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Objective: To evaluate how surgeons in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand perceive the effectiveness of the Operating with Respect (OWR) face-to-face training program in reducing workplace bullying. Methods: A cross-sectional survey examined the perceived effectiveness of the Royal College of Surgeons' (RACS) face-to-face OWR training and complementary interventions in reducing workplace bullying in surgical settings. The sample included supervisory surgeons, RACS committee members, and targeted educators. The survey instrument had 35 questions, including five related to the research question. In December 2020, the survey was distributed by RACS to all surgeons who undertook OWR training between April 2017 and December 2019. Likert scales and coded free text responses were used to explore the effectiveness of face-to-face OWR training and other interventions included in the 2015 RACS Action Plan. Results: Of the 756 surveys sent, 252 were received. The face-to-face OWR training program was rated as moderately effective. RACS's overarching approach to anti-bullying was almost equally important, highlighting the need to consider a broader ecosystem of reform. Conclusions: This study finds the RACS full-day anti-bullying training moderately effective in reducing bullying in surgical workplaces. However, enhancing its impact requires a sustained, multi-faceted strategy, including broader policy reforms, accountability measures, and cultural changes, to foster a long-term respectful environment in surgical settings. What is known about this topic? Anti-bullying interventions, including training, are prevalent in healthcare; however, there is conflicting data on their effectiveness. What does this paper add? This study addresses a gap in the literature on the effectiveness of anti-bullying training from the perspective of supervisory surgeons in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. What are the implications for practitioners? Practitioners should consider implementing a multifaceted and sustained approach to anti-bullying reform, including anti-bullying training, well-drafted policies, increased accountability, and improved complaints mechanisms to reduce bullying and improve workplace culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using EMA questionnaires and physiological data via wristbands to measure day-to-day occupational stress, musculoskeletal pain, and mental health among university employees (N = 23), across 10 work days. Adherence to the study protocol as well as participant experiences (via semi-structured interviews) with the protocol were used to assess feasibility and acceptability of the method. Results: Adherence to the study protocol was excellent. Participants wore the wristband for a mean of 9.7 days. Participants completed a mean of 24.5 EMAs (out of 30). Semi-structured interviews with participants revealed that a small number of participants had difficulties uploading data from the wristband. The timing of EMAs was challenging for some participants, resulting in missed EMAs, raising questions about whether EMA frequency and timing could be changed to improve adherence. Some EMA items were difficult to answer due to the nature of participants' roles and the work undertaken. Overall, the protocol was feasible and acceptable but highlighted future potential changes including using a different physiological data collection tool, reducing the number of EMAs, adjusting EMA timings, and reviewing EMA items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the main contributor to disability levels, which are rising as populations age. Workplace hazard exposures are a major source of this problem, and current workplace risk management practices require substantial changes to tackle it more effectively. Most importantly, the current focus of risk management on "manual handling" tasks must broaden to encompass the whole job. This is necessary because a wide range of psychosocial hazards, most of which operate across the whole job rather than particular tasks, are significant contributors to risk. To ensure that risk‐control actions are effective, a recurring risk management cycle that includes worker participation and addresses risk from both biomechanical and psychosocial hazards will be essential. Legislation that mandates workplace management of psychosocial hazards would be helpful. Amendment by regulatory bodies of MSD‐related guidance and codes of practice so that they reflect current research evidence would also be helpful in communicating the need for change to workplace stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify barriers and enablers for access to and participation in rehabilitation for people with LLA in East, South, and Southeast Asian developing countries from the perspective of rehabilitation professionals. A mixed-method study involving an anonymous cross-sectional screening survey followed by in-depth interviews of rehabilitation professionals in these regions following the COREQ guidelines. Participants were surveyed online using convenience and snowball sampling techniques to inform a purposive heterogenic sample for semi-structured online interviews, between September 2021 to February 2022. Interview transcripts were analysed and thematically coded using the modified Health Care Delivery System Approach (HCDSA) framework. A total of 201 quantitative survey responses shaped the interview questions and participation of 28 participants from 13 countries for the qualitative investigation. Important factors at the patient level were sex, economics, health issues, language differences, and lack of awareness; at the care team level, peer and/or family support, referrals, and the gender of the professional; at the organizational level, service availability, resources, and quality; and at the environmental level, policies, supports, and physical and/or social accessibility. Identified interlinked factors at multiple levels of the HCDSA underpin the need for a systems approach to develop and address regional rehabilitation service provision but requires contextually adapted policy. Amputation rehabilitation practices need improvements in the developing Asian region including evaluation and redesign of, and processes and policies