Occupational injury prevention in high temperature environments. This project aims to explore the contribution of heat as a risk factor in work-related illness and injury. Approximately 600 000 Australians experience a work-related illness or injury each year. Hot weather may directly or indirectly lead to accidents, but heat as a risk factor has not been systematically explored, and is particularly relevant in a warming climate. This project aims to improve safety and productivity in Australian ....Occupational injury prevention in high temperature environments. This project aims to explore the contribution of heat as a risk factor in work-related illness and injury. Approximately 600 000 Australians experience a work-related illness or injury each year. Hot weather may directly or indirectly lead to accidents, but heat as a risk factor has not been systematically explored, and is particularly relevant in a warming climate. This project aims to improve safety and productivity in Australian industry by generating new evidence and predictive models to inform injury prevention policy and guidance, and facilitating the development of practical, targeted resources. This project expects to add to the body of knowledge regarding workers’ health and safety and to be of benefit to industry and subpopulations at risk.Read moreRead less
Climate Change and Burden of Disease: Current Risk and Future Burden. Climate change has had a negative impact on human health. However, few studies have assessed burden of diseases (BOD) for these climate-sensitive/heat attributable diseases. We will generate the first national picture of the climate attributable BOD in Australia, measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY), the attribution from climate, and project future BOD under various climatic/demographic change scenarios. This proje ....Climate Change and Burden of Disease: Current Risk and Future Burden. Climate change has had a negative impact on human health. However, few studies have assessed burden of diseases (BOD) for these climate-sensitive/heat attributable diseases. We will generate the first national picture of the climate attributable BOD in Australia, measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY), the attribution from climate, and project future BOD under various climatic/demographic change scenarios. This project will rank Australian climate-sensitive/heat attributable diseases by their current burden and projected increase under climate changes, and provide needed scientific evidence to policy-makers in the development, prioritization and implementation of current and future climate change and health adaptation strategies. Read moreRead less
Heat stress in the workplace: health burden and labour productivity loss. This project aims to estimate the economic loss of workplace heat exposure in Australia. The project will investigate the health services costs of occupational heat-related illnesses/injuries, explore the labour productivity loss and its costs resulting from heat stress at work, and estimate the benefits from a generic heat warning intervention for workplace heat prevention. Outcomes are expected to provide an overview of ....Heat stress in the workplace: health burden and labour productivity loss. This project aims to estimate the economic loss of workplace heat exposure in Australia. The project will investigate the health services costs of occupational heat-related illnesses/injuries, explore the labour productivity loss and its costs resulting from heat stress at work, and estimate the benefits from a generic heat warning intervention for workplace heat prevention. Outcomes are expected to provide an overview of national economic implications at present and in the future from effective heat stress control, assist the development of work place heat policies, and inform resource allocation to make Australian workplaces well prepared for likely increasing extremely hot weather.Read moreRead less
Digital communication and work stress. This project aims to examine email load and its effects on work pressure, health, sleep and recovery using a national longitudinal design and innovative diary research. The project intends to advance theoretical and practical understanding of the well-being of staff and the impact of technological and competitiveness in the context of Australian universities. Expected outcomes include will address a gap in research by including casual employees, so that the ....Digital communication and work stress. This project aims to examine email load and its effects on work pressure, health, sleep and recovery using a national longitudinal design and innovative diary research. The project intends to advance theoretical and practical understanding of the well-being of staff and the impact of technological and competitiveness in the context of Australian universities. Expected outcomes include will address a gap in research by including casual employees, so that the findings can potentially benefit all occupational groups. In addition to assisting university management to attain healthier work environments, the project may benefit other Australian workers.Read moreRead less
Caring for the carers: occupational health and safety in homecare. Homecare workers care for vulnerable clients but their own vulnerability to health and safety risks is seldom examined. Pilot research revealed unrecognised hazards arising from the isolated and fragmented nature of the work. This project will systematically identify hazards and develop interventions to promote healthier and safer homecare work.
