A Princes Trust study based on interviews with over 2,000 unemployed 16- to 25-year-olds in the UK has found that out-of-work young people experience poorer health and lower levels of happiness, with one in ten claiming that unemployment drove them to drugs or alcohol. The study also showed they more commonly feel more ashamed, rejected and unloved. 

With information for injured nurses, RTW coordinators, nurse unit managers, employers and directors of nursing, and medical practitioners, the Nurses RTW in Hospitals website is a feast of information. Dig in at www.nursesrtw.com.au.

Fatigue is the number one accident risk factor for construction workers and requires better recognition by occupational health and safety managers, according to research at the University of Sydney. Dr Margaret Chan’s PhD research focused on four high profile oil and gas Sino joint-venture construction projects in Mainland China, where she interviewed workers, managers and safety supervisors to establish perceived causes of workplace accidents. All three groups considered fatigue to be the most significant risk factor in workplace accidents at these sites. “If you eliminate fatigue, you also eliminate other so-called ‘causes’ of accidents," said Dr Chan. "Previous research shows fatigue can cause performance impairment equivalent to - or greater than - 0.10% of blood alcohol concentration, a level deemed unacceptable for driving a crane or operating dangerous construction equipment or machinery.”

The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called a ruling by Fair Work Australia commissioner Greg Smith "judicial activism" because it awarded the tribunal unqualified powers to impose arbitration on business and workers, despite distinct limits in the Fair Work Act, reports The Australian. The ACCI has called the decision "completely unacceptable", and will make a submission to Federal Government expressing the view that the decision is at odds with the legislative intent.

A draft report released yesterday by the Productivity Commission found that 2.5 million Australians experienced some aspect of bullying during their working lives, at a cost to the economy of about $15 billion a year. The Australian reports that while the Commission's report states some progress had been made in ironing out inconsistencies in national OH&S standards, businesses are still burdened by 3392 pages of regulation across Australia. South Australia is the only state to include specific laws in its OH&S act about inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

Are you guilty? That difficult day in between a four-day-weekend last month was avoided, under the not-so-clever guise of the 'sickie', by a record number of people in this year - some 500,000 workers according to research. Head of the Retailers Association, Scott Driscoll, doesn't empathise with those workers hungry for an extra long weekend; rather, he brands them as "un-Australian" and "selfishly turn[ing] their backs on their mates in the workplace". Hmm, debatable. More difficult to argue with, however, is research conducted by absence-management firm Direct Health Solutions which showed that the increase in workers taking sick days on 25 January cost the economy about $257 million.