Inspectors would make random visits to building sites to improve safety and compliance in the asbestos and demolition industry, the New South Wales Government has announced.

Army Reserves will have a greater role in the defence of Australia by providing security elements for Australian Naval vessels, the Minister for Defence Robert Hill announced recently.

Luxfer Gas Cylinders in Sydney's west recently installed a robotic solution to automate its powdercoat paintline. The gas cylinder manufacturers wanted to improve efficiencies at their manufacturing plant and reduce the need for manual lifting by their employees.The powdercoating process is a labour intensive operation requiring the gas cylinders - weighing up to 43 kg - to be manually lifted and hooked onto a moving overhead transport chain at a rate of up to four per minute. After painting and baking, the hot cylinders are unhooked and loaded onto a downstream conveyor for further processing.

Australians use more cannabis than people in the United States, Britain and the Netherlands. One in five young adults uses cannabis weekly and one in 10 users becomes dependent on the drug, Australian drug researchers have found.

Hundreds of thousands of people who regularly use a phone are likely to suffer from neck and back pain as well as headaches. According to the first detailed study of telephone users in the office environment, there is a measurable health risk for anyone using the phone for as little as two hours a day.

Guarding of machinery is the most fundamental of the requirements caught by occupational health and safety (OHS) obligations. The need to guard machinery has been part of the NSW regulatory framework since 1896. Yet in 2000/01, there were 353 cases of traumatic amputation of a limb at work in Australia.

With a sensible and stable legislative framework being developed, it is up to the industry to embrace a culture of care to ensure the gains which have been achieved through reform are not undone.

Korean car maker Kia has recalled about 27,000 Rio cars to fix a fuel line fault that could result in an engine fire. The company said there was a possibility that the fuel distribution rail might crack in some vehicles, resulting in a fuel leak.

A new type of the bird flu common among poultry in Asia is becoming deadlier and could spark a pandemic by mixing with human viruses, a leading scientist has warned.

Surfboards containing electronic shark shields would be available this Australian summer.

Thousands of packets of breakfast cereal were recalled recently after traces of wire were found in them.

The spaceDesk deploys two actuators which can position the desk from a minimum height of 700 mm to a maximum of 1300 mm, has a lifting capacity of 140 kg and raises at 43 mm/s. The ergonomically curved C-shaped benchtop is 1500 mm wide by 780 mm deep.

An amusement ride owner has been fined $67,500 by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission sitting in court session after a four-year-old boy was injured on the Love Express ride at Fairfield Showground in 2001.

Britain is to introduce an experimental iris recognition system at major airports for foreign visitors who volunteer for the scheme.

Victorian President of the Safety Institute of Australia, Geoff Dell has called on all businesses to review their practices regarding the operation of forklift trucks.