A range of physical and chemical exposures increase workers' sensitivity to headaches and eye strain, putting them at greater risk of workplace accidents, researchers say.
Injuries resulting from or aggravated by battling for workers' compensation are not compensable, a tribunal has reiterated in a dispute arising from a worker's noisy and cramped working conditions more than two decades ago.
In a decision that could expose employers to more costly industrial deafness claims, an appeals court has quashed an interpretation of lump sum rules that blocked a worker's deterioration claim.
An appeals court has rejected claims, by a regulator, that a worker's industrial deafness claim was defeated by his last noisy employer's transition to the national self-insurance scheme five years before he sought compensation.
A significant proportion of Australian workers are exposed to noise levels above regulated occupational limits, and nearly all of those are at risk of further hearing loss through exposure to chemicals.
A workplace quad bike victim's injury damages have been increased by 40 per cent on appeal. Meanwhile, a worker has failed to prove his noisy workplace was noisy enough to cause his tinnitus.
A worker has been awarded nearly $2 million in damages, after a court found his employer negligently allowed a defective alarm to be left unattended in an office, resulting in him sustaining whiplash injuries when it was accidentally activated.
A commission has upheld the dismissal of a worker who breached his employer's smoking policy - which was "reasonable, clear and made known" to him - and removed his hearing protection before instead of after leaving a noisy area to go to the toilet.
