Browsing: Heat | Page 10

• Two jurisdictions tackle construction and heat risks;
  
• Workers' comp premiums increasing in WA; and
  
• 26,000 reasons to enter Vic safety awards.

Epidemiologist Professor Tim Driscoll has outlined the major current and emerging workplace health and safety issues for Australia and other Oceanian nations, in an Oxford University journal.

In a timely study for Australian duty holders - considering recent record-high temperatures - US researchers have identified a link between heat strain and acute kidney injuries in workers.

• ABCC-restoration laws pass with major amendments; and
  
• Fatality, heat and other warnings issued in three jurisdictions.

• Employers breaching sun-related WHS duties;
  
• Unannounced drug tests flagged for WA rail sector;
  
• CoR safety resources for heavy vehicles released; and
  
• Dangerous goods laws tweaked in Tas.

Nearly every worker in three of Safe Work Australia's priority industries is exposed to at least one carcinogen, while the majority of workers in one sector are exposed to four or more, new research reports show.

The Queensland Coroner has, in an inquest into a worker's death, called for employers to treat workers as casualties as soon as they're affected by heat, criticised "buddy" systems, and said he was "startled" to discover that there was no construction-industry standard relating to high temperatures.

An employer that trained workers in lock-out procedures and ladder safety, but failed to "monitor and enforce" what was taught, has been convicted of OHS breaches.

The family of a worker who died in a car crash, after working long hours in the sun with only one break, has been awarded nearly $500,000 in compensation.

• Go Home on Time Day today;
  
• NSW launches another workers' comp review, this time on self-insurance; and
  
• SafeWork NSW issues heat warning.