Measures for preventing workplace fatigue range from providing appropriate staffing levels to digitally locking out workers, according to WHS lawyers, who warn the issue is dangerously overlooked in many organisations, and highlight a safety prosecution that reads like a "how-to" guide to tackling fatigue.
A major employer should consider introducing a "points system" for workers' traumatic exposures, and prescribing welfare measures for workers under scrutiny to avoid "idiosyncratic or poor exercise of discretion", a coronial inquest into the suicide deaths of four policemen has recommended.
Training that busts the myth that drugs and alcohol are the only notable causes of workplace impairments can be an "aha" moment for managers, and help them properly respond when they suspect a worker might be impaired, researchers say.
A workplace supervisor who was initially charged with four counts of manslaughter, in relation to the deaths of four police officers in a road crash, could now be jailed for up to five years for a reckless breach of safety laws, with an appeals court reversing a decision to stay the recklessness case.
Menopause often causes "debilitating" symptoms in workers in one of the fastest growing employment groups, and the synonymous hot flushes and night sweats have the least impact, according to a study that also identifies the two most valuable workplace supports. Another study has identified widespread discrimination against pregnant workers.
Developing a roster-matched sleep schedule, planning transitions to days off and using napping as a tool, are among 18 new "guidelines" for shift workers developed by Australian researchers to address unique challenges overlooked by traditional advice.
A company has been fined $1.2 million for dozens of breaches of the Heavy Vehicle National Law, after it was found to have "encouraged" drivers, through its remuneration structure, to disregard their fatigue obligations nearly 200 times in a five-week period.
An employer is liable for a fatal heart attack a worker suffered in a hotel gym on an overseas work trip, because its WHS and fitness-for-work policy implicitly encouraged him to exercise to counter stress and fatigue, a tribunal has confirmed on remittal.
A four-day work week can be a "game changer" for employee wellbeing and productivity, but employers need to "do their homework" on tailoring it to safely fit their workplaces, a senior business and management academic says.
An employer that was found to have negligently caused a worker to crash his car while driving home from a 12-hour shift has overturned the ruling, with an appeals court finding: there was insufficient evidence to suggest fatigue caused the crash; and the employer had fulfilled its common law duty of care.
