Did you know that 15 young workers aged between 15 to 25 are injured each day while working? So tells WorkCover NSW's new Young Workers Hazard a Guess website, an interactive online tool designed to give young workers a better idea of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.
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WorkSafe Victoria will be conducting 10 metropolitan and regional workshops on preventing and responding to workplace bullying March to May 2010. The sessions will provide practical information on how to prevent bullying in the workplace and how to respond if it does happen. The workshops are useful for employers, managers, supervisors and health and safety representatives from businesses of all sizes, from all industry areas.
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The UK Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance has called for positive action to ensure people with musculoskeletal disorders are properly supported to access employment and remain in their jobs. The ARMA has launched a new Charter for Work, calling on policy-makers, employers and healthcare professionals to make a commitment to decrease the number of people who fall out of the workplace as a result of ill-health.
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The former employee of major lawfirm Freehills has claimed she was bullied and harassed at her workplace to such an extent that she developed a severe deterioration in her mental health and even had suicidal thoughts, The Age reports. Nicole Stransky is alleging discrimination on the basis of age, employment activity and her impairment in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
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"People who are stressed by daily problems or trouble at work seem to be more likely to grind their teeth at night," reports Medical News Today. New research published in BioMed Central's journal Head & Face Medicine showed 'sleep bruxism', grinding teeth during the night, is especially common in people dealing with stress who aren't coping in appropriate or effective ways.
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WorkCover NSW has launched a new way to spread the safety at work message, which will suit those of you who don't have social networking sites blocked at work, and who fancy the F-B. 'Work safe. Home safe' is the name of the page - once you're a fan you can leave comments and ask questions. Let's hope WorkCover uses the forum as social media should be used - as a conversation - rather than a one-sided dialogue.
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WorkCover NSW has ordered Qantas to develop emergency procedures for its Sydney domestic terminal after finding the airline in breach of safety laws for failing to train or drill staff on what to do in a disaster, the Brisbane Times reports. Airport staff revealed they had not taken part in an emergency drill since 2001. Others were found to have inadequate training in fire or emergency arrangements. A Qantas spokesman yesterday acknowledged WorkCover had issued the notices. ''We welcome this scrutiny. Action plans have already been developed to work with our people to address the issues raised,'' he said.
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A leaked report from Deloitte has forecast the Queensland workers' compensation system could lose $8.6 billion by 2018 if the system isn't reformed, the Courier-Mail reports. The Deloitte report has recommended that the Government severely restrict access to the courts and that employer premiums are increased.
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Queensland's workers' compensation system is not going bust but reforms are essential to ensure its future, Treasurer Andrew Fraser says in an AAP report (published at CCH). The Courier-Mail newspaper reported that WorkCover could face losses of $8.6 billion by 2018 if the system is not reformed. Treasurer Fraser said the government is investigating ways to conduct this reform, but argued that currently the system is 'OK' - surely a level that should be hastily aimed higher than.
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WorkSafe Victoria has launched a WorkHealth initiative aimed at improving the health of Victorian workers and the productivity of workplaces. The initiative offers voluntary programs to promote health and wellbeing through free and confidential health checks. Employers can participate in worker health check programs or workplace health promotion grants. Access the Work Health website at the link above.
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If you have a small business with between 1 and 14 employees then funding of up to $15,000 is available to help you with your work/life balance initiatives. These initiatives may include home-based work programs, flexible work practices such as job sharing and part-time work, flexible workplace policies and guidelines, family rooms and more. The focus of the program is to help employees better balance their work and family obligations by making the workplace more flexible. Funding applications close 31 March 2010. For more information and help with applying for the grant contact Kerry Fallon Horgan at Flexibility At Work on (02) 9402 4741 or email kerry@flexibility.com.au. More info at www.flexibility.com.au.
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Learn how to make your business a safe business from a local with expertise in workplace safety. In March WorkCover NSW is running free small business safety workshops across NSW. Local business advisory officers will be on hand with advice and practical assistance. For a full list of workshops happening near you and to register, take link above or call 13 10 50.
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The LA Times reports this week on a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine that determined if you exercise regularly you are less likely to feel anxious - regardless of the status of your illness. Compared with similar individuals who did not exercise, the people who exercised had a 20% reduction in anxiety symptoms, the Times reported. Exercise helped to stay calm regardless of the type of health problem, for example cancer, depression, heart disease or fibromyalgia. Multiple sclerosis was the only condition in which exercise did not appear to have a significant effect.
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ACT Attorney General, Simon Corbell, has launched a new suite of material from the Work Safety Commissioner focusing on workplace bullying, to assist employers seeking to prevent or respond to workplace bullying. It is also designed to provide guidance for workers who feel they have been subjected to workplace harassment. Access the new material here: www.worksafety.act.gov.au/bullying.
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A UK study has shone light on a message we like to push here at RTWMatters: being a flexible employer is better for you and your employee. Now there's evidence on our side to suggest flexibility boosts employees' health, as judged by measures like blood pressure and stress in this particular study. But interventions that are motivated or dictated by the needs of the employer, such as cutting hours, either have no effect on employee health or make it worse. "Control at work is good for health," said review co-author Clare Bambra, a researcher at Durham University, in England. "Given the absence of ill health effects associated with employee-controlled flexibility and the evidence of some positive improvements in some health outcomes."
