EHS Today is an American magazine that informs safety professionals on trends, management strategies, regulatory updates and daily news to help them provide safe and healthy work sites. Just over 700 safety professionals recently participated in an editorial survey. Managers and leaders provided insight into how companies are managing the evolving business environment and what they think workplace safety will look like in a post pandemic world.

The hotel quarantine inquiry with its extraordinary, unprecedented political and legal implications has more mundane yet equally important lessons for those of us in the prevention game. Here we look at both, making a big effort to dip into the political/legal blame game while avoiding the gravitational pull of the black hole this looks like morphing into.

Mental health conditions are common among the working-age Australian population and represent a significant cost both to organisations and to individuals. According to an ABS study around 45% of Australians between the ages of 16 and 85 experience a mental health condition at some point in their lifetime.  In a given 12-month period, 20 per cent of Australians will have experienced a mental health condition. Mental health conditions are seen in all industries in Australia

Cleaning is an essential part of disinfection because dirt and grime can inactivate many disinfectants. Cleaning reduces the amount of dirt and so allows the disinfectant to work. Removal of germs such as the virus that causes COVID-19 requires thorough cleaning followed by disinfection.

A Swinburne University survey conducted in May this year shows that three out of four managers believe their staff will do more remote work after the pandemic than before it.  A hybrid model of office and remote work will mean that you’ll need to have in place an effective ‘working from home’ strategy and the associated policies and procedures.

WorkSafe, Emergency Management Victoria and Victoria Police have made it clear that they will crack down hard on businesses flouting the new mask rules. The latest figures show that about 80 per cent of Victoria’s COVID cases since May were the result of workplace transmission, including private-sector aged care. A new Victorian directive, from midnight on Wednesday 22 July, means that people in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will have to wear a mask. Regardless of whether your staff are able to be socially distant from each other, they will need to wear a mask at work if there is more than one person on site. An inspection and enforcement blitz will be carried out in workplaces across the state.

Do you work with engineered stone? WorkSafe Victoria has just released a new compliance code that is relevant for employers or self-employed people who manufacture, import or supply engineered stone. It’s also relevant to employees and health and safety representatives who work with engineered stone. The new compliance code provides practical advice on how you can comply with your duties and obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act) and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (OHS Regulations).

We’ve compiled a list of links that is useful for businesses in fire affected areas to help manage the risks to people and property. Please let us know if there are any other links you think we should add.

Organisations have a duty to ensure they provide a safe workplace, so far as reasonably practicable and this duty extends to managing exposure to bushfire smoke. Workers with greater sensitivity, such as those with asthma, cardiac or pulmonary conditions or those conducting strenuous or prolonged work outside are at greatest risk, especially in hazardous levels. WorkSafe Victoria has released guidance on bushfire smoke which outlines the general approach organisations should take to managing their workers exposure to bushfire smoke.

The Herald Sun reported on 1 August that tradies will be better protected from Silicosis by state and federal regulators halving the standard from 0.1 to 0.05 mg per cubic metre. Based on 30 years in the business of preventing occupational disease, the idea that reducing exposure standards will do the job is misguided at best.