The jailing of an operations manager, the passage of right-to-disconnect laws and significant WHS and workers' compensation amendments were among the highlights of the first quarter of 2024. This major report covers all jurisdictions and looks at everything you need to know from the start of the year.
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.
Glowing safety audit reports often precede major safety disasters, showing organisations need "loud" indicators to signal when audits are failing, an HSE leader says.
A PCBU that was charged with fatality-related WHS breaches, before the case was dropped, appears remarkably lucky to have escaped prosecution, with a coroner identifying numerous safety problems with the machine that caused the death, and finding the killed worker was never provided with proper safety instructions.
Frontline public service workers will be afforded the same anti-violence protections as law enforcement officers, under a Commonwealth Bill inspired by the stabbing of a worker, and a review that called for legislative reforms and safer workplace designs.
Two organisations have been charged with exposing non-workers to health and safety risks, after an inquest found their "failures and shortcomings" contributed to a boy's death, and slammed one of them for attempting to deflect blame by claiming others led it "into a state of ignorance" on the relevant safety risks.
A quick coaching program can show supervisors how often they unnecessarily interrupt their staff, to the detriment of staff members' health, and help them "redesign" working arrangements, according to Swiss researchers.
Workers' compensation authorities are expected to adjust their activities to increase their focus on psychological injuries and target fraud, after a major audit found a lot of money has gone towards internal improvements, but not enough attention has been paid to return-to-work outcomes.
Unclear wording, hard to navigate digital systems and time-consuming processes are preventing many workers from reporting safety concerns, near misses and incidents, a landmark Australian study has found.
Workers often see referrals to employee assistance programs as "cloaking punishment", but establishing workplace EAP committees that liaise with vendors can help eradicate pushback, a human resources management expert says.
