tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/ohs-2118/articlesOHS – The Conversation2021-09-30T03:13:55Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1689682021-09-30T03:13:55Z2021-09-30T03:13:55ZWorksafe’s hotel quarantine breach penalties are a warning for other employers to keep workers safe from COVID<p>Victoria’s occupational health and safety regulator, Worksafe, <a href="https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/news/2021-09/charges-laid-over-hotel-quarantine">has charged the state’s health department</a> with 58 breaches for failing to provide hotel quarantine staff with a safe workplace. </p>
<p>The breaches occurred between March and July 2020, and at up to A$1.64 million per breach, could amount to fines of $95 million. </p>
<p>This should serve as a warning to all employers to start assessing their workers’ safety against COVID and how they can mitigate these risks, ahead of the nation reopening.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-the-proof-we-need-many-more-health-workers-than-we-ever-thought-are-catching-covid-19-on-the-job-145092">Here's the proof we need. Many more health workers than we ever thought are catching COVID-19 on the job</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Remind me, what is Worksafe?</h2>
<p>States and territories have responsibility for enforcing laws designed to keep people safe at work: occupational health and safety (OHS) laws. </p>
<p>Worksafe Victoria is responsible for and regulates OHS in <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/whs-authorities-contact-information">Victoria</a>. It’s responsible for making sure employers and workers comply with OHS laws; and it provides information, advice and support. </p>
<p>Victoria’s parliament has given Worksafe the power to prosecute employers if they breach OHS laws. In 2018-19, it commenced 157 prosecutions which resulted in <a href="https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/prosecution-result-summaries-enforceable-undertakings">nearly A$7 million in fines</a>.</p>
<p>Unlike some other state OHS regulators, Worksafe also manages the Victorian workers’ compensation system. </p>
<h2>Why did Worksafe charge the health department?</h2>
<p>Worksafe <a href="https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/news/2021-09/charges-laid-over-hotel-quarantine">charged</a> Victoria’s Department of Health with 58 breaches of sections 21 and 23 of the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act. </p>
<p>The Act requires employers to maintain a working environment that is “safe and without risks to health” of employees. These obligations extend to independent contractors or people employed by those contractors. </p>
<p>Worksafe is alleging that in operating the Victorian COVID-19 quarantine hotels between March and July 2020, the Department of Health failed to maintain a working environment that was safe and limited risks to health, both to its own employees and to other people working in the hotels. </p>
<p>Essentially Worksafe is stating that through a series of failures, the department placed government employees and other workers at risk of serious illness or death through contracting COVID-19 at work. </p>
<p>Worksafe alleges the Victorian health department failed to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>appoint people with expertise in infection control to work at the quarantine hotels</p></li>
<li><p>provide sufficient infection prevention and control training to security guards working in the hotels, as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22045515/">evidence shows</a> training can improve employees’ safety practices</p></li>
<li><p>provide instructions, at least initially, on how to use personal protective equipment, and later did not update instructions on mask wearing in some of the quarantine hotels. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Worksafe undertook a 15-month long investigation, beginning in about July 2020. It’s possible the trigger for this investigation was a referral from the <a href="https://www.quarantineinquiry.vic.gov.au/">Coate inquiry into hotel quarantine</a>, but that has not been stated.</p>
<h2>Is it unusual for a government regulator to fine a government department?</h2>
<p>It’s not that unusual. Government departments are subject to the same OHS laws as other employers in the state, and so Worksafe’s powers extend to them as well. </p>
<p>In the past few years, Worksafe has successfully prosecuted the Department of Justice, Parks Victoria and the Department of Health, resulting in fines and convictions. </p>
<p>In 2018, for example, Worksafe <a href="https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/news/2017-12/department-justice-fined-300000-over-ravenhall-unrest">prosecuted Corrections Victoria</a> (part of the Department of Justice) after a riot at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in 2015 that put the health and safety of staff at risk. </p>
<p>The riot occurred after the introduction of a smoking ban in prisons. Worksafe considered prisoner unrest was predictable and its impact on staff could have been reduced by having additional security in place in the days leading up to the smoking ban. </p>
<p>In that case the Department of Justice pleaded guilty and was convicted and fined A$300,000 plus legal costs. </p>
<h2>What does this mean for other employers?</h2>
<p>This case highlights that employers have obligations to provide safe working environments for their staff, and other people in their workplaces. This extends to reducing risks of COVID-19 infection. </p>
<p>These obligations don’t just apply to government departments. They apply to every employer in the state. </p>
<p>Employers should ensure they have <a href="https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19">appropriate systems and policies in place</a> to reduce COVID-19 infection risk to their staff. This includes, where appropriate, physical distancing, working from home, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), good hygiene practices, workplace ventilation, and so on. </p>
<p>Employers should consider the risks unique to their environment and address them appropriately, in advance of the nation reopening when we reach high levels of COVID vaccination coverage.</p>
<p>Some employers in high-risk settings – such as health care, retail and hospitality – will need to do more to protect their workers than others. </p>
<h2>What happens next for the Vic health department?</h2>
<p>The case has been filed in the Magistrates court, with an initial hearing date set for October 22. It will progress through the court system from there. Most prosecutions are heard in the Magistrates Court although some proceed to the County Court.</p>
<p>If the Department of Health pleads guilty, the courts will determine if a fine should be paid and how much. The court may also determine if a conviction is recorded. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/soon-youll-need-to-be-vaccinated-to-enjoy-shops-cafes-and-events-but-what-about-the-staff-there-168266">Soon you'll need to be vaccinated to enjoy shops, cafes and events — but what about the staff there?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Collie receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, State Insurance Regulatory Authority of NSW, Worksafe Victoria and Safe Work Australia. He was previously CEO and Chief Research Officer of the Institute for Safety Compensation and Recovery Research, a research institute established by Worksafe Victoria and Monash University. </span></em></p>Victoria’s OHS regulator has fined the state’s health department for failing to keep hotel quarantine workers safe from COVID. This serves as a warning for all employers, ahead of the nation opening.Alex Collie, Professor and ARC Future Fellow, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1294322020-01-12T20:14:28Z2020-01-12T20:14:28ZWhat employers need to know: the legal risk of asking staff to work in smokey air<p>Amid thick bushfire smoke in cities including Canberra and Melbourne, employers need to consider their legal obligations.</p>
<p>Some have directed their workers not to turn up in order to avoid to occupational health and safety risks. Among them is the Commonwealth <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-05/nsw-fires-blanket-canberra-in-thick-smoke/11841546">department of home affairs</a> which last week asked most of its staff to stay away from its Canberra headquarters for 48 hours.</p>
<p>Other employers want to know where they stand.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309183/original/file-20200109-138653-1g0zb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309183/original/file-20200109-138653-1g0zb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309183/original/file-20200109-138653-1g0zb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309183/original/file-20200109-138653-1g0zb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309183/original/file-20200109-138653-1g0zb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309183/original/file-20200109-138653-1g0zb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309183/original/file-20200109-138653-1g0zb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309183/original/file-20200109-138653-1g0zb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Each state and territory has its own occupational health and safety laws.<br>
However most line up with the so-called Model Act, intended to harmonise state laws.</p>
