Browsing: Research and reports (all)

A large new study of the link between job type and the fatal neurodegenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), indicates that exposure to metals in occupations such as welding is a risk factor for developing the disease.

An inquest into a man's death from a seizure has provided a stark reminder of the potentially devastating long-term consequences of poor workplace processes, including one practice that "should never occur in a controlled work environment".

In a timely study on the insidious reach of silica, Swedish researchers have found a significantly high level of chronic lung disease in metal foundry workers exposed to silica dust, even at levels well below government exposure limits.

A coronial inquiry into the death of a recently immigrated worker has highlighted the very real dangers faced by inexperienced workers and posed by power tools, particularly tools with unsafe modifications or faults.

A new New Zealand study of workers who load and unload containers has found an increase in a range of neuropsychological conditions among long-term personnel.

The jailing of a business owner for industrial manslaughter, the commencement of a mirror WHS Act, legislative changes across most jurisdictions, and a host of judgments on work-related COVID matters, are just some of the issues covered by OHS Alert's first major review report of the year.

Personal protective equipment poses "hidden" psychological risks for workers, and the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an invaluable opportunity to properly examine these hazards, Australian researchers say.

With hand washing still considered a key measure to stop the spread of COVID-19 in workplaces, a timely study has highlighted the importance of skin surveillance, using hand cream and having access to good quality hand care products at work.

An organisation that implemented new administrative and engineering controls, in response to two workers contracting a deadly lung disease, improved health outcomes in just two years, health and safety researchers have found.

A "lack of supervisory control" and the repeated failure to detect and report faults "represented an opportunity lost" to prevent a worker's death from being crushed on a mobile elevated work platform (MEWP), a coronial inquiry has found.