Can a dismissal over safety issues be overturned?

In our recent Coleman Greig Employment Law workshops, we have commented on the Norske Skog case, in which an employee who disobeyed safety directions was nevertheless reinstated because the termination was harsh in all the circumstances (particularly because the employee had a good record and would be severely personally disadvantaged by losing his job).

Although the Commission emphasised that safety was a very high priority, employers may feel that this undermines attempts to make safety compliance a high order value in workplaces.

A number of recent cases, however, show Fair Work Australia to be applying a very safety conscious approach in assessing whether the employers had valid reason to terminate an employee's employment. Examples include: