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A former Manus Island detention centre worker has failed to show his employer is liable for his recurring kidney stones, which he claims were caused by not being able to maintain his gluten-free diet on the island, or remain hydrated when he was in isolation with gastro.

Workplace bullying and harassment are overshadowing certain "sleeper hazards" in psychosocial risk management, potentially exposing employers to the scrutiny of WHS regulators, safety law experts have warned.

Digital stress reduction programs can improve mental health for hard-to-reach workers and those in male-dominated industries, who are at the greatest risk of mental ill health, Australian researchers have found.

Employers are now expected to take greater ownership of the WHS challenges posed by global supply chain pressures and changing technologies - an expectation that will be enforced by regulators under Australia's new 10-year WHS strategy, which identifies six key emerging issues.

The decreased visibility of workers, with remote and hybrid work arrangements becoming commonplace because of COVID-19, could be masking the fact that many employees feel compelled to "soldier on" while sick under these arrangements, creating serious wellbeing and productivity risks, new research suggests.

Employers have been urged to learn from, persist with and improve on the safety strategies they implemented for the COVID-19 pandemic, and warned against reverting to past practices that will alienate workers in the post-COVID era.

Australian managers and WHS officers can "tap out" when they encounter psychosocial hazards they perceive as "too complex", exacerbating the mental injury risks arising from the rapid switch to working from home since the COVID-19 outbreak, researchers say.

Portable standing desks can help fill the gap in strategies for tackling increased excessive sitting among the high number of workers who started working from home more because of the COVID-19 pandemic, health science researchers have found.

A worker who was on "availability duty" when he tripped and broke his leg, while walking his dog, was "doing what he was paid to do when he was injured", a full supreme court has ruled, noting previous judgments - both for and against the worker - unnecessarily applied the High Court test for interval injuries.

• WHS notification rules for COVID amended by Comcare; and
  
• Multiple WHS changes flagged in WA FIFO harassment report.