<p>Under section 17 it imposes on employers a duty to, so far as is <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/whasa2011218/s17.html">reasonably practicable</a>, ensure health and safety by eliminating or minimising risks. </p>
<p>This employer’s duty applies not only to its employees, but also to other types of workers including independent contractors.</p>
<h2>Meaning of ‘reasonably practicable"</h2>
<p>Under the section 18 of the Model Act, “reasonably practicable” <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/whasa2011218/s18.html">means</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>that which is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done in relation to ensuring health and safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By themselves, these words aren’t much of a guide, so the Act includes examples of “relevant matters”, among them:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the likelihood of a hazard or risk occurring</p></li>
<li><p>the degree of harm that might result</p></li>
<li><p>what the employer knows or ought reasonably know about the hazard or risk, and ways of eliminating or minimising hazard or risk</p></li>
<li><p>the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or reduce hazard or risk</p></li>
<li><p>the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Meaning of 'likelihood’</h2>
<p>Employers should make themselves aware of the risk of an air quality hazard.<br>
This can be achieved by checking the most up to date air quality index in the location on an environment protection authority website:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/">NSW</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.epa.vic.gov.au/for-community/airwatch">Victoria</a></p>
<p><a href="https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/air-quality/">Queensland</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/data_and_publications/air_quality_monitoring">South Australia</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.der.wa.gov.au/your-environment/air/air-quality-index">Western Australia</a></p>
<p><a href="https://epa.tas.gov.au/epa/air/monitoring-air-pollution/real-time-air-quality-data-for-tasmania">Tasmania</a></p>
<p><a href="http://ntepa.webhop.net/NTEPA/Default.ltr.aspx">Northern Territory</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/environmental-monitoring/monitoring-and-regulating-air">Australian Capital Territory</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Workers who work outdoors are more likely to be subject to harmful effects of bushfire smoke than indoor workers. </p>
<p>They are more likely to experience irritation to their airways, nose and eyes. </p>
<p>They might also experience low visibility which might make their work more dangerous. </p>
<p>The machines they operate could also be impacted by the smoke and dust in a way which would make operating them more dangerous.</p>
<p>Special measures should be taken to protect workers who work outdoors, such as providing them with face masks or rescheduling their work.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ENk1gWbsbL4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Smoke emissions from the Australian bushfires from 1 December 2019 to 4 January 2020.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Meaning of ‘degree of harm’</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309230/original/file-20200109-80107-gc35i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309230/original/file-20200109-80107-gc35i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309230/original/file-20200109-80107-gc35i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309230/original/file-20200109-80107-gc35i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309230/original/file-20200109-80107-gc35i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309230/original/file-20200109-80107-gc35i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309230/original/file-20200109-80107-gc35i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309230/original/file-20200109-80107-gc35i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asthma suffers might be at greater risk.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is certainly arguable the likelihood of harm for indoor workers is much lower, especially if the air quality in their workplace is the same or even better than the air quality in their homes. </p>
<p>Employers should have up-to-date information about the health of their workers, especially those workers who have pre-existing conditions that might predispose them to harm from smoke. </p>
<p>Among these would be workers who have asthma or other respiratory disorders.</p>
<p>Special steps should be taken to protect them, taking into account their pre-existing conditions.</p>
<h2>Meaning of ‘reasonably ought to know’</h2>
<p>Employers should be checking up-to-date information on an environment protection authority website and on the website of <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/media-centre/news/bushfires-and-air-pollution">Safe Work Australia</a>.</p>
<p>It’s very likely law enforcers will presume the information on these websites constitute information the employer ought to have known in determining the appropriate action to take. </p>
<p>For example, it would be difficult for an employer to argue they didn’t know P2 rated face masks should be provided to workers when the Safe Work Australia website <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/media-centre/news/bushfires-and-air-pollution">specifically mentions them</a> as an appropriate way of eliminating or reducing air quality hazards.</p>
<h2>Meaning of ‘availability of ways to reduce risk’</h2>
<p>Safe Work Australia says employers should have in place <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/topic/weather#working-in-air-pollution">measures</a> to manage the risks to health and safety of working outdoors when air quality is reduced, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>working indoors (where possible)</p></li>
<li><p>rescheduling outdoor work until conditions improve</p></li>
<li><p>ensuring buildings and equipment are functioning correctly and have not been affected by dust or debris</p></li>
<li><p>cleaning dust and debris off outdoor surfaces</p></li>
<li><p>providing personal protective equipment such as eye protection and correctly fitted P2-rated face masks.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Meaning of ‘cost of minimising hazard’</h2>
<p>The cost of elimination or minimising hazard will be higher for some measures than others. </p>
<p>For example, it might cost more to direct workers to stay home than to provide face masks. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-buildings-arent-made-to-keep-out-bushfire-smoke-heres-what-you-can-do-129367">Our buildings aren't made to keep out bushfire smoke. Here's what you can do</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These costs need to be weighed up against the likelihood and degree of potential harm. </p>
<p>If the likelihood and degree of harm is high, it’s unlikely law enforcers will be particularly sympathetic to arguments about cost.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129432/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Shi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Employers obligations are set out clearly. What’s important is what they “know or reasonably ought to know”.Elizabeth Shi, Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1264892019-11-07T19:03:31Z2019-11-07T19:03:31ZEngineered stone benchtops are killing our tradies. Here’s why a ban’s the only answer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300381/original/file-20191106-88403-1i4frk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C7%2C1016%2C674&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If we can't afford natural stone, like marble, it's tempting to choose engineered or artificial stone instead. But at what cost to those who breathe in the silica dust when cutting it?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-smiling-caucasian-family-kitchen-preparing-347647706">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-nat-dust-disease-taskforce.htm">National Dust Disease Taskforce</a> is preparing to read submissions next week on how best to handle the resurgence of the fatal lung disease silicosis. This can develop after breathing in silica dust when cutting artificial stone — also known as engineered, composite or manufactured stone — the type used for kitchen benchtops.</p>
<p>But this is not the first time we’ve been alerted to the long-term effects of exposure to hazardous dust. Think asbestos.</p>
<p>So what lessons can Australia learn from tackling asbestos to manage this latest preventable occupational hazard?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-silicosis-and-why-is-this-old-lung-disease-making-a-comeback-80465">Explainer: what is silicosis and why is this old lung disease making a comeback?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>We’ve known about hazardous dust at work for centuries</h2>
