Browsing: WHS decisions (WA) | Page 1

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.

A worker's failure to disclose to his employer that he had a longstanding physical limitation, and was suing the UK's National Health Service for causing the condition, constituted a breach of his duties under safety laws and provided a sound reason for his dismissal, a commission has found.

A sacked worker has unsuccessfully claimed her employer breached safety laws by failing to conduct a risk assessment for a COVID-19 vaccine rule, and that her role wasn't covered by a government vaccine mandate.

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.

A PCBU has successfully paused the operation of a WHS notice by arguing such a step will not affect the safety of workers or others, and that in the absence of a stay, it could be forced to overhaul its safety management system unnecessarily.

• Safety sign-off deception leads to electrical injuries;
  
• New WHS provisions commencing in WA soon; and
  
• Employers told to utilise WHS "snapshots" in Tas.

Three companies and a supervisor have been fined a total of more than $2.1 million over two serious mine safety incidents, including one where the supervisor removed warning signs from a hazardous area just moments before a worker was killed there.

At a retrial, a court has confirmed a company breached safety regulations by failing to ensure enough expert workers were involved in operating a crane at a workplace where a fatality occurred.

• Employer fined $551k over rock fall and hazardous rescue;
  
• SafeWork discusses Qantas case, targets high-risk sector; and
  
• New ASEA chief to have broader role.

Two employers have been fined a total of nearly $300,000 over machine entrapment incidents, including a major company that failed to assess the competency of its workers in safety procedures.