PCBUs must immediately report most eye injuries and injuries that result in "loss of bodily function" to the relevant safety regulator, and preserve the incident site until an inspector arrives, according to a new Safe Work Australia fact sheet.
In another major case involving the issue of "control", the South Australian IRC has, in a majority decision, reinstated an OHS fine imposed on a principal contractor.
A novel WorkSafe Victoria experiment - inspired by a famous 1960s study on World War II - has highlighted the detrimental effect productivity-obsessed supervisors can have on workplace health and safety.
Many PCBUs and workers mistakenly believe that supervisors are "officers" - and that home-based work is too risky - under harmonised WHS laws, according to WorkSafe ACT director Mark McCabe. Also in this article, South Australia has released the final draft of its mirror WHS Regulations.
As Tasmania locks in 1 January 2013 for the commencement of its mirror Work Health and Safety Act, employers in all harmonised jurisdictions have been urged to plug their "compliance gaps".
As a leaked BHP Billiton email adds further fuel to the fire in the enterprise-agreement dispute between the company and Queensland coal miners, a union boss explains why employees in certain safety-critical roles must remain outside the "management structure".
Recent safety prosecutions in the UK have shed some light on the types of offences that individuals might be jailed for under Australia's new work health and safety laws, and how the "reasonably practicable" test will be applied, OHS lawyers say.
