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Do you, or don’t you drop your ‘dacks’ at work? Do you, or don’t you drop your ‘dacks’ at work? Well that would depend entirely where your work place is. Is it the office or is it the mine site. Record $1m penalty for NSW Company The NSW District Court found that its director deliberately let a subcontractor work near live high-voltage powerlines in order to avoid delaying a construction project.
In the case of Safe Work (NSW) v Activate Fire Pty Ltd; Safe Work (NSW) v Unity (NSW) Pty Ltd [2017] NSWDC 66 the court had to decide whether Labour hire principals were liable for breach of health and safety dutes for exposing an employee to a risk of serious death or injury through failing to take necessary precautions.
$688,000 awarded for fall at work The case of Kalos v Goodyear & Dunlop Tyres (Aust) Pty Ltd & Anor [2016] VSC 715 involved a customer service representative who tripped and fell on a metal plate protruding from the floor of a corridor at work Record WHS fine against shipping company Toll Transport Pty Ltd (Toll) has been fined a record $1m for contraventions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) (Act). This fine was imposed even though the company entered an early plea of guilty is entered. Not when you are at a union meeting! Rise in manslaughter cases around Australia Record penalty against businessman for underpayment. A rogue Brisbane businessman has been penalised a record $126,540 and ordered to back-pay migrant workers almost $60,000 in a result that sends a warning that individuals can be held personally liable for exploitation of workers. Overtime work could be killing you Research published recently week shows that women working long hours for many years are at increased risk of developing life-threatening illnesses. Diabetes, cancer, heart trouble and arthritis were three times more common among women who worked an average of 60 hours or more per week for 30 years compared with women working fewer hours. Training not required for the use of a ladder No instruction was required for the use of a stepladder due to the simple and commonplace nature of the task and it would have been unreasonable to require the employer to totally eliminate all storage options not accessible from the ground.
Wrong section of the act used in prosecution so the case is thrown out Company charged under sec19(2) instead of sec.19(1)
Employment agency not vicariously liable for the actions of employee The Court of Appeal of Western Australia considered the contentious issue of a host employer's liability for injuries sustained to a labour hire worker. - Aug 2016 Telling a ‘porky’ won’t bring home the bacon. This is a case where an employee was ordered to pay his employer’s costs after running away from his own unfair dismissal hearing when it was revealed he had falsified a doctor’s report that he had relied on, to hide his drug use. - June 2016
The HSE Strikes Back! Star Wars Film Producers Prosecuted A film production company is to be prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive for an incident in which the actor Harrison Ford was injured during filming of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. - Aug 2016 Failing was never this expensive at school A worker has his compensation halved because of his failure to follow the method that he had been trained to use. - Nov 2015 Don't become a victim of the Streisand effect The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet. This is what happens when an employer sues his employee for embezzlement and she claim that it was payment for sexual favours. Suspended gaol term for NSW WHS breach Suspended gaol term and heavy cash penalty for threatening and intimidating a WorkCover NSW Inspector. - June 2015 Electromagnetic fields harmful to your health Electromagnetic fields (EMF) at your work environment could be harmful to your health, especially if you are female. - Feb 2016 Are you welding your life away? The risk of lung cancer among welders Proway Livestock - Enforceable Undertaking Enforceable undertaking after employee injured Should you be terminated for swearing at the boss, or kissing a colleague? When is going too far, really going too far? In the case of Keenan v Leighton Boral Amey, can an employee be dismissed as a result of his actions at an 'after-party'? Does a PCBU have to 'ensure' safety? Court of appeal rules that It was wrong in law to require a PCBU to "ensure" that no harm came to its employees. It only had a duty to take reasonable care to avoid the risk of injury. Lifting of boxes is part of normal office work A recent NSW Court of Appeal decision has shown that work involving lifting and twisting creates is not necessarily a precursor to the risk of injury. Court rules on who is not an officer of a PCBU. The court rules that a project manager is not an officer of the company. The prosecution had not proven that he did, in fact, make decisions or participate in decisions that affected either the whole or a substantial part of Kenoss Contractors' business. What are the powers of WorkCover NSW to force a company to produce documents? In the case of Perilya Limited v Nash [2015] NSWSC 706 the NSW Supreme Court confirmed that the powers of inspectors under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) (WHS Act) are expansive and are not limited only to health and safety matters.
