Employers should apply the hierarchy of controls to psychosocial hazards and seek to eliminate the risk of work stress "through job design and safe systems of work", according to a new WorkSafe Victoria guide to preventing and managing work-related stress.
Workers experiencing a lack of social support and "iso-strain" are at higher risk of suicide, especially when confronted with high emotional and physical demands, a study revealing the high suicide rate in Australian support workers has found.
Employers are being urged to devote more resources to the health and wellbeing of truck drivers, with the ongoing Driving Health study finding nearly a third of drivers suffer multiple health conditions, significantly increasing their risk of crashing.
A worker's painful injury, unsuccessful return to work with bullying co-workers, and "frustrating dealings" with rehabilitation managers, rendered his hypertension a workplace injury, a tribunal has found.
Organisations have been urged to focus on preventing workplace bullying over resilience and "resistance" building, with researchers finding even highly resilient workers struggle to return to work after suffering a bullying-related injury.
Two sleep studies have highlighted the prevalence of work stress-related insomnia symptoms, the risks associated with workers taking sleeping pills to fall asleep and the need for interventions that promote the safe use of these hypnotic drugs.
An employer's evidence disputing a worker's claims of bullying and "toxic" conditions fell well short of the evidentiary expectations set by a supreme court chief justice, a tribunal has ruled.
A public prosecutor's $435,000 damages award, for post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from exposure to "abhorrent" crimes, has been quashed in an appeals court ruling on causation.
With many employers still grappling with concepts around mental health, a safety regulator has identified 11 factors that affect the mental health of workers, and explained how to minimise the related risks.
