Strategies aimed at improving ergonomics and targeting stressful work demands that give workers no time to think or have lunch, can reduce the rate of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, European researchers say.
Unprecedented research on the link between near misses, serious work injuries and depressive symptoms has confirmed that carefully investigating near misses and implementing good reporting systems can reduce the rate and severity of serious workplace incidents.
Managers who fail to display confidence or are condescending toward staff when dealing with safety issues, are major barriers to encouraging safe behaviour at work, a joint Australian and Iranian study has found.
A project examining cases of work-related post-traumatic stress disorder, in supposedly low-risk occupations, has warned that women often experience hostile behaviour and even "mobbing" when they return to work from maternity or sick leave.
Workplace health programs are particularly effective at targeting unhealthy behaviours common to workers from lower socioeconomic groups, and should form part of strategies for decreasing health inequalities in workforces, Dutch researchers say.
Emotional support and help with tasks provided by co-workers can increase rather than reduce a worker's stress levels, but the benefits of workplace relationships can be boosted by fostering cooperation and congeniality, a new study suggests.
With growing calls to mandate the use of face masks to protect workers and members of the public from COVID-19, occupational medicine experts have examined the research on airborne transmission and outlined a "hierarchy of provisional inhalation exposure control measures".
Women in white-collar occupations are at greater risk of breast cancer than less sedentary employees, a study of nearly 20,000 female workers has found.
> High-risk occupations overlooked in COVID-19 pandemic; > Warnings issued after crane and hose deaths; and > Another WHS regulator issues white card safety warning.
Doctors have spoken out against a "false dichotomy" obstructing the safe return to normal working arrangements as COVID-19 restrictions ease, while researchers have warned that a special subset of workers needs extra protection in the pandemic.
