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Complying with a business's WHS duties includes ensuring workers working from home "are not forgotten" under the assumption they will "reach out if they need anything", a senior employment and safety lawyer has told a workplace mental wellbeing webinar.

With 73 per cent of people reporting higher stress and anxiety levels during menopause, becoming a menopause-friendly workplace through education, flexible workplace policies and open conversation will not only support women through this normal life stage, but help the employer meet its WHS duties, according to a commercial health expert.

Menopause often causes "debilitating" symptoms in workers in one of the fastest growing employment groups, and the synonymous hot flushes and night sweats have the least impact, according to a study that also identifies the two most valuable workplace supports. Another study has identified widespread discrimination against pregnant workers.

• Safety officer's brother gets 20 months' jail;
  
• Breakthrough heat study should inform WHS practices, says Monash; and
  
• PTSD-presumption laws further amended in WA.

Older workers report higher stress levels than their younger colleagues, and are more likely to experience musculoskeletal pain, when the number of days they spend working from home exceeds their preferences, an Australian study has found.

Many PCBUs that diligently helped their workers establish safe home workspaces for the COVID-19 pandemic treated this as a "set-and-forget task", failing to "continually" discharge their safety duties, according to two WHS lawyers, who explain what businesses can and must do to tackle the post-pandemic surge in work-related mental health issues.

Employers have been warned to avoid the "fire hose trap" of safety messaging, with a trends report identifying a surge in safety-related critical incidents, including workplace incidents where police are called.

Digital monitoring systems are playing an increasing role in preventing workplace injuries and minimising the consequences of incidents and emergencies, but they can create new risks, including by "blurring" safety responsibilities, a new policy brief out of Europe has warned.

An alarming "first of its kind" WHS survey has found that burnout rates are surging, with isolated environments partly to blame, while a new "WHS Radar" has warned of the "emergence of complacency" around critical safety issues.

• Contraband creating explosive WHS risks; and
  
• Workplace fatality highlights stored-energy hazards.