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My
Blog Site whsblog.com
Anything of interest to the OHS Committee in
NSW,
People at work,
Safety, Travel and anything quirky or
funny.
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OHS and workplace safety are always a concern to employers, but the legal requirements are not always fully understood. This blog site looks at some issues with health, safety and welfare in the workplace as well as some management issues with a safe work place.
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Ice cream for breakfast? It could make you smarter.
The benefits of Ice cream and chocolate for brekky.
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Go Home.
You have done enough today or there may not be a tomorrow. Those long overtime hours could be killing you
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When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. But then I came across and article that claimed that my drinking can actually lower my risk of developing Alzheimer’s and benefit the brain. I’ll tell you more after I go and get a refill.
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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.
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Is the noise in the workplace getting you down? Is it time to tell everyone around you to “turn-it-down”, or “shut up”? Should noisey equipment be replaced? - The impact of noise on your health.
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There may be beneficial effects of coffee on cancer, but could insomnia resulting from too many cups nullify the benefit
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If you are at all concerned about safety, weddings should be banned!
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We are living is a scientific world and there are 'laws' governing everything. My favourite 'law' is that you do not have to worry if you can shift the blame on to someone else. Here are a few of the other, better known, laws.
Murphy's Law, Sod's Law, Finagle's Law and all the other "laws" of how things work, or don't work.
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Is it time to tell the boss to get “*&*@##$”? Time to claim some 'me' time from work.
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The plaintiff claimed that he was bullied in the workplace and, as a result, has developed psychiatric and physical injuries He claimed damages in the sum of $1,805,138. He further complains that the defendant unlawfully terminated his employment.
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A fly-in-fly-out mineworker who injured his knee while playing cricket in between shifts brought forward a workers’ compensation claim against his employer.
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Accident on way home was found to a connection to work - employee wins compensation
A car accident resulting in an employee losing his right hand was deemed to have had a substantial connection with his employment and was therefore compensable, a commission has ruled
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Worker impaled by a concrete reinforcing bar.
Surveyor’s Assistant falls through a penetration and becomes impaled by a concrete reinforcing bar.
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Can you be dismissed at the end of a fixed term contract or can you claim ‘unfair dismissal’? The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has recently overturned the longstanding principle that precluded an employee subject to a contract with a specified end date from seeking unfair dismissal relief upon the expiration of the contract term.
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Hospital guilty after a patient sexually assaults female patient.
The risk was deemed to be foreseeable
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First Category 1 offence in NSW. (Reckless behaviour). A resident living in a cottage on a quarry suffered electrocution whilst having a shower in the bathroom of the cottage.
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NSW company has been convicted and fined AUD 1 million after 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.
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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.
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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.
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When are you at work?
Apparently not when you are attending a union meeting!
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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.
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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.
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There has been an increasing number of manslaughter and recklessness charges being pursued against individuals following work health and safety incidents.
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A "Simple and Commonplace" taske that results in injury - the PCBU's responsibility. No training required for the use of a ladder
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NSW case where the prosecution was thrown out because the charge was made under the wrong section of the act
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Telling a ‘porky’ won’t bring home the bacon. Employee made to pay costs when he 'dovtored' a doctor's report.
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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 and finds that the labour hire agency was not vicariously liable for the actions of employee
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A Northern Territory tour company has been convicted and fined after admitting to health and safety failures in the case of a British backpacker who fell to her death while posing for a photo at a popular tourist spot at Kings Canyon in Central Australia.
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A nine month suspended gaol term has been imposed on the owner of a roofing business for threatening and intimidating a WorkCover NSW Inspector.
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Proway Livestock Equipment Pty Ltd accepts undertaking after employee injured on the work site
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In the case of Hawkins v Ross Human Directions a NSW Court of Appeal decision has shown that work involving lifting and twisting creates is not necessarily a precursor to the risk of injury.
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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'
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Who is an officer of a PCBU? In the case against a project officer, the court ruled that he was not an 'officer' of the PCBU in terms of the WHS Act.
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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.
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It was wrong in law to require a PCBUt to "ensure" that no harm came to its employees. It only had a duty to take reasonable care to avoid the risk of injury. This was the finding after an appeal.
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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.
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Despite a number of findings that the plaintiff was overworked and distressed by the conduct of her supervisor, the plaintiff’s claimed failed because His Honour Devereaux SC DCJ found the plaintiff could not establish foreseeability.
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Should an employer be found liable for a risk of which they had no knowledge and could not reasonably have known of? (Drew v State of New South Wales [2015] NSWCA 159)
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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.
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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
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Hume Doors & Timber (Aust) Pty Ltd enters enforceable undertaking.
