The Fair Work Commission has increasingly been required to review issues raised by the use of social media in the workplace.

The proliferation of, and use of, social media sites, with nearly 70 per cent of Australians on Facebook and around 20 per cent on Instagram and Snapchat, has resulted in employees posting comments which often extend far wider that they had anticipated.

Businesses have begun to realise that social media can be used by their employees in inappropriate ways, which might damage their business.

It isn’t particularly surprising that a number of unfair dismissal claims have ended up before the Fair Work Commission, arising from posts on social media.

 

The following cases provide some useful tips:

• An employee was sacked after posting that their night out was spoiled by someone having a heart attack.
• An architect was dismissed for excessively using social media during working hours…allegedly more than 3,000 in a three-month period. It was found that the employee wasn’t given an opportunity to respond prior to the dismissal and was found to have been unfairly dismissed.
• An employee posted a crude and threatening Facebook rant on his home computer outside of working hours and while he had blocked the fellow employee who was the subject of the rant, other employees read the post. It was found that the action of the employee amounted to serious misconduct and the dismissal stood. Although not naming the employer when posting comments about their boss, the dismissal was upheld on the basis that anyone who knew the employee would know that the comment related to their workplace.
• Photos of employees planking in dangerous positions resulted in dismissal

The old saying “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, no longer applies and with virtually everyone with a mobile phone and people connected 24/7, nothing goes “unseen” and problems which previously would have been left at work when everyone goes home, now follow people home after work, which can lead to social media bullying and employees venting their frustration.

Nevertheless, employees have a right to free speech and privacy, so there must be a legitimate connection to the workplace and the conduct must damage the reputation of the business.

The Fair Work Commission has however, confirmed that a social media policy is a legitimate exercise of a business power to protect the security and reputation of their business…but it is vital that the business has a social media guideline in place, which is clearly communicated to all employees and obtains an acknowledgement that the employee has read and understood it.

Training is an important foundation to effectively enforce your social media policy. The policy should address bullying, cyber bullying and the use of social media… including what behaviour is appropriate and acceptable and what is not. It must also be clear that they will continue to apply, even outside working hours and also make it clear the consequences for failing to comply with it

The Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017 has put building cladding under the spotlight with audits happening around Australia as a result.

Manufacturers offer two different versions of the cladding – one with a plastic core and one with a mineral core. The plastic filled version if ignited becomes a fuel for the fire, while the mineral core is considered less flammable.

Whilst investigators do not attribute the source of fires to the cladding, it certainly has attributed to the rapid spread of the fire. In the case of the Grenfell Tower fire which resulted in 79 people dead or missing, it took 15 minutes to engulf the complete 14 storey building.

The investigators believe a fridge freezer was the source. BBC reported that because of the rapid fire spreading on the outside of the building, the normal system of rescuing people and fighting from a lower storey did not work.

In August 2017 the Torch Building in Dubai caught fire for the second time (the first time was in 2015). Reports seem to suggest in both incidents, Combustible Cladding, whilst not the source, had a major effect on the spread and size of the fire.

In November 2014 in Melbourne, Australia, a small column of cladding on the Lacrosse building caught fire spreading quickly up the side of the building.

Reports indicated that a cigarette butt in a plastic container was the source of the fire
which spread up the 23 storey building in 11 minutes.

Luckily there was a limited amount of panels involved and internal sprinklers operated protecting occupants and reduced the spread of fire internally.

There were no casualties but 450 – 500 people were evacuated and had to find alternative accommodation. It was reported that the unit owners were instructed to rip off and replace the cladding at a personal cost estimated at $40 million.

Cladding is also used on many other buildings and authorities across the world are investigating. Following Grenfell, English authorities evacuated a further 650 apartments in other buildings fitted with the combustible cladding.

Looking at your building or if you are considering purchasing, how do you recognise the cladding? Reports seem to suggest that reviewing the building specification or looking at the cladding will not solve your question. It seems the only way to be sure is to have it tested.

The Australian newspaper reported that many buildings in Sydney could contain the cladding. And who is responsible and pay for repairs? Good Question.

DID YOU KNOW?