<p>Centuries ago, we recognised dust in mines badly damaged workers’ lungs. In 1713, Italian physician Bernardino Ramazzini <a href="https://www.ajconline.org/article/0002-9149(59)90174-2/pdf">wrote</a> how miners’ bodies:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] are badly affected, the lungs especially since they take in with the air mineral spirits.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajim.22528">More evidence</a> led to a 1930 conference in South Africa agreeing the lung disease silicosis was caused by silica dust. A few years later, the International Labour Organisation included silicosis in a list of diseases workers could be compensated for.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/black-lungs-back-how-we-became-complacent-with-coal-miners-pneumoconiosis-57718">Black lung's back? How we became complacent with coal miners' pneumoconiosis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Control measures to reduce the risk of silicosis were well-recognised even in the mid-1930s; <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hawks-Nest-Incident-Americas-Industrial/dp/0300035225">lawsuits were filed</a> against the Union Carbide company for not protecting construction workers. </p>
<p>At that time, breathing protection was fairly basic. But in the decades since then, <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/silica">we established</a> that any activity generating silica dust (such as cutting, blasting or grinding concrete or rock) needed water spray systems, extraction fans and respirators.</p>
<h2>The dangers of cutting engineered stone</h2>
<p>So how, in a country like Australia, do we suddenly see young workers dying of this completely preventable disease? </p>
<p>The cases seem to be arising from cutting artificial stone. This can contain up to 95% silica, <a href="https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/injury-prevention-safety/alerts/whsq/2018/prevent-exposure-to-silica-for-engineered-stone-benchtop-workers">compared with</a> less than 40% silica in natural stone.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300387/original/file-20191106-88382-15fxzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300387/original/file-20191106-88382-15fxzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300387/original/file-20191106-88382-15fxzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300387/original/file-20191106-88382-15fxzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300387/original/file-20191106-88382-15fxzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300387/original/file-20191106-88382-15fxzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300387/original/file-20191106-88382-15fxzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300387/original/file-20191106-88382-15fxzpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cutting engineered stone exposes workers to higher levels of silica dust than cutting natural stone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/stone-cutting-tool-evening-1232151553">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cutting artificial stone has emerged as a major hazard. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-16/silicosis-surge-prompts-call-for-ban-on-engineered-stone-product/11516138">The ABC reports</a> there have been 260 cases of silicosis in Australia, mostly in Queensland. </p>
<p>And there are likely to be more cases developing. <a href="https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/announcements/spotlight-silica-proactive-inspection-program">Regulators’</a> <a href="https://www.finance.nsw.gov.au/about-us/media-releases/nation-leading-program-fight-silicosis-0">responses</a> — proactively inspecting workplaces to see if they comply with safe work practices and issuing prohibition notices and fines to individual workplaces if not — are very welcome.</p>
<p>But these responses come too late for those hundreds of young workers who have lost their health, some of whom may die without a lung transplant.</p>
<h2>What can we learn from asbestos?</h2>
<p>We have been here before. Asbestos mining and manufacturing and the importation of asbestos products into Australia started in the 1880s. Over the next century, it developed into a major industry, peaking in the decades after the second world war.</p>
<p>Over the same time, medical knowledge about the diseases caused by asbestos was growing. The first recorded case of asbestosis (a progressive lung disease) was <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100760626">described in London in 1906</a> (although, reports of ill health in asbestos workers had been reported <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002130771">from as early as 1899</a>). </p>
<p>In 1928 the Journal of the American Medical Association <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/253232">published an editorial</a> on asbestosis. And, in Australia from 1945, standards for exposure to asbestos <a href="https://publishing.monash.edu/books/aa-9781925835618.html">were introduced</a> as controlling dust levels was thought the best way to prevent disease. </p>
<p>If Australia had stopped the use of asbestos in 1928, the ill health and death associated with asbestos would not be at levels we’ve seen since.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/health-harms-of-asbestos-wont-be-known-for-decades-14845">Health harms of asbestos won't be known for decades </a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Instead, <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/1702/literaturereview_airborneasbestosfibres_2008_pdf.pdf">Australia only stopped using</a> blue asbestos (the most carcinogenic form) in the late 1960s, brown asbestos (the next most carcinogenic) in the 1980s, and all asbestos in 2003.</p>
<p>By 2020, there will have been an estimated <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajim.10047">18,000 cases of mesothelioma</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/bjc2011563">108,000 cases of lung cancer</a> and <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/asbestos-related-disease-indicators-2014">an unknown</a> but substantial number of cases of asbestosis in Australia.</p>
<h2>How best to protect workers?</h2>
<p>The standard response to the silicosis epidemic is that workers should use control measures and personal protection. However, there is <a href="https://academic.oup.com/annweh/article/59/1/122/2464381">increasing</a> <a href="https://oeh.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15459624.2013.789706">evidence</a> dust control measures do not reduce the levels of silica to non-hazardous levels. </p>
<p>Many companies also use a mixture of dry and wet cutting, particularly when installing the products. As with asbestos, there simply is no way to safely use this material.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dying-for-work-the-changing-face-of-work-related-injuries-40328">Dying for work: the changing face of work-related injuries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We need to go back to the basics of occupational health — <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchy_of_hazard_controls">the hierarchy of control</a>. This means, if there is a hazard, we first see if we can eliminate it by banning the dangerous product.</p>
<p>This basic principle, taught to all occupational health and safety professionals, seems to have been forgotten for silica. For example, SafeWork Australia does not mention elimination in its online information on controlling <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/silica">silica</a>, although it does mention substitution with products containing lower levels of silica.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.breathefreelyaustralia.org.au/">Breathe Freely Australia</a> public health campaign, <a href="https://www.breathefreelyaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/bf-cmt-Hiearchy-of-Control.pdf">notes</a> elimination:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] is the preferred method of control as it completely eliminates the hazard, but unfortunately it is not often feasible. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Yes, a ban is feasible</h2>
<p>We argue it is feasible to ban artificial stone, which is not made in Australia but imported. There are many alternatives, such as natural stone, or <a href="https://www.bettastone.com.au/">Betta Stone</a> made from recycled glass.</p>
<p>The National Dust Disease Taskforce is <a href="https://consultations.health.gov.au/ohp-regulatory-policy-branch/national-dust-disease-taskforce/">taking submissions</a> until November 11, 2019.</p>
<p>We suggest:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a total ban on importing, making and using engineered stone with a crystalline silica content of more than 80%</p></li>
<li><p>immediate regulation (in every jurisdiction) banning dry cutting, grinding or polishing of all artificial stone</p></li>
<li><p>a reduction of the workplace exposure standard for respiratory crystalline silica to half current levels by January 2020 (from 0.10mg/m³ to 0.05mg/m³). Disappointingly, a recent SafeWork Australia meeting rejected the opportunity to reduce the level to 0.02mg/m³.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>It took 70 years for Australia to ban all forms of asbestos. We need to learn from that disaster and immediately ban artificial stone. We just can’t continue to let young Australian workers die just so we can have cheap, fashionable kitchens.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lin Fritschi is a member of the Occupational and Environmental Cancer Subcommittee for Cancer Council Australia. She is also an expert member on the Western Australian Commission for Occupational Safety and Health. She has made a submission to the National Dust Disease Taskforce. The opinions expressed are her own.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Reid will be making a submission to the National Dust Disease Taskforce.
