Browsing: Work at heights | Page 2

• Delayed harassment complaint highlights WHS duties;
  
• Alleged ladder breaches lead to death; and
  
• WHS duty holders relying too much on harnesses.

The fine imposed on an employer that failed to fully implement a mandatory safety measure, because it ran out of the required materials, has been increased more than five-fold on appeal, with a judge stressing penalties must be significant enough to dissuade others from "cutting corners".

Employers must apply the hierarchy of controls to the hazards associated with height work, which starts with not performing any such work where reasonably practicable, a regulator has advised in launching a major blitz.

A PCBU should have ensured the safety procedures in its paper systems were put into practice and checked and maintained, to prevent a worker being pinned between a wall and a crane load, a court has found.

• WHS notices reach $1m after judge's referral;
  
• Employers charged over deaths at mental health unit and nursery; and
  
• Right-to-disconnect laws tweaked to avoid criminal proceedings.

A company and its director have been fined $420,000, after the latter identified serious safety issues at a site but failed to act to prevent a worker's seven-metre fall. Another PCBU has already been fined $300,000 over the fall.

A PCBU that has been battling fatality-related WHS charges for three years has had a minor victory in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, which agreed to vary the adverse publicity order against the business.

A man has been ordered to stand trial for the industrial manslaughter of a worker who fell through an unguarded penetration, while employers have been urged to assess and control the risks associated with the potentially deadly disease melioidosis, after a work-related case was recorded.

A local council has been fined over a lifeguard's electrical burns, in a case demonstrating that the risks and duties around overhead powerlines aren't limited to those in industries like construction and agriculture. Another employer has been fined over a WHS offence lasting 18 months.

Australian researchers have found the rate of same-level falls in workplaces is set to surge among a major group of workers, and urged employers to implement tailored interventions, including for remote-work arrangements.