A "policy maze" inhibited the staff of a school from properly categorising and risk assessing a regular off-site activity, and led to the death of a boy in a game, a coronial inquest has found.
Canberra businesses that contravene their WHS duties will be more likely to end up in court under a "hybrid" prosecutorial model championed by a WHS regulator. They also face hefty on-the-spot WHS fines under changes commencing today.
A company has been found guilty of safety breaches and fined $400,000, over a high-profile incident where a large bucket of concrete fell from a crane and killed a man working below the suspended load. Another employer has been fined $300,000 after a worker was struck by a forklift.
This major OHS Alert report reviews all the need-to-know workplace health and safety and workers' comp developments from the past few months, including the passage of game-changing Respect@Work laws, numerous WHS amendments, COVID rulings, a state-first workplace manslaughter charge, and a record-smashing reckless conduct fine.
A major supermarket's limited spill-control system - requiring workers to look out for spills and other hazards as they went about their normal jobs - "inevitably subordinated the detection" of hazards to the performance of other duties, an appeals court has found in a grape-slip case.