</span></em></p>What lessons can Australia learn from tackling asbestos to manage this latest preventable occupational hazard?Lin Fritschi, Professor of Epidemiology, Curtin UniversityAlison Reid, Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/692942016-12-09T00:17:35Z2016-12-09T00:17:35ZTime scarcity is a slippery slope to inactivity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148582/original/image-20161205-19362-n8ngp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Time scarcity acts as a barrier to good health, even if you have knowledge. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/orphanjones/431843839/in/photolist-Eaj8r-22PY3U-8uYX59-iXgAoj-goxJTY-ceKqtA-8vBWcM-8uYXBh-ceKqQQ-8vBW4Z-bXo1fB-bXnZCT-9zbWoc-8uYXCy-bXnZZ2-8vEXHs-5MjggP-bXnZHk-8vEXwC-bXnZvg-bXnZyt-ceKpMm-mGqi8y-8vEXJ9-hopr1G-8zPfD8-8uYve9-8uYY6S-bXnZVp-bXo1kM-9StSLX-bXnZmk-ceKphG-8vEXGf-gZq1KU-czSzWb-7AL98p-7ekyRs-K4yDp-8ceKBH-4qqRwj-6XrC9j-5WQ68s-6WjJTy-566rH9-74o1kr-75tsaF-hQakc-7nARQA-6AJ2p9">orphanjones/flickr </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Even though most Australians know we need to <a href="http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-act-guidelines">exercise more</a>, many of us don’t. Our recent <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616305913">study</a> suggests this is often due to diminishing availability of time. </p>
<p>We found that among otherwise healthy people, becoming time poor, rushing or feeling time pressed increases new cases of extreme inactivity – exercising less than 30 minutes a week – one to two years later. This occurred for around 5% of our study population.</p>
<p>Decreasing income exacerbated inactivity due to rising time pressure. In people who became both time and income poor, one in five of them became extremely inactive.</p>
<p>Lack of time also changed what healthy people ate. They increased the number of times they ate out, ate less fresh fruit and vegetables and more foods high in fats, salt or sugar.</p>
<p>Our study participants were 6,000 Australians aged 25-54 whom we followed for three years. We included only people who were healthy – both in terms of their physical and mental health and wellbeing – and people who were not time or income poor in the first year of the study. </p>
<p>We defined “time poor” as when at least 70 hours a week were spent on some or all of the following: working, caring, running a household and commuting. The term “time pressed” referred to the feeling of rushing (often or always) in order to manage.</p>
<h2>Barriers to healthy living</h2>
<p>Right now 9 million Australians <a href="https://www.medibank.com.au/client/documents/pdfs/pyhsical_inactivity.pdf">don’t do enough exercise</a>. This inactivity will cost the taxpayer <a href="https://www.medibank.com.au/client/documents/pdfs/pyhsical_inactivity.pdf">$1.5 billion in health care</a> through <a href="http://www.globalphysicalactivityobservatory.com/">lifelong consequences</a>, including increased risk of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12760445">obesity</a>, <a href="http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/6/1433.short">type 2 diabetes</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16596798">heart disease</a>, as well as <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743599905972">depression, anxiety</a> and some <a href="http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/14600545">cancers</a>. This is a problem that <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2816%2930383-X/fulltext">costs everyone</a>.</p>
<p>While public health research and initiatives do seriously consider how <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640410410001712467">lack of knowledge</a> and <a href="http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/en/">lack of income</a> affect people’s health, most are yet to address the complexities of time availability. Instead, lack of time is <a href="http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/1/46">still viewed</a> as an excuse: a problem of laziness, of poor choices and of low motivation.</p>
<p>Our results suggest that rather than being an excuse, lack of time and other factors create <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616305913">barriers to healthy living</a>.</p>
<h2>Working, care-giving and disabilities create time pressures</h2>
<p>Lack of time is sometimes perceived to be a <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/rest.89.2.374#.WD5d0HrGr08">problem of the rich</a> – an inconvenience for those otherwise well resourced. This myth is one reason lack of time is often not taken <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160909-why-you-feel-busy-all-the-time-when-youre-actually-not">seriously</a> for average Australians. </p>
<p>But time scarcity is about more than just work. Activities such as caring for children, nursing a frail parent, running the household and commuting (<a href="http://www.natsem.canberra.edu.au/publications/?publication=race-against-time-how-australians-spend-their-time">five to six hours every week if you live in a major city</a>) mean time scarcity becomes a problem for lots of people. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.12300/abstract">2015 study</a> found lack of time was a problem for most parents (mothers and fathers), and especially for lone mothers and people who had jobs while also coping with a disability.</p>
<h2>Stopping the creep of time scarcity</h2>
<p>So what can be done to reduce the slow rise in time scarcity? Our first piece of advice would be for all Australians – including governments and business – to view time as a finite and valuable resource that has limits.</p>
<p>This is especially a problem for families. Four decades ago most families had one person working and one doing the rest. Family-wise, this meant about 45 hours a week was spent doing paid work. </p>
<p>Now most families have two adults working, and their combined hours are <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674018396&content=reviews">closer to 80</a> (US figures). But the rest of the work families do – caring, shopping, cleaning, cooking and more – doesn’t disappear. This is one reason why so many Australians say they feel <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4125.0main+features4310Jan%202013">rushed or pressed for time</a>.</p>
<p>Technology means everything happens a lot faster. But rather than saving time, this means we <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/pressed-for-time-the-acceleration-oflife-in-digital-capitalism-by-judy-wajcman/2018012.article">do more</a>. The increased mental effort that comes with this makes <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1998-11833-004">people tired</a>.</p>
<p>We also advise a re-analysis of the value of time in different settings. Business certainly knows how valuable time is, with lawyers billing for blocks of minutes spent on a task. Even those of us who are less well paid often have work times clocked in and clocked out. And yet time outside the work environment seems to be viewed differently.</p>
<p>The health consequences of <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960295-1/abstract">working too much</a> must be acknowledged. Although the <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/how-we-will-help/templates-and-guides/fact-sheets/minimum-workplace-entitlements/maximum-weekly-hours">Fair Work Act</a> sets a maximum working week of 38 hours, it is rarely enforced: the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/featurearticlesbytitle/67AB5016DD143FA6CA2578680014A9D9?OpenDocument">average full-time working week for Australian men is 41 hours</a>, three hours more.</p>
<p>Some employers are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/efficiency-up-turnover-down-sweden-experiments-with-six-hour-working-day">experimenting with shorter working days</a>. Other <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5731-top-companies-for-telecommuting-jobs.html">companies</a> allow workers to perform some duties from home, increasing flexibility and reducing commute times. Perhaps workplaces could also reward people who leave work on time. <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3218.0Main%20Features152014-15?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3218.0&issue=2014-15&num=&view=">Seven in ten Australians</a> live in large cities, so improving transport infrastructure could also have an impact.</p>
<p>Finally, we support the development of public health campaigns that encourage and empower people. We’d like messages that remind employers and employees they need time for health.</p>
<p>Our governments could keep treating the health consequences of lack of time – low exercise, poor diet – but this is an expensive option and a cost the taxpayer must bear. The best answer lies in prevention and a focus on improving access to time for all Australians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lyndall Strazdins received funding from Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT110100686. </span></em></p>Healthy Australians slide into extreme inactivity and poor dietary choices over a just a few years of feeling time poor and rushed in their daily lives.Lyndall Strazdins, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/537322016-03-07T01:23:02Z2016-03-07T01:23:02ZGPs struggle to manage patients with work-related mental health problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111725/original/image-20160217-19260-1f2tqin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">GPs are finding the compensation process for work related mental health claims onerous and in some cases bad for their patient's health, a study has found. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">From www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Doctors face many challenges when managing work-related mental health problems, leading some to counsel patients against pursuing basic labour rights because it may prove detrimental to their mental health, the General Practitioner (GP) <a href="http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/1/e009423.full">Return to Work study</a> has found. </p>
<p>The study examined the GP’s role in facilitating return to work after injury, arguing that some GPs find dealing with the workers compensation system so onerous and difficult that they are reluctant to follow through with some claims. </p>
<p>The study results are based on interviews with 93 GPs, injured patients, compensation scheme personnel and employers as well as an analysis of 125,000 compensation claims issued by around 10,000 GPs.</p>
