Browsing: Authority/inspectorate (NSW)

• More death-benefit cases launched with calls for gig reforms; and
  
• Significant RTW amendments commencing in SA soon.

A PCBU that unsuccessfully attempted to enter a WHS undertaking, to avoid prosecution over a worker's severe foot injuries, has been convicted and fined $300,000, with a judge finding its attempt to install and commission a machine in an ad hoc manner was "inviting trouble".

A pharmaceutical company that sourced ethanol in bulk to produce hand sanitiser for the COVID-19 pandemic, and disregarded its workers' storage-related safety concerns, has been fined nearly $300,000 after its premises caught fire and the chemical polluted a nearby pond.

• WHS intimidation fine and fatality alerts issued in Qld;
  
• New stair-height rule commences under Qld WHS Code;
  
• WHS changes and criminal checks commencing in NSW;
  
• Truck-fire-prevention guide should be used by all fleets: NSW EPA; and
  
• Occupational licensing arrangements tweaked in NT.

In only the third case of its kind in NSW, a PCBU has pleaded guilty to recklessly breaching the State's WHS laws, in relation to the death of a teenage worker in a scaffolding disaster - an incident that led to new safety standards and calls for tougher enforcement.

A PCBU has been fined a total of $600,000 over two incidents resulting in the electric-shock death of one worker, and the hospitalisation of two who fell four metres, with a judge slamming its "hands off" approach to safety.

• Manslaughter charge laid after forklift death;
  
• Transition time allowed for new WHS clauses in ACT; and
  
• New injury dispute system sidesteps "unethical" decisions in Vic.

• Controversial injury amendments have failed in NSW: McKell;
  
• Workers' comp fraudster faces jail under Crimes Act; and
  
• Premiums increase for the first time in years in Qld.

• Model WHS amendments for silica flagged in RIS;
  
• Workplace violence and lead (Pb) targeted in SA; and
  
• SafeWork NSW's "Speak Up" app hits 10,000 reports.

A WHS specialist sacked while on paid personal leave has had her unfair dismissal case thrown out by the Fair Work Commission, which rejected her claim that WHS laws blocked her from sending documents from her laptop to her employer in the absence of a return-to-work plan.