Employers of first responders should brief recruits on the mental health risks inherent in their roles and the stressful nature of the organisation's "mission", to ensure they know what they're getting themselves into, an Australian-first report on post-traumatic stress disorder has recommended.
What are best practice PCBUs and their officers doing to comply with their due diligence duties? And what WHS issues should the officers of white-collar organisations be focusing on? Senior WHS and employment lawyer Trent Sebbens explains in this Q&A with OHS Alert.
Workers who are bullied or abused in the workplace are more likely to act aggressively towards others, and employers can take some simple training steps to break the cycle, leading organisational psychologists say.
Australian employers have been urged to emulate overseas strategies for tackling "technology stress" and burnout, after a survey found that the number of workers who feel like they are "always on" has surged by nearly 60 per cent in a year.
Employers have a duty to intervene if obesity is putting a worker's health and safety at risk, but they are "well advised to be cautious" in how they go about it, a leading occupational and environmental physician has warned.
PCBUs are being told to eliminate, where practicable, the need to enter or even work near confined spaces that might contain hazardous substances, after a recent double fatality. Meanwhile, health monitoring rules have been extended in a hazardous industry in NSW, and a Paralympian has urged workers to speak up about unsafe situations.
Safe Work Australia has released its much-anticipated national guidance on work-related psychological health and safety, which outlines how to identify psychosocial hazards and eliminate or minimise them through the hierarchy of controls.