<p>One doctor in the study said his instinctive response to the many patients who wanted to pursue worker’s compensation for stress, anxiety, depression and other work related sickness was to dissuade them. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When people come and ask me, that they perceive they’re being bullied at work and say, "I’m going to put in a Workcover claim,” I say, “Well just be careful because you have every right to, if you feel that you’ve been hard done by, but it’s going to be a dog fight.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This response was typical of the GPs interviewed.</p>
<p>GPs reported difficulties with the initial assessment and diagnosis of mental health injuries (as opposed to some easily diagnosable physical injuries such as fractures and lacerations). In 96% of initial sickness certificates issued for work-related mental health problems, GPs <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2013/199/7/sickness-certification-workers-compensation-claimants-general-practitioners">classified patients as “unfit for work”</a>. </p>
<p>GPs also reported conflicting medical opinions among clinicians about the difference between mental illnesses developed as a result of work-related stress and pre-existing mental illness secondary to work. This has a flow-on effect to workers compensation claims, as many schemes will only cover mental illness that arises as a consequence of work. </p>
<p>The strong stigma associated with making a work-related mental health claim also makes patients reluctant to seek help from psychiatrists and psychologists. They fear this health record will limit future employment prospects. GPs often have to juggle protecting their patients’ private health information alongside employers’ and insurance agents’ requests for further details.</p>
<p>The study also found, while patients might initially present with physical injuries, the complexity of the compensation system can create such a degree of stress that secondary mental illness may develop as a result of dealing with the system.</p>
<p>In other cases, chronic pain from physical injuries can lead to dependency on opioids and long periods of time off work, a vicious cycle that can also <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10926-014-9506-9">increase patient’s vulnerability to mental illness</a>. </p>
<p>GPs in the study reported insufficient remuneration for hours of overtime, reams of paperwork, the threat of legal subpoenas and lost income due to court appearances. It is therefore unsurprising that an increasing number of <a href="http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/1/e009423.full">GPs are reluctant to treat</a> such patients and are more likely to refer them elsewhere.</p>
<p>Despite the problems uncovered in this study, over the past ten years there has been a <a href="http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/about/Publications/Documents/897/australian-workers-compensation-statistics-2012-13.pdf">22% rise in work-related mental health claims</a>. This is a worrying trend because strong evidence demonstrates that if a patient is off work for more than six months, their risk of depression and long-term disability <a href="https://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/eurpub/18/3/232.full.pdf">is significantly increased</a>. The costs of this long-term ‘worklessness’ is to the <a href="http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/about/Publications/Documents/660/Cost%20of%20Work-related%20injury%20and%20disease.pdf">economic tune of approximately $5 billion per year</a> and the social discords of failed marriages, family conflict, increased suicide ideation, and financial crisis.</p>
<p>Compensation insurers have responded by providing GPs with specific and targeted information on how the compensation system works and clinical education and training on assessment and management for work-related mental health problems. But this is tackling only one side of the problem. Fundamental reforms within the compensation system is also urgently needed. </p>
<p>This study will inform the development of clinical guidelines to help GPs to look after patients with work-related mental health problems and help them return to work as soon as it is safe to do so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bianca Brijnath receives funding from WorkSafe Victoria, the Transport Accident Commission, Federal Department of Employment, ComCare, WorkCover Western Australia, Return to Work South Australia, WorkCover New South Wales, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Mazza receives funding from WorkSafe Victoria, the Transport Accident Commission, Federal Department of Employment, ComCare, WorkCover Western Australia, Return to Work South Australia, WorkCover New South Wales, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute. </span></em></p>GPs are worried that the WorkCover claims process worsens patients’ health and are encouraging them to not pursue it, a study has found.Bianca Brijnath, Senior Research Fellow, Monash UniversityDanielle Mazza, Professor, Department of General Practice, School of Primary Health Care, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/503962015-11-09T23:48:36Z2015-11-09T23:48:36ZIn charging Essendon, WorkSafe puts all sport on notice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101332/original/image-20151109-29300-16dlena.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">By laying charges against the Essendon Football Club, WorkSafe Victoria has accepted that its mandate extends to professional sports.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Tracey Nearmy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>WorkSafe Victoria’s decision to <a href="http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/news/news-article?result_42915_result_page=2">prosecute the Essendon Football Club</a> for occupational health and safety (OHS) breaches arising out of its 2011-12 supplements program has been a <a href="https://theconversation.com/time-for-ohs-regulators-to-get-off-the-bench-and-into-the-game-17039">long time coming</a>. On Monday, the club was charged with two breaches of the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/ohasa2004273/">OHS Act</a> for failing to provide a working environment that was “safe and without risks to health”. </p>
<p>That Essendon <a href="http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/2015-11-09/club-statement">quickly agreed</a> to the charges as reflective of the club’s governance failings should not come as a surprise. It had effectively admitted a breach before the charges were laid. A club-commissioned <a href="http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/2013-05-06/dr-ziggy-switskowski-report">review</a> from 2013 described:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… a pharmacologically experimental environment never adequately controlled or challenged or documented.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When accepting <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-08-27/statement-from-afl-chairman-mike-fitzpatrick">AFL sanctions</a> in 2013, Essendon:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… acknowledged it had established a supplements program that was experimental, inappropriate and inadequately vetted and controlled, and … failed to ensure it adequately protected the health, welfare and safety of the players.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Essendon’s governance failures – especially its failure to maintain accurate documentation of the supplements given to its players – also forms part of the factual matrix from which its players are arguing the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-26/cas-confirms-november-date-for-wada27s-essendon-appeal/6725156">anti-doping case</a> against them cannot be proven to a “comfortable satisfaction”. </p>
<p>Essendon will now have the ignominy of a criminal conviction. It is at risk of having to pay yet another significant financial penalty. A court also could order the club to undertake a project for the improvement of OHS within the industry. </p>
<p>The implications of the bringing of OHS charges extend far beyond Essendon. For WorkSafe Victoria and professional sporting competitions, it is the equivalent of crossing the Rubicon. </p>
<h2>What now for OHS regulators?</h2>
<p>OHS regulators have <a href="http://epublications.bond.edu.au/slej/28/">long been reluctant</a> to intervene in the affairs of professional sporting competitions. They rightfully have been cautious when called upon to enter the sporting arena. The arena is complex, and their presence is contentious and contested.</p>
<p>By laying charges against Essendon, WorkSafe Victoria has accepted that its mandate extends to professional sports. In doing so, it has passed a point of no return.</p>
<p>WorkSafe Victoria now needs to act consistently with this expanded mandate. This does not mean that WorkSafe Victoria – and other OHS regulators – should be overzealous in their regulation of professional sports. OHS regulators should continue to exercise caution when entering what is for them still a new, complex and contentious field.</p>
<p>At the same time, however, they should not leave themselves open to criticism that they are inconsistently discharging their statutory responsibilities. All professional sports now need to be treated consistently with the precedent that has been set.</p>
<p>Greater transparency of the reasoning behind OHS regulators’ decisions to investigate or not to investigate professional sporting clubs for potential breaches of OHS law would increase public confidence in regulators and the decisions they make.</p>
<h2>What about professional sporting clubs?</h2>
<p>Professional sporting organisations always have been afforded a large degree of self-regulation. The AFL Commission already had penalised Essendon for its failure to adequately protect the health, welfare and safety of its players. </p>
<p>But in laying charges, WorkSafe Victoria sent two important messages to professional sporting organsations:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>That it – and not a sport’s governing body – is responsible for advancing the public interest served by OHS laws; and </p></li>
<li><p>Professional sport is not beyond the reach of OHS regulators. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>This is a development about which all professional sporting organisations should be alert, but not alarmed. They should be alert because the <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2654578">breadth and complexity</a> of OHS laws have not always been recognised by those involved with professional sporting competitions. </p>
<p>Multiple persons involved in professional sporting competitions owe broad, concurrent, overlapping and non-delegable duties. Duties are owed by a sport’s governing body, individual clubs and their officers, as well as by doctors, sports scientists, trainers and other persons whose acts or omissions are capable of affecting athletes’ health, safety and welfare. </p>
