At the 23rd World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, which kicked off in Sydney today, the International Labour Organisation will announce a new strategy to accelerate health and safety progress. The ILO warns that work-related accidents and diseases are causing the deaths of nearly three million workers each year.
Importers, manufacturers, logistics service providers and many others types of companies, as well as their officers, have a duty to ensure containers are transported safely on Australian roads and to prevent rollover incidents, the risk of which is increasing with the surge in consumer-driven freight activity, a senior transport lawyer says.
A major company and a state government are among the latest entities to formerly commit to phasing out silicosis-causing engineered stone and implementing a WHS ban on the substance.
Employers need to educate remote employees on detaching from work after hours and making prudent decisions around working while ill, according to researchers examining the prevalence of presenteeism in working-from-home arrangements.
Lawyers have urged companies to keep on top of emerging evidence on the effects of medicinal cannabis on workers and testing regimes, outlining a wide range of challenges in this area. Meanwhile, Victorian stakeholders have just weeks left to contribute to a parliamentary inquiry into workplace drug tests.
With environmental temperatures rising, certain workers face an increased risk of heat strain made worse by PPE requirements, increasing the likelihood of health problems and highlighting the need for "adequate cooling provisions", a study has concluded.
Office workers can decrease their sedentary sitting time by up to nearly 80 minutes per day under an Australian-inspired German-developed intervention toolkit, which a study has found to be sustainable, cost effective and satisfying for participants.
A burnout study of nearly 7,000 workers across 2,000 companies has highlighted the importance of supplying workers with reliable technology, and technical assistance, to help them maintain their mental health and productivity.
