Browsing: Psychosocial issues | Page 6

A leading workplace lawyer has urged employers not to leave difficult-to-manage workplace behaviours and conflicts unchecked, exposing workers to the risk of psychological injuries.

Making workers feel trusted when they work from home is key to reducing stress and burnout, while well-equipped home workspaces are also extremely beneficial, a study has found.

A major annual WHS survey has revealed the issues keeping duty holders "awake at night", as well as alarming gaps in awareness of air and health monitoring obligations relating to hazardous substances, which are present in more than half of all workplaces.

A leading legal expert on technology and the workplace has warned of the WHS risks and implications of using "bossware" to track workers' productivity, including that it can trigger cease-work orders under safety laws.

Eliminating physical hazards will not eliminate musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), a leading ergonomics researcher has warned, challenging how WHS practitioners often conceptualise and implement risk management programs for the widespread safety issue.

Two related companies, and a director who s-xually harassed teenage employees, have been fined a total of $290,000 for workplace safety breaches, with their failings including the absence of a specific reporting process in their online bullying and harassment policy.

• Effective anti-burnout strategy identified; and
  
• Advisory group "key" to eliminating harassment in NSW workplaces.

An employer has been reprimanded for failing to properly discipline a bully and allowing further "reprehensible" conduct to occur, but the victim has been refused stop-bullying orders, after the company made a number of changes to the workplace to make it safe for him to return to work.

A court has rejected a CEO's claim that her employer engaged in a "witch hunt" to find reasons to sack her because she raised safety concerns at a board meeting. It also found that requiring her to obtain a medical certificate to show she was fit for work after she disclosed mental health issues did not constitute adverse action.

Employers need to be more strategic when planning work schedules and rest times to "reduce physical and mental overload", according to safety experts, who found the widespread problem of lower back pain tends to build up across consecutive work days.