Browsing: Jurisdiction (VIC)

In a case highlighting the pitfalls of safety systems susceptible to human error, an employer has been convicted and fined $125,000 over an incident resulting, in part, from a worker's inability to hear a radio message.

In an often "childlike" sham, a local council contractor was able to direct $1.6 million to his own IT company after submitting a tender for IT work with a copied OHS policy, which included clearly irrelevant references to agricultural activities like "windmill maintenance", the Victorian Ombudsman has found.

Victoria has announced its average workers' comp premium rate for 2021-22, set aside $550 million for injury support and prevention initiatives, and released a draft Compliance Code on the provision of safe workplace facilities, including toilets, lighting and amenities for employees without fixed worksites.

• False "white cards" breached workplace safety laws; and
  
• Workplace drug testing rules clarified in nationally agreed Bill.

An employer breached safety Regulations and its duty of care to a worker through its "failure to know" about the broken equipment she needed to use, but it has dodged a damages bill of nearly $700,000.

Many Australian workers believe acts of workplace violence are just "part of the job" and choose to "forget" incidents instead of reporting them, making the issue difficult to address, WorkSafe Victoria's safety boss tells OHS Alert.

The High Court has agreed to consider the scope of employers' OHS duties to workers who resist measures aimed at protecting their psychological health, in a case involving a lawyer whose $435,000 award for post-traumatic stress disorder was quashed in November.

• Endorsed industrial death principles released by SWA;
  
• Dangerous goods and environmental duties amended in Vic; and
  
• Labour-hire scheme with WHS clauses starts in ACT tomorrow.

• COVID compliance checks of employers stepping up in Vic;
  
• Comcare reveals COVID strategies in 2020 review; and
  
• Royal Mint faces up to $3.5m in fines under three WHS charges.

Australia's WHS ministers have agreed to amend the model WHS Regulations to prescribe control measures for psychological risks, and significantly increase safety penalties, but proposed industrial manslaughter laws were voted down at their meeting yesterday.