Companies and officers accused of WHS breaches could bear the onus of proving they took all reasonably practicable steps to prevent an incident occurring, while the offence of industrial manslaughter will be added to the national model WHS Act, with Labor taking power in the Federal election on the weekend.
The "encompassment" of high-risk work licences under the national model WHS Regulations can lead to situations where hazardous tasks are performed by workers without the necessary training, a special paper on crane licensing has revealed.
A new consultation paper examining six legislative reforms, proposed by Kate Jenkins, has included an important reminder to employers of their WHS duty to prevent and address "intimidating, hostile, humiliating or offensive" work environments.
The controversial plan to reduce age limits for forklift drivers and ease other licensing requirements for the COVID-19 pandemic has served as an important reminder, to employers, on the risks associated with forklifts and in the country's "deadliest industry".
Safe Work Australia has published a new WHS Code of Practice, revealed, in its latest statistics report, that the nation's work-related fatality rate increased two years in a row, and informed gig employers of their workers' comp obligations.