'Just right' job design: A new model using the Goldilocks paradigm. This proposal will generate new knowledge about designing jobs with the right amount of human movement. Prolonged sitting is now a serious work hazard that contributes to cardiovascular risk and obesity. The high incidence of these conditions in many work systems, such as rail, also presents a critical safety hazard due to threat of sudden incapacity while driving. Expected project outcomes are a ‘Just Right’ Job Design model sh ....'Just right' job design: A new model using the Goldilocks paradigm. This proposal will generate new knowledge about designing jobs with the right amount of human movement. Prolonged sitting is now a serious work hazard that contributes to cardiovascular risk and obesity. The high incidence of these conditions in many work systems, such as rail, also presents a critical safety hazard due to threat of sudden incapacity while driving. Expected project outcomes are a ‘Just Right’ Job Design model showing how tasks can be designed to enhance safety and health while maintaining productivity, and in the unlikeliest of workplaces. This will provide significant benefits for the many working Australians whose safety and health are compromised by exposure to prolonged sitting in seemingly intractable environments.Read moreRead less
From data to action: a new process for developing injury countermeasures. This project aims to understand how reporting systems can improve workplace safety. Workplace injury affects over 600 000 Australian workers per year at a cost of approximately $60 billion. Although the introduction of incident reporting systems has enabled organisations to better understand the causes of injuries, how to translate this knowledge into effective countermeasures remains ambiguous. Moreover, it is not clear w ....From data to action: a new process for developing injury countermeasures. This project aims to understand how reporting systems can improve workplace safety. Workplace injury affects over 600 000 Australian workers per year at a cost of approximately $60 billion. Although the introduction of incident reporting systems has enabled organisations to better understand the causes of injuries, how to translate this knowledge into effective countermeasures remains ambiguous. Moreover, it is not clear whether adopting incident reporting systems actually leads to a safety benefit. This research intends to tackle these critical knowledge gaps by developing, implementing, and testing a process for translating incident reporting system outputs into appropriate and effective injury countermeasures, and then evaluating the safety effects of adopting the new incident reporting and learning cycle.Read moreRead less
The dynamic interplay of physical and psychosocial safety in frontline healthcare workplaces in Australia and Malaysia. The healthcare industry is under immense pressure. Urgent attention is needed to reduce strains on workers and costs in healthcare. This project will meet these joint objectives through modelling and developing a system that integrates both physical and psychosocial facets to enhance the psychological and physical health of workers and quality care.
The significance of psychosocial safety climate, health and happiness for productivity at work. Despite national efforts, for a decade workers compensation claims for work stress have remained stable. This project proposes an innovative science driven multilevel process model, with organisational psychosocial safety climate as a lead indicator of productivity loss (for example, time loss), and a conditioner of paths linking job demands, job resources, work engagement, happiness, mental (for exam ....The significance of psychosocial safety climate, health and happiness for productivity at work. Despite national efforts, for a decade workers compensation claims for work stress have remained stable. This project proposes an innovative science driven multilevel process model, with organisational psychosocial safety climate as a lead indicator of productivity loss (for example, time loss), and a conditioner of paths linking job demands, job resources, work engagement, happiness, mental (for example, depression) and physical health to productivity. This four wave longitudinal study of 3000 Australian workers, also linking to objective workers compensation data, will provide fresh insights regarding workplace primary prevention. Read moreRead less
Tranquillising Work Stress: Corporate Climate and Antidepressant Use. This national project will investigate the plausible link between distress at work and Australia’s high levels of antidepressant use, through creative linkage of data from the Australian Workplace Barometer (10-year longitudinal study) to antidepressant medication data (via the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme). The project advances theory by probing the role corporate climate plays in work design, distress, mental hea .... Tranquillising Work Stress: Corporate Climate and Antidepressant Use. This national project will investigate the plausible link between distress at work and Australia’s high levels of antidepressant use, through creative linkage of data from the Australian Workplace Barometer (10-year longitudinal study) to antidepressant medication data (via the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme). The project advances theory by probing the role corporate climate plays in work design, distress, mental health problems and antidepressant use. It will determine if antidepressant use has led to an underestimation of work stress effects. It will estimate the $AUD cost of work related antidepressant use. The project will yield evidence to stimulate corporate climate change to protect worker psychological health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less