Despite a number of findings that the plaintiff was overworked and distressed by the conduct of her
Can unreasonable behaviour be insured? A common condition in insurance policies requires the insured to take all reasonable precautions to prevent risks from coming to fruition. The recent Western Australian District Court decision of Canny v Primepower Engineering Pty Ltd [2015] WADC 81 demonstrates an example of an insurer successfully relying upon a reasonable precautions condition in a policy to deny a claim for indemnity.
Should an employee be responsible for their own safety Should an employer be found liable for a risk of which they had no knowledge and could not reasonably have known of? This was the question in Drew v State of New South Wales decided by three NSW Supreme Court judges who dismissed a school cleaner's appeal against a finding that she is not entitled to damages after tripping over a box on a classroom floor.
Health and Safety Representative (HSR) loses an appeal for unfair dismissal. In the case of Kaskol v TNT. the Fair Work Commission (“FWC”) ruled that the employee, Alphonse Kaskol was lawfully dismissed after he made a series of “unsubstantiated” complaints relating to his role as an occupational health and safety representative at TNT.
A big payout for a four letter word.
New Zealand exemployee wins compensation from
NSW court throws the book at trucking operator for breaching fatigue management laws. The director of McCabe Transport has pleaded guilty to 159 breaches of fatigue management laws following an investigation into the running of his company. The charges relate to falsified work diaries, with the court hearing drivers doctored their records and worked well beyond their legally allowed time. The breaches were committed in 2011 and 2012.
Theft of data results in hefty fine
Hume Doors enter into enforceable undertaking The enforceable undertaking includes a number of commitments to an estimated value of $385,000
An employee who injured his leg on the handle of a cupboard and the employer found to be guilty. The employer, Suncorp Staff Pty., Ltd., appeals and the original verdict is reversed based on a reasonable employers ability to foresee such a risk, and the expectation to be able to predict that the handles constituted any higher risk than that of minor bruising.
When a frolic is not compensatable! When employees attend a work function, there has often been an expectation that their employer is responsible should an accident occur. In the case of Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group Pty Ltd v Simon Blackwood (2014) QIRC 105, the opposite was found.
Life on the ‘funny farm’ not grounds for
dismissal An employee was fired for doing a chicken dance, allegedly to mock his colleague.
Federal Court judge John Gilmour found 117 CBI Construction workers guilty and fined them a combined $1,068,000 for walking off the job illegally.
Green tea has been hailed for many health benefits, including its effects against cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Now, new research suggests the beverage can enhance our brain's cognitive functions, particularly the working memory.
Sexual Harassment. Oracle worker wins appeal after being awarded a much smaller compensation. After winning an initial award of $18,000, and being made to pay costs, an Oracle worker wins her appeal and is awarded ten times that amount plus costs.
Victorian Manufacturer enters into Enforceable Undertaking In June 2011, a worker, working at a factory that manufactures glass suffered burns when his clothing caught alight while performing maintenance on a glass-forming machine that he mistakenly believed had been shut down.
Injured worker caught playing
competative basketball An Adelaide paper mill worker has faced the Adelaide Magistrate’s Court after he was found to have been playing competitive basketball while claiming WorkCover benefits.
The District Court of NSW handed down its judgment finding that the employer’s failure to document a risk assessment or provide formal training and supervision didn’t constitute a breach of the now repealed Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000
Widow allowed to lodge claim, nineteen years after her husbands death NINETEEN years after her husband died of mesothelioma, an Ipswich (Qld) woman Karen Hall has won the right to claim asbestos compensation.
Throwing stones? Not the right
answer When a rock crusher gets jammed up, there are two options: Call the supervisor or throw stones at the blockage.
What are the rulings in the UK relating to surrogacy and maternity leave
Beware of hot water before you land in it. A disability services worker, Kerry
Royals, was fined $6,300 (after a 30% discount for early guilty plea
When “Go put on some lippy” may not be the response to an allegation of bullying Employer loses case where employee told to put on 'lippy' after an allegation of bullying.
Being abusive to a WorkCover inspector can be very costly
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supervisor, the plaintiff’s claimed failed because the court found the plaintiff
could not establish foreseeability.
employer who breached their privacy obligations to the employee. All
over two naughty four letter words on a cake.
and other relevant matters) and a criminal conviction recorded for significantly departing from
what was required of her in her position as a carer, resulting in a client receiving serious burns to her body
from scalding hot bath water. 
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