Browsing: Heat | Page 11

Low management buy-in and climate-change scepticism are just two of a number of barriers to protecting workers from heat-related illnesses and injuries, Australian researchers have found.

• Workers allegedly told to flout long-sleeve safety policy; and
  
• Register for OHS Alert's upcoming wellbeing webinar here.

Employers are being advised to establish a "workplace heat alert system", after Australian researchers found occupational heat illness claims increase by nearly 13 per cent for every one-degree rise in temperature during hot conditions.

Australian researchers are urging employers to manage workplace heat stress, after finding - in the first study of its kind - that lost productivity and absenteeism attributable to heat cost the economy $7.8 billion a year.

• WA announces record-low WorkCover premiums;
  
• GP trial to speed up RTW process;
  
• Sun safety doesn't end with autumn, says WorkCover Qld; and
  
• NSW issues drowning alert.

A NSW employer and a director have been found guilty of failing to train a worker - who sustained serious burns - to safely handle chemicals, after a judge rejected their claim that this wasn't part of her duties.

Employers are being urged to apply higher-order hazard controls wherever practicable, after a new Safe Work Australia report found that more than three in five workers are regularly exposed to multiple hazards associated with occupational diseases.

• Workplace harassment driven by sense of entitlement, says police chief;
  
• NSW issues heat warning and small business safety guides; and
  
• WA employers told to establish coordinated cyclone plans.

• Employer entitled to sack "strange", aggressive worker;
  
• Victoria commits to "presumptive" compensation after years of pressure; and
  
• Alerts issued after trailer death and heat-stress incident.

Employers can significantly increase the likelihood of workers protecting themselves from the sun through role modelling, PPE and "sun safe" clauses in policies, according to Australian researchers.