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 powers of elected health and safety representatives and protections against safety discrimination in the offshore sector have been stepped up and aligned with those in WHS laws, in a Bill introduced some six years after a parliamentary inquiry warned the changes were needed to combat a "culture of fear and reprisal".
Workers in the legal profession will reveal whether their employers are complying with their proactive duties to tackle bullying and harassment, under a follow-up equal opportunity review announced in South Australia. Meanwhile, safety professionals have been asked to apply to present on ideas for improving WHS outcomes in Tasmania.
A major study traversing the past four years has revealed that students are the most frequent perpetrators of digital harassment of Australia's university staff, and senior managers in the sector are not doing enough to safeguard workers' psychological health.
Managerial experience in dealing with common mental disorders (CMDs) is a key organisational "asset", according to researchers who studied more than 3,000 managers and point employers to international guidance on the issue.
Encouraging teamwork and ensuring safety personnel provide managers with advice on legislative requirements are two vital elements researchers say facilitate workers' return to work after suffering mental health disorders.
A man has been ordered to stand trial for the industrial manslaughter of a worker who fell through an unguarded penetration, while employers have been urged to assess and control the risks associated with the potentially deadly disease melioidosis, after a work-related case was recorded.
A worker has unsuccessfully claimed he was unfairly sacked for raising safety concerns, with a commission hearing a safety regulator investigated and dismissed his concerns, and finding he was sacked for being unable to perform the inherent requirements of his role.
Employers of workers in an at-risk group have been urged to rethink their mental health strategies to support those with suicidal thoughts and other issues, with a caution that "practice has surpassed research".