Category Archive for : ‘General’

Employers fined over amputations and other injuries

A number of NSW employers have been fined for dangerously modifying plant, failing to instruct employees to read operating manuals and other safety breaches, following a series of severe injuries, including two amputations.In the first case, Waycon Bulk Pty Ltd was fined $195,000 for breaching ss32 and 38 of the State WHS Act, in failing to ensure the safety of a worker and failing to notify SafeWork NSW that he was injured.In April 2013, the worker was leaning across a wood splitting machine to

Sick leave increasing as bullying declines

The amount of sick leave taken by NSW public sector employees has risen by 7.9 per cent in the last five years, suggesting employers need to introduce strategies for the ageing workforce and disengaged employees, a new report has found.

It also found workplace bullying in the public sector decreased between 2012 and 2014.

The Public Service Commission’s (PSC’s) State of the NSW Public Sector Report 2015, released last week, says the upward trend in sick leave “raises concerns about the health of the workforce and the

New Online System to send Safety Message to Employees
Does your business need one?

Two employers have committed to spending a total of $600,000 on an online documentation management system, safety email alerts and other programs, after being accused of WHS breaches.

In the first case, Cape Cod Australia Pty Ltd entered into an enforceable undertaking with SafeWork NSW after two apprentices of contractor High Performance Constructions Pty Ltd were injured when a staircase fell on them in November 2012.

The apprentices and two other workers were trying to manually move the 2.7 metre-high

Safety Observations Drive Down TRIFR

An employer has reduced its total-recordable injury frequency rate by 24 per cent by increasing managers’ visibility in the field, rewarding safety-conscious workers and introducing an HSE “action program”, its latest sustainability report says.

Origin Energy’s 2015 report shows the company recorded a TRIFR of 3.8 per million hours worked in the 2015 financial year, down from five the year before.

The energy giant – which has 6900 employees and several thousand contractors – also recorded fewer lost-time cases and work days lost in 2014-15, while its lost-time

Obese worker fairly sacked despite medical certificates

A worker who was stood down with pay and told to lose weight so he could safely perform his role, and then sacked after he gained 10kg, has had his unfair dismissal claim rejected.

In Sydney, the Fair Work Commission found it was reasonable for the employer to rely on an occupational physician’s assessment that the worker was unable to perform his job, rather than on medical certificates that stated he was fit to work.

In February 2014, the Parmalat Australia Ltd cool room operator was

Three ways workplaces can tackle domestic violence

A coalition of business leaders has released a new guide explaining how employers can significantly reduce the prevalence and impact of domestic violence through a three-level model. Also in this article, the Fair Work Commission has rejected an appeal against a domestic-violence-related ruling.

The coalition, Male Champions of Change (MCC), is made up of 30 Australian CEOs, department heads and non-executive directors and tackles gender equality issues. It engaged KPMG to assist in developing a guide on how organisations should respond to domestic and family

Stressed at Work

A young Sydney lawyer, who like thousands of his colleagues struggled with depression at the outset of his career, has explained in a new book how to unwind when you’re “stressed at [your] desk”.

Jerome Doraisamy’s The Wellness Doctrines also includes chapters on managing onerous workloads, what doesn’t work when managing your health and wellbeing, signs and symptoms of depression among lawyers, the stigma about depression in the sector, and identifying and overcoming “legal idiosyncrasies” that contribute to the problem.

“The legal profession experiences alarmingly high rates of psychological distress, anxiety and depression –

Another fake high-risk work licence discovered

WorkSafe WA has reiterated its warning to employers to carefully check the validity of high risk work licences, after discovering a man, going by the name Peter Kevin Jenkins, is using a falsified licence covering 12 classes of high-risk work.

The fraudulent document stated that he held licences for advanced rigging, advanced scaffolding, boom-type EWPs, concrete placing booms, dogging, forklifts, hoists, derrick cranes, portal boom cranes, slewing mobile cranes, tower cranes and vehicle loading cranes.

“We warned members of the public back in March” – see related article –

A lack of safety training has caused a death

A young worker who died after being left to operate a forklift alone in an industrial freezer hadn’t received OHS or forklift training, the NSW Coroner has found.

Coroner Carmel Forbes found the employer didn’t have a freezer safety policy or a policy that prohibited employees from working on their own.

In April 2013, 23-year-old Vijay Singh died from complications of hypothermia that developed while he was trapped for about an hour in a large freezer warehouse in one of Laurent D Pty Ltd’s Matraville,

How preventing workplace bullying makes a more productive work place!

A recent court case about workplace bullying that brought great distress and ill health to the bullied employee is a graphic example of what can go wrong when existing policy and procedures are not implemented. Therefore as a business owner preventing workplace bullying is a task which should not be ignored.

The case concerned a supervisor bullying an employee who had just returned from maternity leave. The bullied employee complained to the State Manager who by procedure should have involved the HR