A worker who claimed his managers bullied him for not saying hello to colleagues did not suffer a compensable psychological injury, according to a tribunal, which found the man's condition was caused by his "inherent maladaptive personality characteristics".
Work-focused support programs can help workers with common mental disorders return to work, but employers should be aware of the ethical considerations arising from their use, researchers say.
The Federal Government has committed millions of dollars to enforcing the impending WHS ban on engineered stone at the border, and conducting a comprehensive review of the Commonwealth jurisdiction's workers' compensation laws, under a "safer workplaces" package in its 2024-25 budget.
Safe Work Australia's deemed diseases list has been amended to add two cancer and job exposure pairs, and to remove COVID-19, on the basis that the virus "has become so widespread in the community that infection in a particular occupational setting cannot be confidently assumed to have been due to that occupation".
Surveillance footage of an injured worker performing odd jobs at her husband's workplace impugned her credibility, but this did not mean her "lost" capacity could be ignored, a judge has found in green-lighting her damages claim.
Australia's WHS and workers' compensation ministers have agreed to: work towards a major asbestos-removal plan targeting commercial buildings; implement WHS provisions to further crack down on silica risks; and reinstate the push for a national approach to protecting the psychological safety of first responders.
Occupational and environmental health researchers have identified a range of workplace safety measures and regulations that could explain their findings that the rate of work-related injuries from fire or smoke has declined over the past two decades, while the non-work-related rate has gone up.
A Safe Work Australia-commissioned research project has identified four early intervention approaches to work-related injury claims that appear to be "particularly helpful".
