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.
A worker who claimed he was psychologically injured from being required to perform a hazardous task without personal protective equipment, and being bullied by managers and co-workers, has been denied compensation in a case examining the "perception of real events".
The Fair Work Commission has ordered an organisation's members to undergo anti-bullying training, to impress upon them what bullying is and its consequences for workers.
Measuring, monitoring and reporting on psychosocial risk management is a major challenge and now a critical feature of any organisation's statutory safety obligations, senior safety experts say in offering tips on the process.
An employer that responded to a complaint about the tone of a worker's emails by levelling a string of accusations against him has failed to prove his psychological injury arose from reasonable disciplinary action.
A company has lost its appeal against a compensation order for an injured worker it suspended, with a commission upholding a finding that the employer restricted her ability to defend herself against allegations of misconduct.
A tribunal has asked the Department of Veterans' Affairs to produce guidelines to prevent injured veterans being discriminated against based on their mental health treatment records, in upholding an ex-soldier's post-traumatic stress disorder claim.
Proposed industrial manslaughter provisions released for feedback in South Australia will, according to unions, cover suicides attributable to workplace bullying and harassment, as with Victoria's version of the offence.
In a case that centred on the alleged inappropriate access of patient files by a clerk, a commission has upheld the worker's claim for benefits for a psychological injury linked to "heavy handed" disciplinary action.
A woman claiming she was at risk of psychological harm from being bullied on a Facebook page - allegedly poorly moderated by her organisation - has failed in her bid for stop-bullying orders, in a case examining the link between work and the "online world".
