Browsing: WHS - research & reports | Page 12

Tension, hostility, overwork and decision-making difficulties are some of the psychological impacts climate change and extreme weather can have on the workplace, according to research psychologists, who urge employers to consider what they can do to support workers with "eco-anxiety".

Workplace "technostressors", such as information overload, are significantly associated with the symptoms of burnout, according to researchers, who suggest better prevention and intervention tactics are needed to address the risks of technology-related stress.

A worker was distracted by the death of a colleague, and fatigued from 26 consecutive days of work, when he was "cleared" as "fit" by an unqualified counsellor to perform a dangerous loading task, and then killed in an exclusion zone, a coronial inquest has found.

Providing workers with a choice over their shift characteristics can reduce rates of burnout and exhaustion, a study had found, suggesting that feelings of autonomy can counteract the adverse effects of difficult job demands such as long hours.

PCBUs will soon be: required to proactively facilitate the election of health and safety representatives; banned from blocking WHS entry permit holders through technicalities or impractical induction requirements; and handed on-the-spot fines for failing to provide adequate toilets, under review recommendations accepted in Queensland.

This major user-friendly report looks back at all the major and most interesting workplace safety and compensation developments from the start of the calendar year, including the ministerial vote on industrial manslaughter, multiple manslaughter charges, the widespread introduction of new psychosocial risk regulations, and a major WHS case involving the deaths of overseas students.

Using special PPE to partially cool the upper body surface, including the neck, heart and underarm regions, is an effective control measure to reduce the core body temperatures and heart rates of workers in hot environments, according to new research out of Japan.

Constant long working hours, changes in the content and quantity of work, and harassment, are all contributing to "death from overwork", an alarming study has found.

Poor adherence to safety regulations and exposure to diesel emissions - even at levels below recommended thresholds - have been linked, by two studies, to an increased risk of injuries and biological changes that can lead to cancer.

Arbitrary policies banning outdoor work at specific times during the summer months do not act as adequate controls for heat-related work injuries, according to a new study that suggests occupational heat prevention programs require a detailed analysis of environmental, workplace and personal variables to be effective.