sedentary tasks during the COVID-19 pandemic has successfully argued his employer should supply him with a $12,000 mattress, but failed to remove the time limits on his compensable medical treatments.