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The rate of work-related dermatitis has nearly doubled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a major review has identified two effective methods to prevent the "ubiquitous" skin condition.

Safety audits can "mask" critical risks and leave organisations "in the dark" on the effectiveness of their safety processes, an HSE leader says.

A major study spanning the European Union has found the COVID-19 pandemic was a "formative event" for workers' mental health. It found many workers experienced increasing stress, mainly linked to two factors, and employers must continue to proactively monitor potentially health-damaging working conditions.

• Qantas agrees to pay $21k in ongoing WHS discrimination case; and
  
• Disconnect laws highlighted on release of mental stress numbers.

A major review of a WHS regulator has been quickly followed by a highly critical audit, which found the regulator lacks effective strategies for dealing with emerging WHS threats, and took about eight years to "actively and sufficiently respond" to the dangers of engineered stone.

A WHS regulator will step up its enforcement activities against workplace psychosocial hazards, like excessive workloads, with more specialist inspectors and better engagement with stakeholders, under two of 46 accepted recommendations from a highly anticipated review.

A coronial inquest into a young worker's death in a forklift crash has found his employer didn't have any written safety policies or enforce critical WHS rules, before appearing to defy WHS caselaw by concluding the business was not obligated to instruct the worker to wear his seatbelt or not perform unloading work on slopes.

Different forms of verbal aggression have different effects on workers' mental health, according to a unique study, which found supervisors are common perpetrators of abuse and need special training to help staff achieve psychological detachment from work.

Employers adopting a four-day work week are being urged to increase their employees' knowledge of the injury risks associated with work intensification, and warned against leaving it up to staff to figure out how to maintain their output.

The sentencing regime for workplace health and safety offences could be amended to ensure penalties have a "real economic impact" on large companies, and to enable imprisonment for more types of offences, under changes flagged by Victoria's Sentencing Advisory Council.