Neale's OHS Review

Neale Towart reviews the latest occupational health and safety news stories.

To comment on any of these articles, please visit out discussion forum Shoptalk.

Biometrics: raising new issues in the workplace

Carl Philips, from the AWU says that they have to confront the issue more and more in bigger workplaces as the costs of such scanning plummets and security has become a more pressing issue.

At the AWU national conference the increasing concerns of members about this issue were a focus. Issues raised included potential health risks, link with criminal identification, possibilities of error and lack of reliability, lack of legislation, lack of public education and lack of consultation with employees.

Privacy concerns centre around whether the images can be stored and then shared between other individuals, departments and agencies. Manufacturers of scanning equipment say that the technology does not take a fingerprint, rather it takes a 3-D optical scan. Fingerprinting is prohibited by privacy legislation. In the prison service, it is used to identify people entering and leaving visitor areas. It is seen by action groups as threat to visitor privacy. TWU members also were concerned about the lack of procedures to ensure images are not stored.

Other cases have been the dispute between MEAA and the Victorian Amateur Turf Club.

Key concerns other than the above for workers in all cases have been the potential discriminatory use of the technology. The problems revolve around a lack of a coherent standard and an overseeing mechanism.

(CPD NEWS, March 2003)

The Dismissal of Workers Covered By Return To Work Provisions Under Workers Compensation Laws.

The clear intention of these provisions is to provide some employment security for workers, reduce the costs of compensation claims by enhancing rehabilitation and minimise disruption in the workforce through retraining of new workers. The obligations on employers to return disabled workers to work usually do not apply if it is not ‘reasonably practicable’ to provide ‘suitable duties’ or if the worker has been dismissed on the grounds of ‘serious or wilful misconduct’.

(Journal of Industrial Relations; vol. 44, no. 4, December 2002)

Aboriginal Health Workers, Emotional Labour, Obligatory Community Labour and OHS

Uses the concept of emotional labour, and a new, related concept, “obligatory community labour”, to examine the OHS hazards and outcomes for Aboriginal primary health care workers in South Australia. Aboriginal health workers sincerely use their own emotions as cultural brokers to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal clients. Obligatory community labour embraces the extra duties which are associated with Aboriginal identity and practice and which are essential parts of the job. A sociological use of emotional exhaustion measures found that the Aboriginal health workers exhibited the highest level of emotional exhaustion in the study (second only to Aboriginal managers) �" levels which are cause for concern. The workers frequently come to these jobs with an OHS profile of impaired physical health from previous hazardous occupations. Their current health care jobs are made more stressful because of racism, low standards of cultural sensitivity among non-Aboriginal health professionals and related workers, and abuse from clients.

(Journal of Occupational Health and Safety-Australia and New Zealand; vol.19 (1) February 2003)

Stress Among Health Care Workers

This study found that stress claims in the health care industry are almost twice the industry average in Australia. Men report more stress claims tan women and workers 45 years and older report more than younger workers. While there is some stress among medical practitioners and allied health providers, the highest incidence of claims is among nurses. It is argued that the lack of control at work is not acknowledged enough as a cause of stress, and it may be an important reason why groups such as nurses report far higher claims than GPs and related groups. In addition the increasing privatisation of the health care sector is a possible cause of some high stress levels.

(Journal of Occupational Health and Safety-Australia and New Zealand; vol.19 (1) February 2003)

“Internal” Occupational Violence (or Bullying) In the Health Care Industry

Findings from a range of international studies into bullying are presented here that indicate that at least 8% of health care workers Are likely to experience bullying of one sort or another from their colleagues each year. A further small proportion are the recipients of more overt violence from colleagues. The authors argue that these internal violent events are manifest on an escalating continuum of abuse, unreasonable work practices, threats and physical violence. Thus the incidents differ in severity. The number of incidents experienced by recipients also varies with many targets subjected to repeated humiliations, degradations, threats and diminishing wellbeing and productivity through a range of types of violence/bullying. The authors conclude that holistic organisation-wide prevention strategies are most effective in reducing the risks of bullying in health care settings.

(Journal of Occupational Health and Safety-Australia and New Zealand; vol.19 (1) February 2003)

Sustainable Computer Work

This an excellent feature spot on the Swedish National Institute For Working Life site about computer use, the OHS issues and ways to minimise the problems.

The most common and/or serious work environment problems when working with computers and steps to solutions are outlined under the following categories:

Physical strain issues can be addressed by looking at:

 Work premises, Noise, ventilation, Furniture, Computer equipment, Work postures

Constrained sitting problems can be addressed by looking at

 Variety, Work techniques

Visual problems can be addressed by looking at:

 Good lighting and visual conditions

Technical and learning problems can be addressed by:

 Education and technical support

Stressful working conditions generally can be addressed by :

 Remuneration, Personal development, Worker influence, Limiting working hours

http://www.arbetslivsinstitutet.se/datorarbete/default_en.asp

The Victorian Workcover Authority has a good summary of the issues too at http://www.workcover.vic.gov.au/vwa/home.nsf/pages/so_datae

Union Wins Time Off From the Pub

The Association regards this as a moral victory for all Spirit managers as without NALHM speaking up for them and their interests no action would have been taken by the company.' TGWU says 98 pub managers and their partners employed in the Spirit Group joined NALHM last year, to register their concerns over working hours.

http://www.tgwu.org.uk/newsrelease/2003/03052.htm

© 2002 UNIONSAFE
This site is sponsored by the Workcover Authority of NSW for Labor Council of NSW

Site designed and engineered by Social Change Online [credits]
This page: http://unionsafe.net.au/news/10491754214124.html
Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:34 EST