A harassment-related overhaul of Australia's WHS laws is starting to appear inevitable, with the launch of yet another inquiry into bullying and s-xual harassment and into the culture of parliamentary workplaces.
Providing trauma-exposed emergency workers with easy access to an Australian-first support facility, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Victoria's mental health system, will ensure they receive targeted treatment and are far less likely to suffer from severe psychological injuries or substance abuse, according to a union and the State Government.
Training workers in self-defence, to prevent occupational violence (OV), must take into account that their skills can fail under high-stress conditions, Australian researchers have found in a major review of OV mitigation strategies.
A mobile crane hire company has been charged with two category-2 WHS breaches, which allegedly occurred after a union unlawfully attempted to shut down the relevant workplace for safety reasons.
Training and instructing workers to maintain a safe position away from hazardous equipment, as opposed to installing physical barriers, would have been a reasonably practicable way to prevent a fatality, a court has ruled in finding an employer guilty of WHS offences.
Preventing workplace s-xual harassment hinges on WHS frameworks that shift "the obligation from victims reporting harassment to employers managing risk" - a PCBU duty receiving increasing attention from safety regulators, the review of harassment in the South Australian Parliament has shown.
A worker's eight-hour injury-causing drive at the start of his working week was not an ordinary journey from his place of abode to his place of employment, an appeals commission has ruled in finding he was injured in the course of his employment.
