Work Health & Safety - What's News - 15 April 2014

In the media

Sydney tradespeople breeze through watchdog audit More than 98 percent of construction tradespeople working on new residential buildings and home renovation projects in Western Sydney have demonstrated proper and adequate compliance with their obligations, a recent NSW has found. Breaches which were detected related to inappropriate licencing (11 November 2014). More...

Working at heights deaths: Self-regulation failing to prevent fatal building falls, unions say Unions are calling for tougher safety regulations and enforcement to stop workers falling to their deaths at worksites, saying more people will be killed unless self-regulation is scrapped (10 April 2014). More...

ACCC authorises an accreditation scheme for civil contractors for underground electrical works Civil contractors that are not accredited can still perform works for the electricity distribution businesses in Victoria, as long as additional quality and safety checks are performed (09 April 2014). More... More...

Union labels inquiry a witch-hunt A Royal Commission into trade union governance, slush funds and corruption is nothing more than a witch-hunt and taxpayers will be better served if more money went to enforcing existing laws, unions say (09 April 2014). More...

Sussan Corporation Australia ordered to pay Gabrielle Keegan $235,000 in damages after being bullied by supervisor A national women's clothing retailer has been ordered to pay more than $235,000 in damages to an employee subjected to bullying after returning from maternity leave. The Cairns Supreme Court judge 's written decision slammed the Sussan Corporation, saying it failed to comply with its own bullying and harassment policy (08 April 2014). More...

Government must lead construction paradigm shift: Industry chief State and federal governments within Australia should use their position as major clients to lead a fundamental overhaul of 'twentieth century' procurement models for major construction projects, a respected industry figure says (09 April 2014). More...

WorkCover and NSW Farmers partner for safety WorkCover NSW will partner with NSW Farmers this week to help raise awareness of the importance of safety on farms in the region. WorkCover has identified the sheep and beef cattle farming industries as being among the state's highest risk industries (07 April 2014). More...

Comcare: ACT government gets $80m insurance bill The ACT government has the fourth-highest insurance premium of 120 government organisations covered by Comcare. The territory has been billed $80 million for 2013-14 - a 14 per cent year-on-year increase mostly caused by $7.6 million added by Comcare as part of a new levy (07 April 2014). More...

Victorian WorkCover Authority stops press releases on prosecuted employers The state government's key workplace authority has quietly stopped issuing press releases whenever companies are prosecuted for safety breaches, renewing claims of a political push to make the agency less hostile to employers (06 April 2014). More...

Construction site safety blitz progressing well WorkCover NSW has conducted 118 audits and issued 32 notices to construction companies across the State as part of its six-week work health and safety blitz of commercial sites across Sydney and hot spots in regional NSW (04 April 2014). More...

Labor supports militant unions over safety and productivity Queensland worksites are becoming the safest and most productive in Australia with legislation that toughens penalties for electrical safety breaches and prevents union bullying passed in Parliament. The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice said the work...