In a busy two days in the west, the State Government has mandated COVID-19 vaccines for most workers, extended emergency safety measures for the pandemic, introduced a major IR Bill with protections for bullied and s-xually harassed workers, and established a compensation scheme for medically retired police.
A strong workplace psychosocial safety climate can reduce the psychological demands on migrant and refugee workers, who are at high risk of abuse and harassment in workplaces, leading Australian safety researchers say.
An employer has been found not liable to pay for a psychologically injured worker's gastric sleeve surgery, which she claimed she obtained to control her diabetes after work stressors caused her blood sugar level to double.
A pandemic-era study has shown that workers' experiences with flexible work have been "very positive", with benefits to wellbeing, while highlighting gaps in WHS support for these workers. It has identified seven elements that support safe flexible work.
A WHS regulator has committed to utilising all its compliance tools, including statutory notices and prosecutions, under a new three-year plan to tackle psychological risks and hazards.
The Fair Work Commission has given the parties to a stop-bullying application the choice of two "pathways", after hearing an employer with an outdated anti-bullying policy reacted to a worker's complaints with a threatening "my way or the highway" directive.
Workplace injury stigma often involves the active discouragement of incident reporting and creates a "compounding negative effect" for employers, according to one of two new major return-to-work reports released by Safe Work Australia.
A supervisor's act of telling a worker, who struggled to meet his targets, to hurry up, was not bullying, a court has found in rejecting the worker's claim for nearly $500,000 in damages.
