Browsing: Emerging risks | Page 3

With environmental temperatures rising, certain workers face an increased risk of heat strain made worse by PPE requirements, increasing the likelihood of health problems and highlighting the need for "adequate cooling provisions", a study has concluded.

A burnout study of nearly 7,000 workers across 2,000 companies has highlighted the importance of supplying workers with reliable technology, and technical assistance, to help them maintain their mental health and productivity.

Researchers have identified three factors that increase the risk of sleep problems and consequential health conditions in shift workers.

A leading legal expert on technology and the workplace has warned of the WHS risks and implications of using "bossware" to track workers' productivity, including that it can trigger cease-work orders under safety laws.

Workplace hazards ranging from long hours to vibrations increase the risks faced by pregnant workers, but all these risks can be controlled by modifying roles and should not affect workforce participation, according to Australian public health researchers.

Workers denying not getting enough sleep, and fearing being exposed as having sleep issues, are two of four barriers that need to be addressed to implement an effective sleep health program for white-collar workers, the authors of a global study say.

Employers need to be more strategic when planning work schedules and rest times to "reduce physical and mental overload", according to safety experts, who found the widespread problem of lower back pain tends to build up across consecutive work days.

An increasingly diverse and multigenerational workforce, and socioeconomic changes since the global COVID-19 pandemic, mean "monolithic" mental health strategies "just won't cut it anymore", the CEO of Beyond Blue says.

• Workers urged to cease and report unsafe tasks under "Reset";
  
• Workplace heat warning and tips issued for El Niño; and
  
• Business handed $170k premium recovery fine.

Work acceleration and cognitive dissonance are some of the workplace health and safety challenges that need to be managed when using artificial intelligence in the workplace, a future of work academic says.