A major supermarket did not breach its safety duty of care to a store manager, who allegedly suffered an overuse injury, by failing to prevent her from working "excessive" hours in the lead up to a major audit, a court has found.
A WHS regulator will step up its enforcement activities against workplace psychosocial hazards, like excessive workloads, with more specialist inspectors and better engagement with stakeholders, under two of 46 accepted recommendations from a highly anticipated review.
Different forms of verbal aggression have different effects on workers' mental health, according to a unique study, which found supervisors are common perpetrators of abuse and need special training to help staff achieve psychological detachment from work.
Employers adopting a four-day work week are being urged to increase their employees' knowledge of the injury risks associated with work intensification, and warned against leaving it up to staff to figure out how to maintain their output.
A worker has lost her claim she was forced to resign by workplace bullying and being blocked from working exclusively from home to protect herself, with a commission finding her employer was accommodating and receptive to her concerns.
Workers in the legal profession will reveal whether their employers are complying with their proactive duties to tackle bullying and harassment, under a follow-up equal opportunity review announced in South Australia. Meanwhile, safety professionals have been asked to apply to present on ideas for improving WHS outcomes in Tasmania.
A major study traversing the past four years has revealed that students are the most frequent perpetrators of digital harassment of Australia's university staff, and senior managers in the sector are not doing enough to safeguard workers' psychological health.
A worker has unsuccessfully claimed he was unfairly sacked for raising safety concerns, with a commission hearing a safety regulator investigated and dismissed his concerns, and finding he was sacked for being unable to perform the inherent requirements of his role.
Employers of workers in an at-risk group have been urged to rethink their mental health strategies to support those with suicidal thoughts and other issues, with a caution that "practice has surpassed research".
Workers will be protected from the health and safety risks associated with "availability creep" and excessive hours through the right to "refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact, or attempted contact, from an employer" outside of working hours, under agreed legislative changes.