One-on-one training dramatically improves the effectiveness of workers' hearing protection devices, reducing the likelihood of improper fit and hearing loss, Canadian researchers have found.
Australia's first WHS Code of Practice for managing psychological risks, released for comment in NSW, advises duty holders to apply the hierarchy of controls and eliminate the risks by redesigning work processes.
French doctors have warned that the rushed use of disinfectants during the COVID-19 pandemic can cause toxic exposures, after nurses at their hospital developed eye growths from protective glasses. Meanwhile, a timely study has found a link between cold-weather work, occupational noise and heart attack risk.
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.
