Browsing: Journal articles - occupational medicine research

Working during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic caused considerable distress to many workers, but some psychosocial working conditions actually improved, pointing to strategies employers can implement to help staff cope with high-stress situations, according to a longitudinal study.

Modest reductions in daily working hours can address conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, while workplace health programs can help sustain the benefits, according to an interventional study.

Being supported by supervisors is the "catalyst" activating workers' motivation to behave safely and prioritise reducing the risk of incidents, a study of more than 300 workers in a high-hazard sector has found.

Having a hoarse throat might not sound like a significant WHS issue, but the condition is strikingly common in some workplaces, can point to environmental quality issues linked to serious health problems, and can be all but eliminated through remediation work, an eye-opening longitudinal study has found.

In a unique and timely study, with Australia heading into the summer months, medical researchers have found that wearing cumbersome PPE can lead to a dangerous heat-related decline in work performance that victims can't perceive, and called for employers to mitigate the risk through buddy systems.

Unless employers provide support and encouragement and plenty of information, their workplace health promotion programs are likely to have very low participation rates, according to new research.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers working together from local and international universities have assessed and clarified the relationship between cumulative workplace exposure to a wide range of substances and lung function decline.

A large-scale cross-sectional study of more than 10,000 workers has found companies of a certain size have higher coronary heart disease rates, and highlighted the benefits, to all stakeholders, of workers having easy access to medical services.

A global study has identified an alarmingly high prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, in frontline workers, linked to nine major COVID-19 risk factors, highlighting the ongoing need for employers to monitor staff for symptoms of PTSD and provide appropriate support.

There is an urgent need for Australian employers to view domestic and family violence (DFV) as a work safety issue, a Monash University study has shown. The authors recommend prioritising DFV policies and the cultivation of compassionate, informed workplace cultures.