Breaching an employer's mandatory COVID-19 face mask rule is a valid reason for dismissal, but employers must clearly warn staff of the consequences of failing to wear the PPE properly, a commission has ruled.
The requirement for certain workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 can be likened to a new regulatory requirement or mandatary training qualification for a particular role, a commission has ruled in one of a rapidly growing number of decisions on the issue.
Despite the fact that an employer was negligent in the way it managed an injured worker's return-to-work plan, a superior court has confirmed this negligence wasn't the cause of her subsequent anxiety and depressive illness.
A major government employer, in defending its decision to summarily sack a claims coordinator, has failed to prove the man's "aggressive" conduct caused a "serious and imminent risk" to the health or safety of his colleagues.
A coronial inquiry into the death of a recently immigrated worker has highlighted the very real dangers faced by inexperienced workers and posed by power tools, particularly tools with unsafe modifications or faults.
A company director who failed to ensure his organisation provided fall prevention measures to height workers has become the third entity to be fined over a five-metre fall, while a regulator has expressed frustration after yet another employer was fined for forklift-related breaches.
A risk and compliance manager's role included safety inspections and many other tasks that needed to be performed at her employer's premises, a commission has heard in rejecting her claim that she should have been permitted to work from home instead of being "forced" to have a COVID-19 vaccine.