• You are rarely more than a few metres from a spider. And that one acre of ground is home to about a million spiders!
• Around most homes you will find about 20-50 different species of spider. But in any bushland area, there is usually around 100-120 species!
• There are around 10,000 different species of spiders in Australia, but only around 3,500 have names – but don’t be alarmed, most are too small to bite.
• And it is the unexpected direction that spiders move in that generates the fear response in humans.
• The majority of spiders will run away from wind/blowing.
• If you have a 4WD watch out – spiders (as well as scorpions, cockroaches, lizards and snakes) are attracted to an idling 4WD diesel.
• Speaking of cars…although huntsmen spiders have a weak venom, they are responsible for the most human deaths through car crashes (as they scramble across the windscreen).
• Spider silk is easily dissolved with household bleach
• Despite popular belief, daddy long legs spiders are harmless..
• Male spiders look and behave like females until they are adult.
• No Australian spider (including the white tail spider) has caused flesh-rotting.
• An Australian jumping spider, Portia, has telephoto vision second only to the eagles.
• Most spiders have eight eyes but are basically blind.
• Spiders often consume their webs at nights end and then recycle the silk, through their gut, in about 20 minutes.
• Most of the white on a spider is formed by the white guanine in the folds of the gut
• Spider silk is highly elastic so when it reaches its most stretched point in the Spiderman movies, it should pull him straight back to base, not act like a rope.

As the state continues to recover from ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie, the real cost of the cyclone quite possibly will never be known.

The cyclone, which crossed the coast on 28 March, 2017 as a category-four system and caused subsequent flooding in communities from the Whitsundays to New South Wales and then across to New Zealand. Over 72,000 Queenslanders requested assistance.

And while PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organisation providing industry-wide catastrophe insurance data disclosed its initial property market loss estimate for Debbie at $1.116 million, there are other losses that are just not counted.

Cyclone Debbie caused the closure of many schoools in Queensland for two days and many businesses also closed in the lead up. Once the Cyclone past, many of the affected areas had further closures as a result of public utilities.

Business owners wore the cost of the closures with these figures unlikely to be ever known.

While many analysts expected the cyclone to have minimal impact on broader economic growth, there was severe damage to sugar and fruit and vegetable crops causing shortages in supply.

A quarter of all sugar produced in Australia comes from the Mackay-Proserpine region, with the Bowen region also a key producer of fruits and vegetables including mangoes, tomatoes and capsicum.

But there are some postivies that have come from Debbie including the fact that emergency services including the SES and volunteers who did a marvellous job during the disaster.

More coverage

In comparison to Cyclone Yasi in 2011, Queenslanders now have wider insurance coverage options available.
It is important to have a broker assist and talk to you in handling the claims process.

With reports of policy holders being scammed by people, doorknocking at homes, claiming to be representing Insurers and demanding cash payments to clean up, inspections and repairs. No Insurer’s representative would ever demand cash for such work.

These scams highlight the importance of having a broker who can assist with the claim process in what is a stressful situation.

The Board of the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) has welcomed the appointment of new Board members Heather Peirano from Piranha Insurance Brokers, and Mike Hutchinson of Marsh.

Peirano takes over from Peter Roberts who resigned from the Board late last year and is the Director representing NIBA’s Queensland Division. Hutchinson replaces David Duffield as the Marsh representative on the Board as Duffield has retired from the Board to take up the role of industry representative on the Insurance Broking Code Compliance Committee.

NIBA President Tim Wedlock said: “Welcome to Heather and Mike who I know will be great additions to the NIBA Board.

“Heather is very highly regarded across Queensland, and in the industry generally.

“Mike has had great experience at Marsh, and will have a lot to contribute to the NIBA Board in the coming years.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Heather and Mike, as they are passionate about our industry and will help promote NIBA as being the voice for our broking partners around Australia.

“I would also like to thank Peter Roberts for his contributions to the NIBA Board on behalf of our Queensland members. I would like to pay particular tribute to David Duffield, who has served NIBA for many years, including as a Past President, Convention Chair and also as Chair of the NIBA Board’s Finance Committee.

“We are very grateful for Peter and David’s contributions while on the NIBA Board.”

NIBA CEO Dallas Booth added that Peirano and Hutchinson will continue NIBA’s ability to work closely with Queensland members. “I am grateful Heather and Mike have offered to make the time available to assist NIBA’s important work representing members’ interests to governments and other stakeholders.”

Peirano is Director of Piranha Insurance Brokers which she started with her husband, Peter Peirano, back in 1989. It is a family-owned brokerage in Rockhampton with a specialty in motorsport insurance.

She says she is keen to join the Board: “I believe NIBA is an important vehicle for change … and I look forward to working with the other board members to create good outcomes for both the industry and its customers.”

Hutchinson was recently appointed Chief Client Officer Australia at Marsh. With more than 40 years’ service, he is also a Managing Director at Marsh, and his previous roles have included National Practice Leader Real Estate and Financial Institutions, General Manager Client Retention, and Business Development Director.

“NIBA is a tremendous organisation, representing the insurance broking profession to government, business and the community,” Mr Hutchinson says. “I’m enthusiastic about joining the board and looking forward to making a positive contribution.”

 

Source –  http://www.insuranceandrisk.com.au/niba-welcomes-new-board-members/