Browsing: Legislation, regulation and caselaw | Page 2

Three companies and an individual face maximum fines totalling more than $10.5 million, in what could be the first finalised prosecutions under Western Australia's version of the national model WHS laws.

Australia's WHS and workers' compensation ministers have agreed to: work towards a major asbestos-removal plan targeting commercial buildings; implement WHS provisions to further crack down on silica risks; and reinstate the push for a national approach to protecting the psychological safety of first responders.

A union and an offical who successfully appealed against a ruling on a WHS requirement at a worksite have been handed higher right-of-entry fines, by a full Federal Court, than the ones they received before they appealed.

• Significant WHS reforms to come with third-phase asbestos plan;
  
• Phased commencement announced for Qld's WHS amendments;
  
• Business charged over customer's mobile-plant death; and
  
• Safety and RTW awards open in Vic.

An employer should have presented expert evidence to prove a worker was under the influence of alcohol when he attended his "dangerous" workplace after a "big night", rather than asking the Fair Work Commission to "simply assume" he had been impaired, the Commission has ruled.

A worker was not forced to quit through her employer's alleged failure to protect her psychological safety from a "misogynistic" colleague, a commission has found.

A Safe Work Australia-commissioned research project has identified four early intervention approaches to work-related injury claims that appear to be "particularly helpful".

An appeals court has rejected a PCBU's claim that its fine over a fatality involving a ladder was manifestly excessive. The PCBU contended the evidence did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the death was a manifestation of its WHS breach.

• PCBU accused of breaching duties to killed student and others; and
  
• WHS stone ban clarified in Qld.

A recent ruling upholding the sacking of a worker, who failed to disclose a longstanding health issue, shows that holding employees to account for complying with their own health and safety duties forms part of an employer's obligations, a senior safety and employment lawyer says.