Browsing: Psychological injuries | Page 1

Ahead of Workers' Memorial Day, and in light of the recent stabbing deaths at Westfield Bondi Junction, employers have been urged to ensure they always have clear emergency safety plans in place, and provide workers with access to psychological support services.

More than 70 per cent of the world's workers are exposed to health, safety and mental health risks created by climate change, which extend way beyond excessive heat, the International Labour Organisation has warned.

A worker who was bullied and called a "s-x offender" by colleagues, after being charged with historical abuse offences, has been awarded compensation for a psychological injury, with a commission hearing the bullying included being excluded from Christmas functions, and dismissing the employer's reasonable action defence.

• New injury definitions to trigger litigation in Vic; and
  
• WHS barrister announced as IRC President in restored NSW regime.

Injured workers, and their employers, will be better protected from costly secondary psychological injuries by new provisions requiring insurers to actively provide early intervention services. The provisions are included in a Queensland Bill, which also creates Australia's longest list of cancers presumed, for workers' comp purposes, to be caused by firefighting duties.

Workplace cultures that promulgate the image of "bulletproof" workers that need to be tough to do their jobs can magnify the "insidious" effects of vicarious trauma, a top complex trauma expert says.

The employer of a worker who suffered a "severe overload" injury has unsuccessfully attempted to block his entitlements by making the novel claim that its inability to provide enough staff constituted reasonable administrative action.

Up to half of working parents in Australia are experiencing psychologically harmful workplace discrimination, showing policies delivering inclusivity for those with caring responsibilities are urgently needed, researchers say.

An appeals commission has upheld a decision in favour of a worker who suffered a psychological injury from her employer's initial communications on a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. It rejected the employer's reasonable disciplinary action defence on the basis that the worker was injured before this action occurred.

A workplace manager did not bully a worker, but their employer dealt with the worker's grievances "clumsily", allowing misconstrued interactions to build up to a point where the mental health of both employees was affected, a commission has found.