Browsing: White-collar work | Page 13

The surge in working from home arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity for sedentary workers to break unhealthy sitting habits and "re-engineer" movement back into their workday, a human movement expert says.

• SWA launches COVID-19 hub and home setup guide;
  
• More work-related COVID-19 guides and fatality alerts issued; and
  
• HSEQ manager appointed boss of NT WorkSafe.

The sudden large-scale uptake of telework, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, has "amplified" a range of physical and psychosocial occupational risks, but key prevention measures for employers can be as simple as disseminating pragmatic information on ergonomics and facilitating "virtual collective working periods", according to French researchers.

In a case highlighting the potential long-term impact of seemingly innocuous office injuries, a tribunal has found that medical records showing a worker's work injuries were asymptomatic when he was being treated for other ailments doesn't mean his work injuries have resolved.

Workers working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic are having varying experiences, and some, like those simultaneously home-schooling their kids, are likely to be struggling, a workplace researcher says. She says employers must be on top of the personal factors affecting remote workers' health.

A tribunal has rejected a worker's claim that her tennis elbow was exacerbated by her employer introducing a new computer program that froze constantly, requiring her to click her computer mouse more frequently.

• SWA and APSC overhaul COVID-19 and remote work guidance; and
  
• Five ways to maintain mental health in pandemic.

Keeping communications upbeat, holding virtual team meetings and reminding workers their EAPs are there if they need them, are key strategies for overcoming the harmful social isolation workers could experience working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, a safety and injury management expert says.

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing social distancing measures and many workers to work from home, often at very short notice, employers must remember they have a duty to ensure working environments in homes and elsewhere are healthy and safe, a senior safety lawyer says in this Q&A with OHS Alert.

A worker's debilitating neck injury was caused by using his shorter supervisor's standing desk, which wasn't ergonomically assessed or adjusted for his height, a tribunal has found.