workplace injury

• Is it time that the High Court recognises an employer’s duty of care to prevent psychiatric injury in investigative and disciplinary processes?

  23rd Oct 2024

  The latest edition of Precedent is online for members from Thursday 24 October, focusing on employment law and workers compensation. This week’s Opinion stays on theme as Travis Schultz and Aiden Warneke take a considered and detailed look at the potentially changing landscape regarding employers’ duty of care and psychiatric injury.

• Dealing with WorkCover for work injuries: Closing the gap between injury and returning to work

  18th Jul 2024

  Employers can play a crucial role in speeding up the recovery time following an employee’s work injury by implementing effective early intervention programs. Australia, however, has a long way to go in terms of uniformity and ensuring injured workers are treated fairly across all industries as they navigate their compensation claims. Compensation Lawyer Yasmine Chalvatzis explains.

• Urgent law reform needed to prevent sexual harassment at work

  18th Mar 2022

  Everyone deserves to be safe at work and free from sexual harassment, but our current system is failing us. While sexual harassment is pervasive across all industries and all employment levels in Australia, it is not inevitable. We have the power to prevent it.

• Workplace safety must be the priority in vaccine mandate

  9th Aug 2021

  Mandating COVID-19 vaccinations in some workplaces, when vaccines are readily available, is not unreasonable, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• Horseplay in the workplace leads to damages

  6th May 2021

  Emily Wittig from Stacks Collins Thompson discusses a case where a ‘bit of fun’ at work goes too far and leads to serious injury. She highlights the duty of care owed by employers to provide competent supervisors and a safe workplace, and the significant dangers of injury and death when this duty is breached.

• Continuing grim reality of work-related fatalities

  14th Jan 2021

  A total of 3,751 workers were killed in work-related incidents between 2003 and 2018. The number of non-fatal work-related injuries in Australia is also extreme.

  Justin Stack observes that changes in legislation have made it more difficult for injured workers to obtain adequate compensation and he discusses avenues through which NSW workers can challenge an insurer’s decision or dispute the amount of compensation they have been awarded.

• Fair compensation for work injuries ‘almost impossible’ if NSW scheme issues not resolved

  3rd Aug 2020

  Issues within the operation of the NSW Workers’ Compensation Scheme must be resolved otherwise it will become almost impossible for injured workers to receive fair compensation, according to the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• New workplace manslaughter laws in Victoria

  2nd Jul 2020

  Sam Vasaiwalla explains the new Workplace Safety Legislation Amendment (Workplace Manslaughter and Other Matters) Act 2019 (Vic), effective from 1 July 2020. This new law makes workplace manslaughter a criminal offence in Victoria, with penalties of up to $16.5 million and 20 years’ jail.

• ACCS consultation welcome to better assist injured Victorian workers

  18th Oct 2019

  Consultation to improve processes for injured workers, including through the Accident Compensation Conciliation Service (ACCS), has been welcomed by the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) in Victoria.

• The high cost of preventable farm accidents

  4th Jul 2019

  Justin Stack details some recent cases involving preventable farm accidents and emphasises the importance of farm owners and workers understanding their workplace safety rights and obligations.

• Benzene: The colourless killer

  22nd Nov 2018

  Luke Perilli details the dangers and effects of exposure to benzene, described by the World Health Organisation as ‘a major public health concern’.

• Work deaths in Australia top 92 for 2018

  13th Sep 2018

  An exploration of the worker fatality and serious workplace injury rates for 2018 so far.

• The return of Silicosis

  2nd Aug 2018

  Luke Perilli discusses Silicosis, the incurable lung disease increasing in prominence among Australian stonemasons, and the duty of employers to minimise the risk of their workers contracting the disease. 

• Case summary: Bartlett v De Martin & Gasparini Pty Ltd [2024] NSWSC 1172

  Nickelle Morris of Travis Schultz & Partners summarises a case where the plaintiff is injured on a construction site and is successful in a negligence action against the company in charge of the construction site - and the labour hire company that employed him.