<p>These duties apply to activities undertaken by athletes participating in matches and training, and ensuring they are in the best physical and mental condition. They also apply to other activities undertaken by athletes at their club’s direction or encouragement, regardless of time or place. </p>
<p>However, sporting organisations should not necessarily be alarmed. OHS is already in sport – albeit by <a href="http://safetyatworkblog.com/2015/09/23/ohs-is-in-sports-but-by-another-name/">another name</a>. The Essendon supplements saga aside, most professional sporting clubs have a solid record in injury prevention and management. </p>
<p>There are few other activities in which an employer takes as much interest in an employee’s health, safety and welfare. The active involvement of OHS regulators should serve to reinforce this interest.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50396/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Windholz worked with WorkSafe Victoria from 2001 to 2009, including as General Counsel and General Manager, Strategic Programs and Support.</span></em></p>The implications of the bringing of OHS charges extend far beyond Essendon. For WorkSafe Victoria and professional sporting competitions, it is the equivalent of crossing the rubicon.Eric Windholz, Lecturer in Law and Associate, Monash Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127942013-03-14T03:28:04Z2013-03-14T03:28:04ZAustralia’s occupational health and safety regime needs first aid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21257/original/hrvmwpwq-1363222699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Work has shifted from manufacturing to knowledge industries but OHS hasn't kept up.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karenne Sylvester</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Only 13%* of Australian workplaces comply with Safe Work Australia’s new code of practice on first aid, <a href="http://www.stjohn.org.au/getcompliant/workplace_page.html">according to research</a> by <a href="http://www.stjohn.org.au/">St John Ambulance</a>. But this is only the tip of the iceberg for the crisis in Australian occupational health and safety, which itself appears to need first aid. </p>
<p>St John Ambulance’s survey assessed the extent to which workplaces recognised their first aid needs, supplied first aid equipment and appropriately trained first aiders. Over half of workplaces (55%) were unaware of the code of practice, although the CEO of St John’s Ambulance admitted the survey targeted low-risk workplaces and he recognised that large, high-risk workplaces tended to be more compliant.</p>
<p>While these results may come as a surprise to many Australians, for those of us who work in occupational health and safety it’s business as usual. Observations of the gap between knowledge of what action would prevent work-related ill health and implementation of preventative measures are common. </p>
<p>We have known how to prevent noise-induced hearing loss for decades, for instance, but it’s still responsible for 3.6% of all workers compensation claims in Australia. Safe Work Australia has codes of practice for noise control too. And while a new code for manual handling was issued by Safe Work Australia in 2011, musculoskeletal disorders are still responsible for more than half of all workers’ compensation claims, and an even higher proportion of costs.</p>
<p>But what’s most surprising is how little we know about what works in occupational health and safety regulation. </p>
<p>Health and safety regulations prescribe a general duty of care for employers to provide safe and healthy working environments. They also provide for the empowerment of selected workers to play a role in assisting employers to meet these obligations or, at least, to hold them to account. </p>
<p>Employers have the responsibility to assess the health and safety risks of their businesses and to control them. And the role of government OHS authorities is to regulate their self-regulation.</p>
<p>In keeping with the findings of the St John study on first aid, this approach seems to have worked best for large organisations whose work processes have significant physical hazards. Such organisations are sensitive to the loss of reputation arising from causing fatalities or serious injuries. But in recent decades, the nature of work, workplaces and workforces have changed dramatically and how governments can and should regulate for health and safety compliance has become a pressing question.</p>
<p>As work has shifted from manufacturing to knowledge industries (and intensified), injuries have declined and been replaced by musculoskeletal disorders and psychological ill health. In 2010, <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/regulation-benchmarking/ohs">the Productivity Commission found</a> that inspectorates around Australia were not well equipped to meet the new challenge of mental health.</p>
<p>What’s more, the strength of the employment relationship – a key foundation for the principle of self-regulation – is in decline. Workers are more likely to be employed on a casual basis, and to be employed in smaller businesses with fewer resources for health and safety. And union membership <a href="http://www.federationpress.com.au/bookstore/book.asp?isbn=9781862875050">is falling</a>.</p>
<p>Research on the extent of compliance with standards, such as that undertaken by St John’s Ambulance is good start, as is Safe Work Australia’s foray into surveillance of hazards in industry. But we also need more research on how best to use government resources. </p>
<p>Questions being asked include – what is an optimal balance of resources for enforcement, education and encouragement? What is the potential for private-public partnerships in delivery of enforcement, education and encouragement? And how best to use the growing influence of corporate social responsibility?</p>
<p>Research underway at the centre I head is helping WorkSafe Victoria determine the optimal mix of enforcement, compliance, and promotion to ensure that OHS continues to be embraced as a core element of operating a successful business. Other projects, such as one developing reliable leading indicators of safety intervention effectiveness, and the recent evaluation of WorkHealth, which implemented workplace health promotion, will provide evidence for new approaches to address the issues arising in many of today’s workplaces. </p>
<p><em>* This figure has been corrected. The original version incorrectly said 16%.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12794/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niki Ellis is affiliated with Monash University, WorkSafe Victoria and the Transport Accident Commission. </span></em></p>Only 13%* of Australian workplaces comply with Safe Work Australia’s new code of practice on first aid, according to research by St John Ambulance. But this is only the tip of the iceberg for the crisis…Niki Ellis, Professor & CEO of the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/83992012-07-31T04:19:34Z2012-07-31T04:19:34ZPreventing back pain will require rethinking how we work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13633/original/yt84chsb-1343694080.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need to a fundamental rethink of how we deal with work-related back problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Valerie Everett</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly 10% of Australians (1.8 million people) have back problems, according to a <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/back-problems/">report released today</a> by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (based on data from the 2007-08 National Health Survey). </p>
<p>Prevalence doubles from the 15- to 19-year-old age group to the 30- to 34-year-old group. It’s fairly stable from 35 to 64, and then declines slightly. The peak coincides strongly with the working population, so it’s no surprise that the impact on productivity is substantial. </p>
<p>Back pain keeps people out of work. A 2009 Australian survey found a staggering 80% of people with back problems and disability had an employment restriction. About a third of the people suffering back problems work full-time compared to 47.5% of those without back problems. Those who have problems with their back are almost one-and-a-half times more likely to not be in the workforce at all.</p>
<p>And it costs: a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15038680">2001 Queensland study</a> found that direct health-care costs for back pain was one billion a year, but indirect costs added a further eight billion.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/back-problems/">AIHW report</a> found there was a slight change in the prevalence of back problems from the previous three years, but it was not statistically significant. Meanwhile, workers compensation data from Victoria shows that from 2003 to 2009 the frequency of claims for back disorders and other musculoskeletal disorders has declined at a slower rate than that of all claims as shown in the graph below. Claims in general decreased from 64,591 to 47,240 (36%), while claims for back problems decreased from 9,816 to 7,327 (25%).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13650/original/rcq4ygnh-1343706301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13650/original/rcq4ygnh-1343706301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13650/original/rcq4ygnh-1343706301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13650/original/rcq4ygnh-1343706301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13650/original/rcq4ygnh-1343706301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13650/original/rcq4ygnh-1343706301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13650/original/rcq4ygnh-1343706301.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unpublished data, ISCRR, 2012</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, chronic musculoskeletal disorders are the costliest of all conditions for workers compensation schemes and have been the focus of preventive campaigns for some time. But the fact that the rates are declining at a slower rate than for other complaints suggests that there’s scope for improvement.</p>
<p>Currently, occupational health and safety interventions focus on physical risk factors using a risk management framework in which hazards are identified, assessed and controlled. This approach is reflected in the national standards set by <a href="http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/Pages/default.aspx">SafeWork Australia</a>.</p>
