Browsing: Authority/inspectorate (WA)

An injured worker's right to access benefits must not depend on whether he or she can prove the exact date the injury occurred, given many conditions are caused by an "accumulation of activities" or aren't immediately symptomatic, a judge has ruled.

Higher level safety controls for inappropriate or unreasonable workplace behaviour include adjusting staff levels for peak periods and setting achievable targets, according to a draft Code of Practice from Western Australia. Meanwhile, a regulator has issued alerts on lightning strikes and autonomous vehicles.

A company director charged over a fatal fall has been sentenced to the longest term of imprisonment ever imposed for a work health and safety offence in Australia, while his Western Australian company has received a State record high fine of $605,000.

A study of 16 years of workers' comp data has foreshadowed that as Australia moves out of a recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic there will be a surge of workplace injuries, highlighting the importance of resilient safety strategies.

An employer with a "useless" safe work method statement has been fined for five workplace safety breaches, after a young worker was killed by an unsecured concrete panel.

• Consignor charged with safety breaches in Australian first;
  
• Director faces jail under fatality-related gross negligence charge; and
  
• Traffic management for horse work allegedly missing before death.

The national policy on enforcing WHS laws during the COVID-19 pandemic has been revised to define vaccinations as a "high order risk control measure". It also reminds employers of their duty to keep abreast of public health orders. Meanwhile, Western Australia has a new workplace health and safety minister.

A worker who was observed driving a forklift dangerously in a shared car park, and then refused to cooperate with safety inspectors, has been convicted and fined for safety breaches. Meanwhile, regulators have issued warnings after a storage-racking fatality and on the increasing number of serious incidents on non-isolated machinery.

• Workplace COVID controls still mandatory, employers reminded;
  
• "Respect" standards promised after SA harassment review; and
  
• Two states launch work safety awards, with COVID-control prize in one.

The Department of Defence has been fined $350,000 for failing to implement simple safety measures that could have prevented a worker's leg amputation, while a company has been fined $150,000 after a work vehicle with incorrect load-capacity signage crashed.