In March 2013, a worker was injured when he was struck by a load of timber after cutting the straps that were securing the load. WorkCover NSW alleged the employer, Hume Doors & Timber (Aust) Pty Ltd, breached s19(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) (WHS Act (NSW)) in failing to ensure the health and safety of workers.
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The Federal Court has awarded $50,000 in damages to a mining company, Leica Geosystems, after a former employee was found to have breached his employment contract and copyright legislation for downloading thousands of computer files.
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Employee injured his leg on the handle of a cupboard and 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.
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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.
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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.
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An employee was fired for doing a chicken dance, allegedly to mock his colleague.
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Australia's Federal Court has awarded a former Oracle staffer $100,000 for general damages plus a further $30,000 for economic loss to compensate her for distress caused by sexual harassment from a colleague, plus costs. This comes after an appeal when, in the first hearing, she was awarded $18,000 and ordered to pay costs.
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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.
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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.
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NINETEEN years after her husband died of mesothelioma, an Ipswich (Qld) woman Karen Hall has won the right to claim asbestos compensation.
Aged just 44, Greg Hall died in May 1995, nine months after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma as a result of working with asbestos dust for twelve years between 1966 and 1978
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The SA Magistrates Court has acquitted a company of a safety charge in Perry v Exactmix Pty Ltd [2014] SAIRC 7 (6 March 2014). The charge relates to an incident in April 2011 in which a mobile plant operator had the top of his finger cut off and sustained other hand injuries after he and his supervisor tried to manually clear a blockage in the machine by throwing rocks.
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The District Court of NSW handed down its judgment in Workcover (Inspector Battye) v Patrick Container Ports Pty Ltd (17 February 2014), 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 NSW Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000
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A disability services worker, Kerry Royals, was fined $6,300 (after a 30% discount for early guilty plea 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. Russell v Royals { [2013] SAIRC 34}
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Bullying victim told to 'go put on some lippy'
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Leightons found not responsible for failings of a sub-contractor
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In the case of Transfield Services (Australia) Pty Ltd v Wieland [2014] WASCA 41, an appeal was granted on the grounds that it was wrong in law to require it to "ensure" that no harm came to its employees. It only had a duty to take reasonable care to avoid the risk of injury.
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Calling a workCover employee a "fat bitch", "fucking bitch" or a “donkey” is guaranteed not to win friends and influence people. This is the lesson that defendants John Chalhoub and Bakhos Khalil were taught in the Industrial Court of NSW.
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In December 2013, the Federal Court of Australia granted a female employee, Jemma Ewin, $476,000 in damages, after finding she was sexually harassed by an "arrogant" contractor, Claudio Vergara.
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Injury while having sex on a work trip. High Court rules that it is not a work activity and not subject to compensation
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The recent Federal Court decision in AMWU v Visy Packaging Pty Ltd (No 3) [2013] FCA 525 demonstrates the careful balancing act an employer faces when disciplining an employee for misconduct where the employee has raised safety concerns.
Jonathan Zwart was employed by Visy Packaging Pty Ltd (Visy) in the role of a fitter and machine setter. Mr Zwart was a member of the Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union (AMWU). Relevantly, he was also an elected health and safety representative for Visy under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic).
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What is acceptable alternative employment. Two recent cases that give guidence on what can, and what can not be considered as suitable alternate employment
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A concrete product manufacturer has been penalised over safety failures that led to an inadequately trained and unsupervised worker being caught in a machine with broken interlock switches.
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The courts recently had to decide if an injury received to an employee, Mr Kennerley was as a result of his employment with Qantas, and therefore covered by workers compensation insurance. Depending on which court you ask, the answer will be different.
The employee had a motor accident whilst off duty, but was travelling to have his visa updated - a requirement for his employment
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Employees play a prank on a fellow worker and tie him up, throw eggs at him and then light a fire at his feet
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Drinking coffee at a local coffe shop during works hours ruled not to be 'work'
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Employee was injured at work when she lifted a box of photocopy paper from the floor in her office. Verdict appealed by employer and lost.
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Baiada was prosecuted, in Victoria, for breaches of the OHS Act and was found guilty at first instance because it had control of the workplace and had failed to implement a safe system of work. The High Court quashed the original sentence
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The supplier of a woodchipping machine has been fined $30,000 (plus $12,000 in costs) over an incident in which a worker’s hand was severely injured.
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Company director is not 'too remote' from the company operations. WorkCover NSW wins case after appeal.
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Appeal against OHS conviction is successful. The Kirk case changes the landscape of OHS in NSW
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A breach of the OHS laws when a supermarket shelves collapse aand is not reported to WorkCover NSW, There was a risk to the health and sefety of employees and customers.
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Having ones hair tinted my not be quite as hazard free as one may imagine and may hazve OHS and safety issues for the hairdresser. What happens when things go wrong.