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Work Safe Victoria has launched the first TV ad for its five-year Work Health initiative which encourages people to get health checks in the workplace, reports media observer MuMbrella. WorkSafe is targetting businesses to sign up to the service to provide free health checks to their employees. The service is available free to businesses with an annual remuneration of less than $10m. Organisations with an annual remuneration of over $10m will be reimbursed $30 towards the cost of each health check.
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Using company nominated doctors to push injured workers back to the job before they're ready? Australia Post remains in the firing line over its alleged treatment of injured workers, with 15 postal workers having lodged submissions with a Senate inquiry saying they were bullied by managers and pressured by doctors affiliated with the company to get back to work before sufficient rehabilitation and recovery time. Australia Post's submission said the Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission had given it an award for excellence in rehabilitation programs for injured workers. The Seante inquiry is due to present its findings on March 17, 2010.
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A US State Senator Andrew McDonald last week introduced a bill that could change workers' compensation so that stress induced by the killing of an animal in included. Currently, insurance cannot be claimed for stress relating to killing an animal, as in the case of a US policeman denied insurance after developing post-traumatic stress when he shot and killed a 91-kilogram chimpanzee last year. The new bill would allow for claims for mental or emotional impairment on those required to kill animals that have tried to injure.
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The Age reports this week that business groups have urged the federal government to hold ministers liable for workplace deaths, saying they should bear the same responsibility as company executives. An Australian Retailers Association director, Yvonne Anderson, told the newspaper: ''Why should it only be the private sector? Why should a minister be excluded from due diligence responsibilities when they have the responsibility of running a major government portfolio?'' Full story at link above.
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A return of Work Choices? Could it really be on the agenda? Julia Gillard belives so, should Tony Abbott win the upcoming federal election. Gillard has accused the Coalition of planning to re-introduce elements of Work Choices such as relaxed unfair dismissal laws and scrapping penalty rates if elected. Full story at the link above.
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Are you a RTW coordinator in a medium-sized workplace (20 - 200 employees)? Then WorkSafe would like to hear from you, as part of a study it's conducting to better understand the challenges faced by coordinators. WorkSafe wants to discuss in focus groups things like what it's like doing your job and what skills you employ. For more information contact Stephen Pehm on (03) 9641 1562, or by email at stephen_pehm@worksafe.vic.gov.au.
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According to a WorkSafe Victoria survey, conducted this year with approximately 4,000 injured workers, small employers still need the most help in getting injured workers back to work. "Returning to the pre-injury employer was most likely for those employed by large (82 per cent) and government (92 per cent) organisations, whereas only 56 per cent or workers from small employers returned to their pre-injury employer," WorkSafe explained.
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After a landmark case for future OHS prosecutions, reported at RTWMatters last week, the NSW abattoir which won a case against WorkCover NSW is now demanding a refund from WorkCover of more than $200,000 in fines that followed accidents in 2001 and 2003. It is also demanding WorkCover desist in seeking a further $320,000 in costs.
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A more than two-year inquiry into WorkCover SA has recommended "the corporation stop charging fees for companies to leave the scheme and become self-insurers, which can save them up to $7 million a year," the Adelaide Advertiser reports. Both Labor and Liberal MPs have submitted oposition to several of the inquries' recommendations, among them the allowing of two or three companies to manage compensation claims instead of one, WorkCover reporting every year on the level of savings achieved by having only one claims manager.
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A Melbourne nursing home has come under attack by the Fair Work Ombudsman for "heartless and shabby treatment of a long-standing elderly employee", as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald. The 74-year-old nurse fell and broke her hip at work and, after a seven-month recuperation period at home, was allegedly told by owners "not to come back". The company has reimbursed the nurse - now employed elsewhere - $30,000.
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More than 60% of respondents in an American Psychiatric Association survey have said they feel their work status would be damaged if they openly sought treatment for depression, and more than 70% for drug addiction or alcoholism. This, despite the fact that more than 40% said their employer was supportive of workers seeking healthcare.
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Among three new reports released by Safe Work Australia is the Compendium of Workers' Compensation Statistics Australi 2007-08. Access the report, including a summary of serious claims and trends over time, at the link above.
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The man responsible for detonating a bomb in a Darwin shopping centre, which left 15 people injured, was reportedly angry with his workers' compensation payout and unsatisfied with insurance service TIO. According to News.com.au, "He allegedly blamed TIO for loss of earnings that forced him to leave his three-bedroom home in Humpty Doo and move into a shipping container."
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If more evidence was needed of the severe effects of workplace bullying, the case of 19-year-old Brodie Panlock, who took her life after enduring 12 months of brutal bullying, provides it. In the wake of Panlock's ex-employer's and colleagues' maximum sanctions under Victoria' Occupational Health and Safety Act, the ACTU's Jeff Lawrence has warned of the "clear message to all employers and business owners that workplace bullying will not be tolerated and is unacceptable."
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A landmark High Court decision handed down this month, in which WorkCover NSW lost a case against farming company Kirk Group Holdings, has been "welcomed by employer groups and the Australian Federation of Employers and Industry" according to law firm Minter Ellison, who say the case "will have a significant impact on how regulators approach prosecutions of employers for breaches of occupational health and safety laws (OHS laws) across Australia." ABC reports on the story here, or read more at the link above.
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