Dr Chris Walls, specialist in occupational medicine and OSH spokesperson on workplace drug and alochol testing, suggests to editor Peter Bateman that employers should declare their real reasons for testing. New ACC claims for occupational overuse syndrome fell by 42 percent between 1996 and 1998. Rebecca Macfie examines the controversy and changed practices that have helped turn back the OOS tide. There's wide agreement that changing organisational culture is the key to achieving long-term safety success. Don Eckenfelder offers a challenging checklist to measure progress.
Overseas figures show that young people are more likely than others to be injured at work.
Rebecca Macfie looks at the situation in New Zealand and finds the same is likely to apply here. A former medical radiation technologist offers a personal account of her battle with chemical sensitivity and chronic fatigue following exposure to glutaraldehyde and other chemicals. Safety incentive schemes, widely used overseas, are relatively uncommon in New Zealand as yet. Rebecca Macfie examines the theory and the practice. Unexpected machine start-up injures many New Zealanders every year, both maintenance staff and regular operators alike.