Poor psychological safety costs Australian organisations $6 billion per annum in lost productivity. This is primarily because psychological injuries typically require three times more time off work than other injuries. Safe Work Australia have developed a guide for employers and workers, which describes how to build a psychologically healthy and safe workplace by identifying, assessing…
Silicosis is a group of occupational lung diseases caused by breathing in silica dust. It has been described since ancient times, when miners and stone cutters were exposed to dust containing this crystalline mineral. However, there has been a worrying resurgence of cases recently, as a recent New South Wales parliamentary committee has heard. Now…
Helping workers return to their normal job after an injury is called ‘return to work’, and it’s an important step in their recovery. Research shows that work is generally good for health and wellbeing, while long term work absence, work disability and unemployment can have a negative impact on health and wellbeing.
Construction is one of the fastest growing industries in Victoria, employing around 275,000 workers. While significant safety improvements have been made, the number of deaths, injuries and near miss incidents remain too high. Each week, around 60 construction workers are injured seriously enough that they have to stop work. These injuries commonly occur as a…
SafeWork NSW has launched a $3.2 million campaign aimed at ensuring workers and employers stay safe on the job. The “Safety starts with you” campaign has been developed to improve safety and help reduce workplace injuries and illnesses across NSW. It highlights risky behaviour in an effort to reduce the number of injuries in NSW…
The ACCC has established a taskforce to conduct an investigation into quad bike safety and consider the merits of implementing a safety standard for quad bikes under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). “Tragically, 114 people have been killed in Australia in quad bike accidents since 2011. The ACCC is investigating a range of possible options to…
While office workers often worry they sit too long while on the job, research suggests standing at work increases the risk of heart disease. There’s been a lot of interest in the harmful effects of prolonged sitting at work, from academics and the public alike. The attention being paid to sitting — or rather, not…
Hundreds of lives are lost every year due to work-related incidents and in 2016, 182 people died across Australia, and 168 of those were men. Whilst any loss of life is unacceptable, positive changes are being made in the workplace as worker deaths are 41% lower than the highest number recorded in 2007 where 310…
WorkSafe is pleading with employers and workers to take a step back and focus on safety as Victoria enters a traditionally dangerous time of year. According to WorkSafe statistics, more Victorian workers die in the weeks leading up to Christmas than at any other time of year. Over the past decade, almost 25 per cent…
The warning is clear – if you cost someone their life, you’ll pay. That’ll be the case under new laws which create the offence of industrial manslaughter in Queensland. The maximum penalty for the new offence is 20 years imprisonment for an individual, with a maximum fine of $10 million for a corporate offender.
