Browsing: WHS decisions (National) | Page 2

• Double-fatality fines too low to deter safety breaches, says union; and
  
• Department of Defence charged over psychosocial risks.

A commission has rejected a worker's allegations that she was forced to resign because her employer failed to shield her from vicarious trauma and its approach to psychological safety was "stuck in the 1990s".

An employer effectively dismissed a worker with autism after it refused to make safety accommodations for him when he reported experiencing sensory and health issues caused by his uniform, a commission has ruled.

A union and one of its officials have been handed fines totalling nearly $37,000, after a court found the latter made a frustrated comment that constituted a threat to the future career of a workplace health and safety manager.

An appeals court has quashed a ruling that the WHS prosecution of a major company was invalid because of the process used to delegate the applicable regulatory powers. Meanwhile, a play centre has been charged with multiple safety breaches after a child fell seven metres.

The High Court has agreed to consider quashing the application of allegedly outdated judgments that bar damages for psychiatric injuries caused by dismissal processes, in the case of a worker who was subjected to a sham dismissal after an incident on a work trip.

A "critical and insensitive" manager who routinely swore at his subordinates in an attempt to motivate them to meet purported "German demands" has lost his adverse action case, with a court finding his behaviour warranted instant dismissal and he wasn't the victim of WHS breaches.

A supervisor did not bully a remote worker by closely monitoring his performance, a commission has found in denying the worker stop-bullying orders.

A workplace supervisor has been sentenced for recklessly allowing a drug-affected truck driver to drive and kill four police officers, but cleared of allegations he would have known the driver was in an unfit state just by looking at him. He was originally charged with four counts of manslaughter.

An appeals court has upheld the acquittals of two PCBUs charged over the hypothermia death of a helicopter pilot, confirming that the "cascading" series of WHS measures they allegedly failed to adopt were not reasonably practicable.