Browsing: Health and mental wellbeing | Page 5

Australian researchers have found the rate of same-level falls in workplaces is set to surge among a major group of workers, and urged employers to implement tailored interventions, including for remote-work arrangements.

• Workplace exposure standard for fumes slashed today;
  
• Vic responds to fumes amendment with tips for employers; and
  
• Comcare warns of big fines, reveals manslaughter start date.

An eight-item questionnaire to detect sleep apnoea in at-risk workers has proved to be an effective and low-cost way to screen a workforce for a condition that poses significant safety and health risks, researchers say.

Workplace safety professionals were among the first to foresee the extensive threats created by COVID-19, showing that involving them more in emergency decision-making can facilitate more effective responses for organisations and the community, an international study has found.

Safe Work Australia has committed to immediately drafting changes to the national model WHS laws to reflect the outcomes of yesterday's WHS ministers meeting on engineered stone and other issues. The non-harmonised state of Victoria will make similar changes to its safety legislation.

Australia's WHS ministers have unanimously agreed to prohibit the use, manufacture and supply of engineered stone, under a plan that will be matched with a "complementary customs prohibition" on the material, and new WHS laws for all industries where crystalline silica is present.

Managers have been urged to target the factors that exacerbate work stress and lead to sleep disorders, with a 12-year study suggesting this can reduce the risk of "poorer work ability trajectories" among older workers.

A study of a group of Australian workers at heightened risk of psychological injury has revealed the factors that help them return to work quicker than those in other sectors

The efforts, or lack thereof, of employers to comply with their positive duty to proactively prevent s-xual harassment will be actively scrutinised by at least one more regulator from today, with the Australian Human Rights Commission's new powers taking effect.

A major survey of leaders from large businesses and government departments from around the world has found many company officers aren't being sufficiently informed of psychosocial risks to comply with their proactive WHS duties.