<p>But, as the AIHW report and compensation data show, there’s little change in the number of people suffering from back problems despite current efforts. This suggests we need to think differently about prevention. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the report also finds people with back problems are more likely (2.5 times) to report affective disorders than people without such pain. It says the “chronic and pervasive nature of back problems often lead to poorer quality of life, psychological distress, mental disorders and disability.”</p>
<p>But occupational health research suggests there’s a more complex relationship between psychological distress and back pain. Evidence has been mounting that <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10954644">psychosocial factors</a> associated with the way work is organised and the way people are managed are major determinants of this significant health problem, alongside a lack of decision-making latitude and poor relationships with supervisors.</p>
<p>A study of Boeing employees in Seattle in the late 1980s famously found that psychosocial risk factors predicted the occurrence of back pain much better than physical factors. Although the methodology of this study was subsequently <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11464157">criticised</a>, the authors may have had a valid point. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13637/original/nn6bv5th-1343695190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13637/original/nn6bv5th-1343695190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13637/original/nn6bv5th-1343695190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13637/original/nn6bv5th-1343695190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13637/original/nn6bv5th-1343695190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13637/original/nn6bv5th-1343695190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13637/original/nn6bv5th-1343695190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Poor relationships with supervisors are predictors of back pain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dominique/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An award-winning 1998 study showed that work-related backaches are not “all in your head” as one <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11464157">blog writer wrote in his headline</a>. The study authors stated, “We can show that both physical and psychosocial conditions in the workplace play a role in causing back injury.”</p>
<p>Now, although there’s plenty of evidence that back problems have persisted despite a significant investment in prevention, there’s still a great resistance to including psychosocial factors in workplace risk management interventions. This is a classic case of the failure of translating research into practice. </p>
<p>Embracing findings like this requires a fundamental change in thinking about pain, about occupational health and safety, and about management responsibilities. It needs planned system-level and organisational change, probably starting with research to better understand the beliefs and interests that protect the physical model of back pain from challenge.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, research evidence mounts. Last week, I read a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22337583">new study</a> from the National Institute of Occupational Health in Norway. Over 2,000 employees in 28 organisations were followed up over two years to assess the exposure of fourteen psychological or social workplace risk factors and two mechanical risk factors for back pain, and back pain severity. </p>
<p>After adjusting for age, sex, skill level and back pain severity (and other potential confounders) at the outset of the study, the most consistent predictors of back pain prevention were found to be decision control, empowering leadership and fair leadership. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The centre which Niki Ellis works for is funded in part by WorkSafe Victoria. </span></em></p>Nearly 10% of Australians (1.8 million people) have back problems, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (based on data from the 2007-08 National…Niki Ellis, Professor & CEO of the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/55572012-02-28T19:08:14Z2012-02-28T19:08:14ZOffice workers – it’s time to beat the bulge and quit the sit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/8147/original/ssp5y258-1330396013.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just getting off your chair regularly and moving around is enough to improve your health.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victor1558</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’ve never been a smoker but lately I’ve started to take on some of the same zeal of reformed addicts. You see, a few years ago, I took a long, hard look at myself and decided to kick one of the most unnecessary and unhealthy habits I’d had for years: I quit sitting. </p>
<p>And I’ve been replacing sitting with standing at every opportunity since.</p>
<p>In January 2010, my research group at Baker IDI published a <a href="http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/121/3/384.short">paper</a> in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association that tracked the lifestyle habits of 8,800 adults. We asked how much time the participants spent watching television and used this as an indicator of how long they spent sitting during leisure time. </p>
<p>We found that every hour spent sitting watching television increases the risk of dying earlier from cardiovascular (heart) disease by as much as 18%. Each hour spent sitting was also associated with an 11% increased risk of death from all causes and a 9% increased risk of cancer death.</p>
<p>Compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46% higher risk of death from all causes and an 80% increased risk for heart-related death. </p>
<p>This association held regardless of other common cardiovascular disease risk factors, including smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, unhealthy diet and excessive waist circumference.</p>
<p>This field of research has expanded significantly in the past few years and the evidence that sitting is hazardous to health is now <a href="https://theconversation.com/get-up-stand-up-if-not-youll-be-a-sitting-duck-2578">quite compelling</a>. </p>
<p>But for the vast majority of us who work in desk-bound sedentary jobs, our choice to sit appears largely out of our control. This prompted me to ask the question: How ridiculous is it that people now sit longer than they sleep and what, if anything, can be done about sitting for long periods?</p>
<p>In response, my research group set about identifying how frequently, and at what activity intensity, one would need to break up sitting time in order to counteract its negative consequences. The results have been <a href="http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/22/dc11-1931.abstract?sid=3b219971-5a88-4d2e-89ed-acf6d95a35d4">published</a> online today in <a href="http://care.diabetesjournals.org/">Diabetes Care</a> – a publication of the American Diabetes Association. </p>
<p>By examining spikes in participants’ blood glucose levels after consuming a high-calorie meal, we discovered that glucose levels and insulin sensitivity improve by as much as 30% following frequent short breaks in sitting. </p>
<p>Rises in glucose levels after eating are known to contribute to a number of health problems, including <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001224/">atherosclerosis</a> (hardening of the arteries), carotid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intima-media_thickness">intima-media thickening</a> (thickening of the arteries) and <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-scan/MY00327">coronary artery calcium</a>, all of which increase the risk of heart disease. Spikes in glucose levels can also progress the development of <a href="http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Diabetic_retinopathy?open">retinopathy</a>, a complication of diabetes that leads to blindness.</p>
<p>This is the first time that we’ve been able to demonstrate that breaking up sitting time enables our bodies to better manage blood glucose and insulin levels. Our next step was to identify the frequency and intensity of activity required to break up sitting time. </p>
<p>We found that the benefit of walking at a light intensity pace was almost identical to walking at a moderate intensity pace – suggesting that it was not so much the amount of effort put into the break that was critical. The simple act of standing up and moving was, itself, beneficial. </p>
<h2>Workplace reforms</h2>
<p>When you consider that as many as 60% of Australians are overweight, it’s clear we need new approaches to obesity prevention and the workplace is an ideal place to start. </p>
<p>Current Australian occupational health and safety (OHS) <a href="http://www.comcare.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/39570/Officewise_OHS1_Apr_10.pdf">guidelines</a> recommend desk-bound employees take a break from their computer screen every 30 minutes or so to reduce eye strain. We’d like to see these guidelines extended to encourage workers to take frequent breaks that involve some kind of physical movement.</p>
<p>Even as you sit to read this article, there are Australian employers tentatively rolling out height-adjustable desks that allow employees the choice to either sit or stand while they work. The recently built Macquarie Bank building in Shelley St, Sydney, is a good example, and encourages staff to move more freely about the workplace rather than simply sitting at their own desk.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/8153/original/8kzkwn6q-1330400226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/8153/original/8kzkwn6q-1330400226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/8153/original/8kzkwn6q-1330400226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/8153/original/8kzkwn6q-1330400226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/8153/original/8kzkwn6q-1330400226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/8153/original/8kzkwn6q-1330400226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/8153/original/8kzkwn6q-1330400226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Height-adjustable desks will help reduce your sitting time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rob Knight</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’m a huge fan of this free-range workplace movement and started working at a stand-up desk several years ago. Back then I had to deploy my own home-built proto-type, in the form of a large wooden box that elevated my keyboard and computer screen to a level that was comfortable for me to use them while standing. </p>
