COVID-19 measures

When Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19 swept Victoria in July, the State Government introduced incident notification rules for work-related cases which carry a maximum penalty of $200,000. The Government also mandated the wearing of face masks for metropolitan Melbourne workers, before extending this across the state. Employers faced $100,000 fines for issuing worker permits to employees able to work from home.

The Government revealed 90 per cent of Victorians with COVID-19 continued going to work or shops after they first experienced symptoms and found 69 per cent of second-wave healthcare worker infections were attributable to work, with tea rooms and ventilation systems partly blamed. WorkSafe was given greater powers to shut down activities creating COVID-19 risks.

In September, the Government released its roadmap to recovery out of COVID-19 restrictions, under which workers were instructed to continue working from home. It also announced blanket coronavirus tests of workers in industries deemed high-risk, while a commission rejected a bid to block a union’s OHS entries during the pandemic.

OHS changes

The new OHS offence of workplace manslaughter commenced, along with a broader definition of workplace death, extended to include fatalities in work-related public road incidents, suicides attributable to OHS failures, deaths from industrial diseases and workplace deaths resulting from criminal acts.

An inquiry into on-demand work recommended aligning the “work status” provisions in safety and employment laws, highlighting the “superior coverage” provided by the model WHS laws to non-employees like contractors. The State Government called for submissions on the recommendations.

Penalties and fines

The Court of Appeal upheld a $230,000 fatality fine after examining provisions on workplace control and subsisting risks. It also outlined the types and levels of impairments constituting “serious” work injuries, in dismissing a finger-injury claim.

An employer was fined $850,000 for failing to prepare a safe work method statement, after a subcontractor fell to his death, while three employers were fined a total of $245,000, after a worker was killed on a public street, and other incidents.

A business was handed three OHS fines in one day in the Magistrates Court, while four employers were fined a total of $160,000 over incidents that included a non-worker wandering onto a site with missing fencing. A developer was fined over a powerlines injury.

Key cases

An employer entered a $1 million enforceable undertaking after its alleged failure to complete a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) led to a worker being crushed by a machine. An aged care business entered a $281,000 undertaking after a resident sustained serious coffee burns and died two weeks later.

A worker was permitted to pursue damages for asthma caused by exposure to dust without respiratory protection. Meanwhile, a company director was fined for making a health and safety representative redundant after he complained to WorkSafe about workplace bushfire smoke.

A worker was awarded $1 million in damages after his employer used unproven allegations against him to declare him psychiatrically unfit to perform his role. Another worker was granted permission to sue his employer for PTSD after he was assaulted by a co-worker and then forced to work near him.

A WorkSafe seminar warned employers had wellbeing duties to subcontractors and had to do more to protect their mental health. WorkSafe also laid dozens of OHS and dangerous goods charges, including for reckless endangerment, against an individual linked to suspicious chemical fires.

How the VCCI can help

The experienced and qualified team of HSE&W Consultants at the Victorian Chamber can advise, review, and audit your Health, Safety and Environmental policies, procedures and practices to ensure your workplaces are as ready as they can be for the new laws in 2021.

For more information on this and other HSW support please contact us on 03 8662 5333 or hsw@victorianchamber.com.au to discuss your needs.