Browsing: Right of entry | Page 2

The Federal Court has highlighted the important WHS function of escorting entry permit holders around sites, in handing penalties to a union and one of its officials for right-of-entry breaches.

A court has criticised the poor WHS knowledge of an employer and its managers, finding they unlawfully forced union officials to provide a new right-of-entry notice in order to inspect a suspected safety breach they observed while investigating another safety issue.

A case involving a "chaotic" workplace visit and suspected safety contraventions has provided a first-of-its-kind examination of whether WHS laws allow entry permit holders to consult with workers in private.

The Federal Court has overturned a finding that two union officials made homophobic slurs towards a project's safety advisor. The Court reduced their pecuniary penalties, but confirmed they "deliberately" breached the site's WHS requirements.

A company accused of breaching Fair Work laws by blocking a union official from testing respirable dust levels, on a major project, has claimed it complies with all air-monitoring-related WHS rules, and the suitability of the union's testing device is questionable.

PCBUs will soon be: required to proactively facilitate the election of health and safety representatives; banned from blocking WHS entry permit holders through technicalities or impractical induction requirements; and handed on-the-spot fines for failing to provide adequate toilets, under review recommendations accepted in Queensland.

A union and two of its officials have failed to overturn a ruling that they unlawfully obstructed work on a major project. They claimed the finding was erroneous because their conduct involved ensuring a PCBU was complying with its WHS duties.

The Federal Court has rejected claims by union officials that they genuinely believed they did not need right-of-entry permits to enter a site for the purpose of "resolving" WHS issues.

A range of WHS amendments, including some improving harmonisation, are set to follow the root-and-branch review of SafeWork SA, but they won't include the softening of an entry rule pertaining to health and safety representatives, with the State Government emphatically rejecting a recommendation around this area.

An employer has been ordered to pay $30,000 to a union for unlawfully hindering an official by telling him he was required to surrender his mobile phone - purportedly for health and safety reasons - before entering its site.