by, policy makers with increased support for those with lower limb amputation. The consistent factors identified in these regions as negatively impacting rehabilitation services suggest opportunities to collaborate and design common mitigation approaches between rehabilitation providers across countries. Unique local factors impacting rehabilitation in different countries suggest the necessity for customization in consultation with rehabilitation practitioners rather than the adoption of generic charitable models by external agencies. Rehabilitation professionals and others responsible for rehabilitation policy and practice should systematically target factors impacting rehabilitation outcomes for improvements at all levels within the health care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, good quality and safe working conditions that promote employee health are expected by stakeholders. The aim of this study is to examine the extent and quality of occupational health and safety (OHS) reporting in the Top 100 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Method: Publicly available annual reports from the Top 100 ASX companies were reviewed using a policy scorecard against five dimensions drawn from the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012–2022. The dimensions were: OHS information, legislation, leadership, work health disorders, prevention and best practice. Results: Mean rank scores of high and low-risk industry sectors were compared. High-risk sectors provided more explicit coverage of OHS information across all five domains in comparison to low-risk sectors (p > 0.05). The Information Technology sector scored the lowest across all five dimensions. Conclusion: Higher quality reporting from those in high-risk sectors may be influenced by stakeholder expectations, as well as industry norms. The current analysis suggests that relying on stakeholders to drive improved reporting may be problematic, as those industries that are perceived to have a low OHS risk profile may not consider the need to provide transparent reporting on their strategies to ensure they are providing good quality working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A significant body of literature has examined the impact of verbal and non‐verbal bullying in surgical settings, where a central focus has been on the experiences of trainee and junior members of the surgical team, women in surgery and other health professionals, such as nurses. Research on how surgeons' perceive or experience bullying is more limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the views of surgeons on negative and disrespectful verbal and non‐verbal behaviour and bullying in surgical settings, including its impact on surgeons themselves and the surgical staff they oversee. Methods: Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with surgeons between February and November 2019. Questions explored surgeons' perceptions of interpersonal communication and behaviour in their surgical workplaces in the preceding 6‐months. A narrative analysis approach was used to code, interpret, and report the interview data. Results: Thirty‐one interviews were conducted with surgeons (19 male and 12 female), from Australia (26) and Aotearoa New Zealand (5) from 10 surgical specialties. Three themes were identified with associated subthemes: bullying (five subthemes), non‐verbal bullying (seven subthemes), and impact and outcomes of bullying (six subthemes). Conclusion: This study revealed a notable shift in the reported verbal and non‐verbal bullying behaviour among surgeons, demonstrating a decrease in intensity, physicality and violence for the 6‐months prior to interviews conducted in 2019, when compared with surgeons' historic experiences. Despite reported behaviour being more subtle and indirect, it nonetheless continues to have a marked impact on many surgeons as well as the staff they oversee. This study investigated the perspectives of surgeons on disrespectful behaviour and bullying in surgical settings. Thirty‐one interviews with surgeons from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand were conducted, revealing three themes: verbal bullying, non‐verbal bullying, and the impact and outcomes of bullying. Despite becoming more subtle and indirect, bullying continues to significantly impact surgeons and the staff they oversee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Utilisation of coworking spaces (CWS) was rising sharply prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The transition to new work arrangements which involve a hybrid, work and home model, is likely to involve the use of alternative workspaces. Understanding the impacts of CWS on employees is timely to examine the benefits of utilisation and how these might be incorporated into new ways of working. This scoping review aims to explore the relationship between CWS, mental and physical health, and workers' performance, and provide insights into future considerations for design. OBJECTIVE: The main objective was to map the current literature on CWS, focusing on identification of relevant modifiable factors to improve worker's mental and physical health, and performance. METHOD: Three databases, Embase, PsycInfo, and Proquest, were systematically reviewed, to identify studies from 2005 onwards. Data was extracted and analysed using diagrammatic mapping. Only studies published in English were included. RESULTS: Eleven relevant papers were included which covered the three outcomes of interest: worker's performance (5), mental health (4) and physical health (2). Environmental factors influencing the three outcomes were categorised into physical environment (12 factors) and the psychosocial environment (6 factors). Overall, CWS environmental factors had a positive influence on workers (23 positive relationships and 11 negative relationships). CONCLUSION: Coworking spaces offer potential benefits for tele-workers, including opportunities for collaboration/networking and productivity gains. However, attention to the CWS physical design is important to optimise the experience for workers and mitigate risk of adverse mental and physical health effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Overweight/obesity and strenuous working conditions are associated with work disability, but