Advances in weather forecasting technology mean employers can pre-plan work, months in advance, to ensure tasks match the climate and reduce the risks of working in heat, a heat stress expert has told a Safe Work Australia seminar.
Rescue exercises and emergency simulations can place workers at risk of cardiovascular stress and heat stroke, and should be carefully monitored and include a recovery plan, Canadian researchers have warned.
Work safety authorities have issued special heat warnings to employers, which are particularly important to heed given the Bureau of Meteorology's latest annual climate statement and three-month forecast.
A worker's frustration over his employer's PPE policy and alleged failure to prioritise safety over cost did not excuse his aggressive and intimidating conduct towards his co-workers, a commission has confirmed.
A PCBU and its director have been handed record-high fines totalling more than $250,000 for ignoring a series of improvement and prohibition notices. Meanwhile, SafeWork NSW has issued nearly 100 height-related on-the-spot fines in a blitz, and SafeWork SA has issued a heat warning.
A union official who encouraged workers to defy a major employer's sun-protection policy was attempting to fulfil the wishes of workers and didn't engage in unlawful industrial action, a full Federal Court has found in setting aside high-range penalties.
Employers owe a duty of care to workers known to engage in "skylarking", a court has reiterated in finding a PCBU guilty of WHS offences relating to the death of a worker who wasn't wearing the necessary PPE.
In a study spanning two decades, researchers have found that a significant proportion of one country's work injuries can be attributed to "non-optimal" ambient temperatures, with the majority linked to moderate increases in heat or cold.
Duty holders have been urged to audit machines that can be activated inadvertently and assess weather-related risks, after a worker was killed by a hydraulic ladder and a work vehicle was struck by lightning.
Heat-related illnesses and respiratory syndromes in workers are two direct outcomes of climate change that require special mitigation and adaptation strategies, a peak occupational medicine group has warned.