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Robbery at a supermarket deemed to be a breach of OHS safety laws. Safety policy not enforced
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Brewing giant Fosters has been fined a record $1.125m for safety failings that led to the death of a worker.
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Sel employed breaches OHS law. Judge rules that there is duty is to provide a risk free environment to all persons including the disobedient
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Stories about health and safety, HR, or related to work from anywhere around the world that may be of interest to the OHS practitioner, manager or consultation committee member, or for anyone else who is alive.
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Violist, Chris Goldscheider, has succeeded in a landmark UK High Court case against the Royal Opera House Convent Garden Foundation. This case marks the first time 'acoustic shock' has been recognised as a compensable condition in the UK and the first time the High Court has explored the music industry's legal obligations towards the hearing of musicians.
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Can you be on a smoko and be at work at the same time?
Court rules that It was important that, during the rest period, the worker was free from work.
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Worker in NZ looses hand. Court reduces penalty based on ability to pay
In WorkSafe New Zealand v Budget Plastics (New Zealand) Limited, a portion of a worker’s hand was amputated after it was caught in the auger of a plastic extrusion machine he was operating in his employer’s workplace. The worker faces a financial penalty that was reduced after accounting evidence showed that the company was unable to pay the fine.
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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.
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Electromagnetic fields (EMF) at your work environment could be harmful to your health
Female workers exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are at increased risk of menstrual disorders and other health problems like fatigue, Chinese researchers have found.
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The lung cancer risk of welding
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An ex employee writes rude words about her ex employee, on a cake. The picture is posted on FaceBook and the employer takes unfair action.
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Green tea can improve brain function.
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.
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a Canadian employee carries out threat to 'expose' the employer and does so in contravention to a court order. She ends up being awarded a 20 day prison sentence.
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Is a surrogate mother entitled to maternity leave for the child that she has not carried? Judges differ in their interpretation.
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Motor bike repairs done indoors resulting in a broken collar bone after being dropped by the medics.
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It appears from the paperwork, that we now have a whorehouse owner who staunchly believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that thinks it's all bullshit
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An English health and safety consultant has been fined for failing to spot potential dangers at a factory where a worker became chronically ill through inhaling high levels of chemicals.
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A Louisiana man will spend time in prison for lying about worker injuries at Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear facilities, allowing his company to collect $2.5 million in safety bonuses.
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Woman wins sex discrimination appeal in China, and wins about AU$0.17
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There have been a few cases recently about the right to display religious symbols, and the decisions of the courts have not always been the same. This is the story of some of those cases
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Employee fired for being 'irrisistable'
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is acting for a Texas mother who was fired days after she asked her employer about a room to pump breast milk. A judge ruled that after the woman gave birth the former employee 'was no longer pregnant and her pregnancy-related conditions ended.'
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Email, sent from home, outside of work hours, results in sacking. This case happened in the UK but could it happen in Australia? Perhaps this case should be a lesson to employees anywhere.
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Woman falls over family pet while working from home and claims compensation. The hazard of working from home?
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According to the 2008 Workplace Safety Index, here are ten of the most common workplace injuries in the USA
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The story of the wizinator and how to beat a drug test and safety laws with a false 'you-know-what'
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When love at work goes wrong. Can you avoid the inevitable fallout?
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A parking attendant retires after years of work, but was he ever employed?
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The end of the rocking horse industry, and pencil cases that breach OHS
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Strip down and get naked together - a cure for low morale in the workplace. (or is that low morals?)
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Who is looking after those that look after us.
Auditor reports on failure of OHS in the Victorian health care system.
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Exposure to drug fumes leave police officer fighting for his life
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Fair Work Australia has rules against urine testing.
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Cases involving discriminatory conduct in the Australian workplace
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Unfair dismissal for sending porn over the internet
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If you are on a business trip and are having sex in your bedroom, will workers compensation cover you for physical injury?
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An acquittal for involvement in employees death results in a not guilty verdict but reversed after an appeal by WorkCover -
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Employers with home-based staff have been handed a stark warning after Telstra was forced to pay legal and medical costs for an employee who suffered work-related injuries whilst working at home. - <2006>
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A Victorian man sentenced to a four month jail term for recklessly shooting a nail gun at a colleague. This is the closest a person has come in Victoria to having to serve a term of imprisonment for breaching the OHS Act. - <2009>
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An optical technician working alone in an optometry shop was sexually assaulted by a 70-year-old customer who had followed her into a back room where the technician was adjusting the customer's spectacles.
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When a patron at a brothel requests unprotected sex and has a shotgun. What are the operators obligations?
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What to say when you do not know what to say
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Competition where one letter of a word is changed and a new word is created, and their neologism contest where new meanings for common words are defined. Feeling romantic? What is the most romantic opening line of a two line poem, with the least romantic second line?