their joint contributions to sickness absence (SA) are unknown. We aimed to examine their joint contributions to SA periods of 1–7 and ≥8 days. Methods: Self-reported data on body mass index and working conditions, including perceived physically and mentally strenuous work and hours per day spent in heavy physical work, were linked to the employer's SA register for the City of Helsinki, Finland, employees (n = 4,323, women 78%) who were 19–39 years old at baseline. We calculated rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for SA periods using negative binomial regression models among participants with healthy weight and overweight/obesity, with and without exposure to strenuous working conditions. The mean follow-up time was 2.1 years. Results: Participants with overweight/obesity and exposure to physically strenuous working conditions had the highest age- and gender-adjusted RRs for SA periods of both 1–7 and ≥8 days (physically strenuous work: RR: 1.38, CI: 1.25–1.52, and RR: 1.87, CI: 1.60–2.18, respectively; ≥3 h per day spent in physical work: RR: 1.40, CI: 1.26–1.55 and 2.04, CI: 1.73–2.40, respectively). The interaction between overweight/obesity and physically strenuous working conditions was additive for SA periods of 1–7 days and weakly synergistic for SA periods of ≥8 days. For mentally strenuous work, participants with overweight/obesity and exposure to mentally strenuous work had the highest age-adjusted RRs for SA periods of ≥8 days, and the interaction was additive. Conclusion: The joint contributions of overweight/obesity and exposure to strenuous working conditions to SA should be considered when aiming to reduce employees' SA. Employers might benefit from providing employees adequate support for weight management and adherence to healthy lifestyles while improving employees' working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) can be relevant in achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal of decent work by 2030. However, further OSH actions are needed. This paper identifies the role of OSH in addressing two of many determinants of decent work: new forms of work/innovative technologies and worker aging. The authors conducted a discursive analysis of the two determinants and provided examples for consideration. New forms of work/innovative technologies can not only promote but also undermine the future of decent work, and unhealthy aging impedes longer working lives. With a focus on the OSH aspects of new forms of work/innovative technologies and aging, decent work is more likely to be achieved.

Work-related psychosocial hazards have a significant influence on the development of musculoskeletal and mental health disorders (MSDs and MHDs). This study used behavioural change theory to guide understanding of barriers and enablers for leaders working in the Heavy Vehicle Road Transport industry, to address workplace psychosocial hazards. The findings will be used to inform design of a future intervention to support leaders to more effectively address these hazards. Principal results and major conclusions: A higher number of barriers than enablers were identified. The most prevalent barriers were inadequate knowledge and interpersonal skills, and environmental context and inadequate resources, and the most prevalent enabler was risk management. The findings extend previous evidence by providing more specific detail regarding requirements for addressing psychosocial hazards. Further, the findings identified there is a need to improve the capability, opportunity and motivation of leaders to enable them to more effectively address psychosocial hazards., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Authors JO and SN are Associate Editors for Safety Science and were not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article., (Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Examine the impact of working from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic on general health, stress, work-family and family-work conflict over-time and identify differences by gender and parental status., Methods: Trajectory analyses described outcomes over-time. Multinomial logistic regression relates the effects of gender, children, and the interaction between them, on group membership based on the Latent Class Growth Analyses., Results: Not all trajectories followed the expected cubic pattern. Females had less family-work conflict (high/low: OR 0.29 95%CI 0.17-0.66; moderate/low OR 0.37 95%CI 0.20-0.67). Children increased the odds of family-work conflict (high/low: OR 8.48 95%CI 3.38-21.25; moderate/low OR 2.98 95%CI 1.63-5.43). Work-family conflict was worse for those with children (high-to-moderate decline/low-stable: OR 2.59 95%CI 1.25-5.41)., Conclusions: WFH has implications for health and wellbeing of employees with differences based on gender and parental status for stress, work-family and family-work conflict., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: Author J.O has received funding from Worksafe Victoria, Worksafe NSW, Centre for WHS NSW, BHP and WHSQ. There were no other conflicts of interest reported., (Copyright © 2024 American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)

Background: The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations (UN) have promoted the concept of decent work as a Sustainable Development Goal for 2030 to address critical global problems. Occupational safety and health (OSH) are components of decent work, primarily through the ILO social protection objective of the goal, and are linked to various other objectives., Objective: This Commentary applies a previously published staging framework to stimulate thinking about how the OSH field can contribute further to the achievement of decent work., Methods: To advance the contribution of the framework, the different functions of OSH (research, practice, advocacy, governance, and professional education) were used to identify impediments to achieving decent work and develop recommendations for each determinant in the framework., Results: Promoting and achieving decent work are complex issues that require a multifactorial approach. Numerous recommendations supporting systems thinking and transdisciplinary approaches are provided., Conclusions: The OSH field can expand to further address decent work.