<p>From time to time I’m challenged by sceptics who doubt the plausibility of implementing changes to the current desk-bound culture. But think about how far we’ve come with smoking reforms. Remember when it was okay for people to blow smoke in your face while at work? Banning smoking from the workplace now seems like a no-brainer for health and morale. </p>
<p>Progressive organisations that support employees to “quit the sit” will lead the way with these changes. And I predict that it is only a matter of time until the majority of organisations follow suit.</p>
<p>For employers in particularly competitive fields that struggle to attract talent, redesigning their work environment and challenging the traditional cultural norms around sitting for hours at a time, will certainly set them aside from their competitors. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/5557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Dunstan receives funding from ARC, NHMRC, VicHealth, Heart Foundation, BUPA Health Foundation.</span></em></p>I’ve never been a smoker but lately I’ve started to take on some of the same zeal of reformed addicts. You see, a few years ago, I took a long, hard look at myself and decided to kick one of the most unnecessary…David Dunstan, Associate Professor and Laboratory Head of Physical Activity, Baker Heart and Diabetes InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/10132012-01-11T19:29:35Z2012-01-11T19:29:35ZUnited we stand: are we harmonising the right OHS law?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6878/original/zfk266wy-1326258105.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need a national OHS system that's more suitable to contemporary workplaces and workers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Cunningham</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>2011 was a year of reforms that didn’t go smoothly and the Federal government’s attempt to harmonise occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation across the country was no exception. The intention of the legislation was to make it easier for employers with operations in more than one state to implement the law, but the government’s vision for the national system may itself be lacking.</p>
<p>All states and territories were due to have enacted the model legislation by the start of the year, but by January 1, only Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and the Commonwealth had done so. Victoria has indicated it’ll delay making required changes while Western Australia has stated its intention not to adopt all aspects of the legislation. Meanwhile, there have been hiccups in South Australia, and Tasmania and the Northern Territory are behind schedule.</p>
<p>But while the government’s efforts have not gone as smoothly as hoped, a more fundamental question – about the kind of OHS laws we need – remains unaddressed by efforts to create a national system.</p>
<p>Modern OHS laws are a form of self regulation. They aim to have employers protect their employees from harm by creating safe and healthy working environments. They also establish a voice for workers in identifying, assessing and mitigating risks at work – as a means of “keeping the bastards honest” as the saying goes. </p>
<p>But the legislation assumes that work-related health problems are distinguishable from those not related to work. This functions well for the prevention of injuries – it’s usually clear when a worker has sustained an injury in a workplace and what has caused it.</p>
<p>But illness is a different matter.</p>
<h2>Hidden causes</h2>
<p>Diseases are multifactorial – they arise from a combination of environmental and personal factors. They can come from work or outside work; they can be genetic or behavioural; physical or psychological. And they often develop over a long time. As a result, most of the morbidity and mortality from work-related illness goes unrecognised.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6875/original/77skcnhr-1326257029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6875/original/77skcnhr-1326257029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6875/original/77skcnhr-1326257029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6875/original/77skcnhr-1326257029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6875/original/77skcnhr-1326257029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6875/original/77skcnhr-1326257029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6875/original/77skcnhr-1326257029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christopher Angell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>SafeWork Australia only publishes statistics on traumatic injury fatalities, of which there were 442 over 2007 and 2008. It admits this number doesn’t include suicides or deaths from “natural causes, such as strokes or heart attacks”.</p>
<p>The number of deaths from work-related illness in Australia is usually calculated to be between 2000 and 3000 a year. But <a href="http://oem.bmj.com/content/55/9/634.abstract">one study estimated</a> that deaths due to exposure to hazardous substances in one year alone was 2290. The leading cause of such deaths is cancer. </p>
<p>There’s also a growing body of evidence showing that occupational stress causes serious illness, especially cardiovascular diseases that lead to strokes and heart attacks. This is amply illustrated in the report from the Employment Conditions Knowledge Network to the <a href="http://www.who.int/social_determinants/publications/en">WHO Social Determinants of Health Commission</a> (see pages 158 to 162).</p>
<p>And the potential for <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/girls-suicide-prompts-law-on-bullying-20110404-1cyp8.html">bullying or other occupational stressors at work</a> contributing to suicide is painfully clear. Mental health problems, along with musculo-skeletal disorders, now cause as many workers compensation claims as injury, and they cost more. </p>
<p>So we cannot easily separate conditions caused by work from those which are not. Usually, it’s a combination of factors at work and outside work.</p>
<h2>Toward an integrated model</h2>
<p>Employers have a responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace, but workers have a responsibility to maintain their health too. At the moment we pretend some health problems are the responsibility of employers, through OHS, and some are the responsibility of workers, through workplace health promotion. </p>
<p>It’s common practice to offer health screening and advice on healthy eating, drinking, exercise and mental health, for instance, but to ignore the fact that we now know that poorly designed jobs or bad supervision cause pressure which leads to unhealthy behaviours. </p>
<p>But there’s evidence that if OHS and workplace health promotion are integrated, magic happens. The <a href="http://heb.sagepub.com/content/32/1/10.abstract">WellWorks project in the United States</a>, for instance, integrated OHS and workplace health promotion programs for cancer. Along with tackling occupational carcinogens, the workplace health program tackled diet, smoking and exercise.</p>
<p>Project evaluation found that an integrated program was more effective in getting workers to take action for their health than traditional workplace health promotion programs. It seems the knowledge that management is doing what it can to create a workplace supportive of good health has a positive effect on worker willingness to take more responsibility for their own health. </p>
<p>Recently, the US National Institutes of Health and the Centre for Disease Control released <a href="http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2010.300075">an evidence-based integrated model</a>. The model suggests what works for better health and productivity is action aimed at improving individual health-related behaviours <em>and</em> physical, organisational and psycho-social working environments <em>as well as</em> links to families to communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/1250/original/IMLS_DCC_flickr_workers.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/1250/original/IMLS_DCC_flickr_workers.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/1250/original/IMLS_DCC_flickr_workers.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/1250/original/IMLS_DCC_flickr_workers.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/1250/original/IMLS_DCC_flickr_workers.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/1250/original/IMLS_DCC_flickr_workers.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/1250/original/IMLS_DCC_flickr_workers.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Coming full circle </h2>
<p>Modern safety science was invented during the second industrial revolution in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. So our fairly simplistic model of OHS, which has served very well for injury prevention, is relatively recent.</p>
<p>In the past, OHS and corporate social responsibility were integrated; a more comprehensive OHS model was practised during the first industrial revolution in the United Kingdom by the paternal philanthropists such as Robert Owen. In addition to improving the health and safety of his cotton mills in Manchester, Owen provided housing and education for his workers. And this may be something of a model for the future.</p>
<p>The Institute of Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research, which I head, recently undertook research on probable futures in OHS that showed a trend of diminishing direct control for governments. Instead, as the scope of workplace health gets bigger, governments will likely work in partnership with a range of different types of organisations. In Canada for instance, WorkSafe BC has co-ordinated a number of employers, unions, health organisations and other government departments to run an injury prevention campaign. It’s not limited to work-related injuries or branded WorkSafe BC. </p>
<p>As best-practice employers recognise that society now expects them to demonstrate value to the community beyond profit to shareholders, they’re likely to do more to contribute their expertise across their industry, especially to smaller organisations. </p>
<p>It is too late to review the fundamental principles underpinning Australia’s approach to OHS legislation, but perhaps a harmonised approach, when it eventuates, will make it easier to evolve the national workplace health and safety system into something more suitable to contemporary workplaces and workers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/1013/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niki Ellis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>2011 was a year of reforms that didn’t go smoothly and the Federal government’s attempt to harmonise occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation across the country was no exception. The intention…Niki Ellis, Professor & CEO of the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.