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Quotes about:- Work and Education for the OHS or safety practitioner
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Quotes about:- Professionalism/ Ignorance / Stupidity / Advice / Speakers / Time for the OHS or safety practitioner
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Quotes about:- Crime and Insults for the OHS or safety practitioner
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The WHS Act of 2011, The Regulations and various Codes of Practice. Redirects to WorkCover NSW web or other regulators web
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Fact sheets, Statistics and other material published by third parties
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The decision making process for a qualified HSR to issue a PIN or order work to stop.
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The concept of empowerment. You can save a life and a 'way-of-life'
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How Heinrich's Law can tell us if our accident reporting, health and safety in the workplace, is working by plotting the numerical relationship between major and minor injuries
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Asking repeatedly the question 'why' to establish the real cause of the mishap or unscheduled event
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The fishbone technique for problem solving, created by Karoru Ishikawa, nicknamed 'fishikawa'
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Deming's fourteen key principles to managers for transforming business effectiveness.
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PDCA (plan–do–check–act or plan–do–check–adjust) is an iterative four-step management method used in business for the control and continuous improvement of processes and products. It is also known as the Deming circle/cycle/wheel.
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Various Risk Matrix
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SDS for those dangerous substances at work known as "man" and "woman". Ladies please be warned, this was written by a man.
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One liners for events at work. Sayings that I wish that I had origianl said.
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Stories about safety, the workplace, management or dealing with work that is either funny, stupid or off-beat.
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Want to amuse your audience but do not want to offend? Have a safety message to enforce? You may find what you are looking for here.
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A poem written by a black gentleman, all about Colored folk, and skin colour. A bit of anti-racist humour
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Brainteasers to keep the mind working. I usually give these out during OHS training to give participants something to think about when break-out groups finish their tasks at different speeds. Answers are supplied
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Brainteasers to keep the gray matter working. No clues are supplied and there is no one correct answer. The answer is either a common English phrase or expression, a book or movie title, or a concept or idea.
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Brainteasers to keep the gray matter working. No clues are supplied and there is no one correct answer. The answer is either a common English phrase or expression, a book or movie title, or a concept or idea.
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Brainteasers to keep the gray matter working. No clues are supplied and there is no one correct answer. The answer is either a common English phrase or expression, a book or movie title, or a concept or idea.
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Brainteasers to keep the gray matter working. No clues are supplied and there is no one correct answer. The answer is either a common English phrase or expression, a book or movie title, or a concept or idea.
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Brainteasers to keep the gray matter working. No clues are supplied and there is no one correct answer. The answer is either a common English phrase or expression, a book or movie title, or a concept or idea.
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Brainteasers to keep the gray matter working. No clues are supplied and there is no one correct answer. The answer is either a common English phrase or expression, a book or movie title, or a concept or idea.
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Illusions or What you See is not What You Get
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Getting around in an unconventional manner
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Some may be stupid by design, and others are just dumb.
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Photographs of workers risking it while working at heights
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Electronic accidents waiting to happen
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Photographs where the wrong tool for the job in hand was being attempted
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Photographs of overloading - when two into one does go.
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Our privacy policy. We don't ask you for any personal information
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Contact Pages are are great way to engage with your visitors and demonstrate that you are a real person rather than simply an anonymous web site.
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In April of 2013, Safe Work Australia published their first report devoted to work-related mental stress.
Some of the key findings
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Non consultation is deemed to be a breach of OHS law
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Data entry deemed unsafe and in breach of OHS laws. Employee prosecuted.
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Driver falls and abbatoir fined for breach of OHS laws.
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PATRICK Stevedoring’s appeal against its conviction and fine for workplace health and safety breaches has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
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Planking gets two employees fired
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Employee operating a boom pump in breach of the OHS law looses out in court.
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In the case of Baiada Poultry Pty Ltd v The Queen [2012], it was highlighted how important it is for employers, principals and head contractors to conduct risk assessments and determine whether it is reasonably practicable to provide a safe system of work for a contractor’s employees. The case related to the obligations imposed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) to provide, so far as is reasonably practicable, a workplace that is without risk to health or safety.
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The Queensland district court heard that during a rain storm, in January 2008, the driver of a Volvo B Double exited his cab to attend to a mechanical fault and fell to the ground, after his foot slipped on the step of the cab. The driver sustained a head injury, neck and lower back injuries and a psychological condition. The employer was found guilty and fined $225,000
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Whilst workplace stress claims are said to be on the rise, the case of Finlay v The State of Western Australia highlights the importance of employers exercising due diligence in investigating and monitoring claims of excessive workloads .
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Restaurant offers a plate breaking service but clients must be 'togged up' with safety gear to comply with OHS
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