Between 8000 to 10,000 employees in the mining industry experienced a common mental health illness over a 12-month period, reveals a report released at the recent NSW Minerals Council’s 2012 Occupational Health and Safety Conference in the Hunter. It is estimated that people from across all mining employment categories are affected equally, from managers and professionals through to machinery operators and drivers. [ + ]

The NSW Business Chamber, in association with Restaurant & Catering Australia, is calling for a new approach to penalty rates in an application lodged with Fair Work Australia. [ + ]

There is little argument that in today’s workplace significant attention has been given to improving the environmental footprint created by work activity and sites. [ + ]

The fundamental goal of any respiratory protection program is to control occupational diseases caused by breathing air contaminated with harmful dusts, fogs, fumes, mists, gases, smokes, sprays and/or vapours. [ + ]

In March 2012, a worker was fatally injured by a falling load while erecting a transmission tower west of Dalby in Queensland. A 20-tonne rough terrain mobile crane was being used to lift part of the tower when it appears the auxiliary winch inadvertently went into free fall and the load fell, striking the worker. Following the incident, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) has issued a safety alert to highlight the importance of correctly locking out the free fall controls on mobile cranes fitted with this feature. [ + ]

Underpinning and relevelling large commercial buildings has been proven viable with the successful relevelling of a large three-storey building, damaged in last February’s big earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. [ + ]

Occupational cancers reportedly claim 600,000 lives a year - one life every 52 seconds. While work-related cancers are not easily identifiable, it is estimated that around 5000 cancers a year in Australia can be attributed to occupational exposure to carcinogens. [ + ]

Working within confined spaces poses many risks to health and safety. Each year, many people are seriously injured or killed due to adverse conditions in confined spaces. Although it is not always possible to prevent these incidents, employers have a duty to minimise the health and safety risks associated with working in confined spaces. [ + ]

There have been a number of recent unfair dismissal cases involving the termination of the employment of employees because of what employees have said on social media websites. These cases, including the two referred to below, have highlighted that without a clear social media policy, employees may be confused about what they can and cannot write on social media websites. This may lead to employees making comments which results in them losing their jobs and employers facing costly litigation and negative publicity where they seek to take action against these employees. [ + ]

Statistics indicate that return to work rates have not improved in Australia over the past five years. In recent years, the focus of research internationally has been in two areas: what workplaces could do to better support people who have been unwell to return to work; and what we can do to empower workers to have more control in the return to work process. [ + ]

The recent and unfortunate death of a wheel fitter in New South Wales, Australia, as a result of the explosion of a container handling reach stacker, five-piece split rim wheel assembly, has highlighted the dangers of using pneumatic tyres on mobile equipment. [ + ]

In a bid to reduce workplace accidents, improve workplace safety standards and performance, Decmil Australia formulated the SHIELD (safety and health in every level at Decmil) initiative. The primary objective of the program was to drive the behaviours, attitudes, decisions and actions required of all individuals within the business to achieve a working environment that is free from injury or incident. The purpose was to create a safety culture within the business that accepts nothing less than this objective. [ + ]

Hydratight’s updated Emergency Pipeline Repair System (EPRS) is designed to offer better disaster planning and contingency services to operators and contractors in the oil and gas industry. The EPRS provides a way for operators and installation contractors to meet their pipeline contingency needs with greater urgency. [ + ]

WorkCover NSW is urging all businesses and workers to take extreme care while using forklifts following a number of recent serious incidents where workers have had forklift loads fall onto them. [ + ]

SuccessFactors has released a white paper titled ‘Workforce Planning Pitfalls’. The paper provides six tips on how to deliver the workforce of the future, and discusses how this workforce can help achieve consistent business success. [ + ]