The most effective way to create a safe workplace is to identify and address potential hazards before anything has a chance to go wrong. ISCRR researchers are developing tools, systems, processes and protocols to assist these efforts.
Systems Thinking
Systems thinking in research involves a holistic approach to understanding complex phenomena by analyzing interconnections and relationships within a system. It goes beyond individual parts, focusing on emergent patterns and contextual influences. This approach helps researchers uncover key points of intervention, predict outcomes, and develop more effective solutions for intricate real-world problems.
Keywords: systems thinking; workplace risks; prevention
Leading Indicators
Leading indicators are aspects of workplace activities that contribute to risk of future injury or illness.
Bitumen Fume Exposure
ISCRR research informing decision-making regarding bitumen fume risk
Prevention First Global Scans
Prevention First Global Scans carried out for WorkSafe Victoria
COVID-19 Scans
The key purpose of these scans were to scan relevant sources to identify information pertaining to areas of interest and importance to WorkSafe Victoria.
Safety culture and climate
Strong workplace safety culture can have a huge impact on workplace health and safety. Research in this area aims to assist in defining and measuring safety culture and related concepts.
Work-related fatalities
When talking about an issue as sensitive as work-related death, it is easy to overlook the importance of data. Researchers studied the data relating to work-related fatalities in Victoria in order to identify significant patterns in work-related deaths, paving the way for changes that will make our workplaces safer.
Healthcare and aged care
There are many Work Health and Safety risks to consider and prevent in the healthcare and aged care sectors. This research aims to identify and measure these workplace risks.
Emerging occupational disease
In order to provide early indicators of potential emergence of occupational illness and disease, a considered systematic approach to public health screening, data review, and literature analysis is required to detect changes in population health.
Keywords: prevention; identifying; measuring; workplace risk; emerging; disease; illness
AI Collaborative Robots
Collaborative robots, or 'cobots' are identified as particular type of mobile or static plant under the work, health and safety (WHS) legal framework in Australia. Cobots can alleviate the risk of numerous hazards in industrial settings, for instance, lessening the frequency of musculoskeletal disorders. However, less is known about the characteristics of hazards that cobots introduce to the workplace.
Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; robots; workplace health and safety; collaborative; cobots
Participative Hazard ID and Risk Management toolkit evaluation Evaluation Report
To address the current gaps in workplace psychosocial hazard risk management, it is necessary to have a comprehensive diagnosis of the unique MSD hazard profiles of different jobs. The APHIRM toolkit was designed to enable this, based on results from a survey covering both physical and psychosocial hazards and an MSD risk indicator. The overarching aim of the current project was to evaluate the effectiveness of APHIRM in manufacturing employees. A secondary aim was to expand the current set of hazards and MSD outcome measures to include hazard items such as exposure to bullying and occupational violence, exposure to vibration, and a stress-related mental health outcome.
Keywords: Evaluation; Hazard identification; Risk management; Prevention; Workplace risks
Date published: May 2023
Controlling fumes and ultraviolet radiation exposure from welding Evidence Review
The aim of this report was to provide a detailed review of the epidemiological and occupational hygiene literature regarding: - exposure levels associated with welding - the various control methods that might be appropriate - the levels of exposure likely to be associated with these prevention control methods (where possible).
Keywords: Prevention; Cancer; occupational health and safety; welding; fumes; radiation; ultraviolet
Date published: July 2020
Inspector Training Evaluation Evaluation Report
The aim of this project is to evaluate three types of training programs: induction training, field mentoring/diploma training and the professional development delivered to inspectors.
Keywords: inspector; training; evaluation; WorkSafe; induction; prevention
Testing the predictive validity of the Health and Safety Inspector Checklist (HaSIC) Research Report
This report presents the results of a validation study of a generic Health and Safety Inspector Checklist (HaSIC), developed by researchers to assist WorkSafe Victoria Inspectors with evaluations of worksites. The study extended examined its capacity to predict future occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes in Victorian workplaces. The findings demonstrate that the HaSIC has the potential to assist inspectors and the health and safety regulator to identify workplaces most at risk of OHS incidents, standardise the inspection process, and enhance the development of new inspectors.
Keywords: occupational health and safety; OHS; workplace inspection
Date published: October 2017
Development and validation of the Health and Safety Inspector Checklist with WorkSafe Victoria inspectors Research Report
This report presents results of a research project designed to develop and validate a brief, generic occupational health and safety checklist to assist inspectors with their evaluations of worksites. This project tested the incorporation of the OPM-MU into WorkSafe Inspector Checklists, and expanded the tool to address safety leadership, culture and workplace engagement in OHS. The project found this tool to be a reliable and valid measure for use by WorkSafe Inspectors.
Keywords: occupational health and safety; OHS; safety culture; safety climate; workplace safety; workplace risk; work environment
Date published: May 2016
Developing a framework for understanding and measuring occupational health and safety vulnerability Research Report
This project provides a framework to identify vulnerable workers and factors which contribute to vulnerability. The research proposed a new set of domains and questions intended to accurately measure OHS vulnerability, considering factors such as the hazards of the particular work that workers often perform, the workers' access to training/protection, and the power dynamic between workers and their employers.
Keywords: occupational health and safety; OHS
Date published: November 2013
Preparedness of industry for the safety of the ageing workforce: A worker perspective Research Report
Australia's population is progressively ageing, and this trend will be accompanied by a proportional increase in older employees in our workforce. This project compared worker perceptions about ageing and injury risks to industry perceptions of these issues. Practical strategies can be implemented which will to promote the retention of ageing workers in the workforce safely and productively.
Keywords: occupational health and safety; OHS; workplace safety; workplace risk
Date published: September 2013
Developing a public health policy response to wet work exposure Research Report
Contact dermatitis is the most common occupational skin disease in industrial countries and is strongly associated with continued exposure to, or immersion in, liquids. This project documented the prevalence and incidence rates of contact dermatitis as a result of wet work exposure. A discrepancy found between the rate of diagnosis of occupational contact dermatitis and the number of successful workers' compensation claims for the condition was considered to relate to lack of GP awareness of the underlying cause of the condition.
Keywords: workplace risk; workplace illness; diagnosis
Date published: June 2012