Browsing: Issue/challenge/risk (all)

A worker's action in throwing a heavy object at an unlicensed plant operator was not the sole cause of the machine striking and injuring the worker, an appeals court has ruled in ordering the machine's owner to pay him damages.

A five-member Fair Work Commission bench has detailed activities that do and do not constitute consultation with the meaning of the model WHS laws, in finding BHP failed to properly consult its workers before imposing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate at one of its NSW sites.

A major employer's liability for the aggravation of a worker's back injury ceased when the work-related component of her condition resolved, a tribunal has ruled in referring to a High Court judgment, and rejecting the worker's claim that looking down at work contributed to her incapacity.

• Defibrillators installed in 100 work vehicles, Tas updates COVID WHS tips;
  
• Site controller charged over customer's car wash death; and
  
• Entire supply chain targeted in vehicle safety campaign.

Giving workers with musculoskeletal pain access to ergonomic equipment and more autonomy can prevent poor work ability across long periods of time, a study has shown. Another study has identified a significant workplace health risk among those with diabetes.

The new notification rules introduced in Victoria require employers to report incidents involving "serious" rather than "immediate" health and safety risks, in a change that captures "near misses" and better aligns the provisions with those in the national model WHS Act, tabled documents have shown.

Employers are not required by workplace health and safety laws to "hold the hand" of experienced workers, but must take steps to ensure they have the skills to spot risks and select safe work methods, a court has found in upholding a worker's damages claim.

A judge has found there was a "compelling temporal connection" between a worker performing duties in the rain and the onset of his viral symptoms and incapacitating fatigue.

A major employer that sent an executive to a "well-intentioned" but unnecessary and not risk-assessed workplace health check "causally contributed" to her death, a coroner has found.

Employers will be required to report safety "near misses" and incidents involving infectious diseases to a workplace safety regulator, under new Victorian laws that also increase the benefits available to workers with silicosis and similar conditions.