An Australian study has found a strong psychosocial safety climate (PSC) at an organisational level reduces digital job demands for remote workers and reduces their work-life conflict. It highlights key steps employers can take to increase PSC levels to improve both worker wellbeing and job performance.
A worker who was "strongly encouraged" by his employer to get vaccinated against COVID-19, before sustaining an incapacitating injury from his booster shot, has been denied compensation, under a system where a dispute with "some merit" is enough to block a person's access to benefits.
A government department and a charity, which discouraged workers from seeking refuge in an office in violent situations, have been fined for workplace safety breaches after multiple workers were assaulted by a violent child. Both parties admitted the balance of care was "tilted too much in favour of the [child's] welfare".
A local council has been charged with multiple WHS contraventions, including a first-aid breach, and could be fined more than $7 million, after a worker was allegedly exposed to the risk of drowning under a modified craft.
A tribunal has upheld a decision to deny compensation to an Australian Federal Police officer who sustained a psychological injury from being disciplined for drinking a beer at an overseas workplace, finding his position required a particularly high standard of behaviour.
With employers increasingly facing the challenge of managing workplace behaviour and conduct across a hybrid environment, a leading workplace lawyer has highlighted the key steps they can take to maintain a positive work culture, prevent bullying and harassment, and comply with their duty of care in the hybrid working world.
A PCBU with "no safety system", and its "hands-off" sole director, have been fined a total of $150,000 after a worker suffered serious spinal injuries when an improperly chained truck tray, weighing one tonne, fell and struck him.
