Browsing: Health and mental wellbeing | Page 131

Chemicals that are hazardous to employees' reproductive health are common in workplaces, but a lack of awareness on individual and organisational levels means people continue to be exposed to them, an occupational health researcher says.

CEOs are being urged to invest heavily in employee mental wellbeing, after a "world-first" psychological safety survey found that many workers believe their mistakes are "held against" them.

Mining operations will be blocked or shut down if their "dust abatement" plans are inadequate or they have poor dust-monitoring records, under recommendations from a damning inquiry into the "re-identification" of black lung disease.

White-collar workers with chronic lower back pain sit more asymmetrically than their healthy colleagues, but this asymmetry is significantly reduced when they assume "neutral" sitting postures, researchers have found.

• Financial stress blocks RTW success;
  
• Fatigue and speed seminars released for Fatality Free Friday; and
  
• Safety standards and communication advice released in Qld.

Wellness initiatives that combine exercise with game play create healthy competition among colleagues and encourage regular physical activity by both fit and less sporty employees, according to a wellbeing app developer.

Bills establishing Australia's "most comprehensive" safety laws for building products and a labour-hire licensing scheme have been introduced in Queensland. The State has also passed laws cracking down on infection-control breaches and improving transport safety.

• WHS amendments for hazardous chemicals announced; and
  
• Vic finally commits to presumptive cancer compensation.

Non-smoking workers exposed to mixtures of occupational vapours, gases, dusts and fumes can experience the same decline in lung capacity as a 20-packs-per-year smoker, US researchers have found.

• Inquiry demands better safety and flexibility for older workers;
  
• Employers urged to make online "safety promise", and act on it; and
  
• Two in three respondents want workplace health programs.