Search

Poor mental health has become rampant in the construction industry globally, causing productivity and profit losses for organizations as well as disabilities and diminished quality of life for workers. Addressing the challenge is critical for a progressive industry and healthy workforce. Existing literature discusses the causes and effects of poor mental health among construction workers. Yet, it does not, based on real-world incident data, explain vulnerable trades, common incident mechanisms, and recurring psychological injuries, nor does it examine variations of lost time within the incident severity outcome due to psychological injuries. The present study addresses these gaps by analyzing workers' compensation offered to construction trades workers from 2008 to 2019 for psychological injuries in the Australian construction industry. Carpenters and joiners, electricians, plant operators, structural steel workers, and construction and plumbing laborers suffered more permanently incapacitating psychological injuries than other trades. Workers in projects located in metro, small rural towns, and very remote regions were more heavily represented in permanently incapacitating psychological injuries than workers in other locations. The worst psychological injury, which resulted in a combination of permanent incapacity and an extended period of lost time (over 3,000 h), was caused by anxiety combined with depression or stress, or posttraumatic stress disorder from experiencing traumatic incidents, workplace violence and bullying, or vehicle incidents. Age and gender of workers did not show a statistically significant association with psychological injuries. The findings offer practical insights for developing optimized occupational health and safety management programs for improving the mental health of construction workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing effective apprentice programs is central to addressing the challenges posed by an aging workforce and skill shortages in the construction industry. However, the appeal of construction apprentice programs has declined among the youth. Research showed that young workers could face higher occupational health and safety (OHS) risks in the construction industry, which could be perceived as barriers to attracting and retaining them in construction apprentice programs. Curtailing OHS risks is therefore imperative to sustaining apprentice programs. However, there is limited evidence on vulnerable trades, predominant incident mechanisms, and injury types concerning OHS risk for apprentices. Workers' compensation data related to construction apprentices between 2008 and 2019 (12 years), were empirically analyzed. Despite the overconcern, the incident proportion of 7% for construction apprentices was lower than their representation of 11% in the workforce. Thirteen fatalities have occurred for the period, and predominant mechanisms were vehicle incidents, electrocution, and fall from a height. Additionally, a range of musculoskeletal diseases due to muscular stress was responsible for permanent incapacities among apprentices. Apprentices who trained as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, bricklayers, and structural steel workers were more vulnerable to fatalities and permanent incapacities. The findings offer practical insights for a focused and optimized OHS management scheme for regaining and improving the appeal of construction apprentice programs. Although the findings and the insights drawn thereof are specific to Australia, these may also apply to other countries where construction apprentice programs are similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid developments in biotechnology have brought questions regarding ownership of human genetic material to the forefront of the public conscience. This article aims to determine the current approach of Australian and United Kingdom courts to property disputes regarding human biological material and adjudicate its relevance in the context of human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) ownership. Following initial exploration of the question of whether DNA ought to be considered an object of property, it argues that the dominant approach established by the landmark decision of Doodeward v Spence (1908) 6 CLR 406 is weaker than the newer "guided discretion" basis in the DNA context. It concludes this latter approach is far better equipped to respond to key policy concerns associated with recognising property rights in DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional competency frameworks for coaches, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) disregard the differences in expertise required among the diverse professions that may provide coaching. A recent systematic review has identified competencies specific to health professionals who health coach. There are increasing workload pressures in primary care; pharmacists can potentially shift to the greater provision of health promotion services, such as health coaching. The provision of such services needs to be underpinned by competency frameworks, which support the role of pharmacists as health coaches. This analysis identifies the competency gaps for pharmacists if they are to take on the role of health coaching. The enabling competencies of health coaches were compared to the competency frameworks of pharmacists from Australia (AUS), Canada (CAN), New Zealand (NZ), the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA). Correlations between the international pharmacist competency frameworks and the competencies enabling health coaching showed that entry to practice pharmacists from AUS, CAN and NZ all require training enabling the health coaching competency 'demonstrates confidence', whereas competency frameworks for pharmacists from both the UK and the USA included all competencies required to health coach. Although pharmacists from the countries examined had most of the competencies required to health coach, gaps within the international pharmacist competency frameworks were apparent, university curricula addressing these gaps would equip entry to practice pharmacists with the knowledge and understanding to confidently provide emerging professional pharmacy services such as health coaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide academic workforce is ageing. At the same time, health and human services workforces are expanding. The preparation of educators to fill gaps in expertise and to position the health sciences for future growth is an urgent need. The findings from a recent action learning project that aimed to enhance the professional growth and development of higher degree researcher student supervisors in a School of Health and Human Sciences are presented. Seven early career researchers and the facilitator met for two hours every two to three weeks over 4 months between April and July 2010, in a rural and regional university in New South Wales, Australia. The processes initiated were a combination of experiential knowledge, referral to relevant published reports, use of an effective supervision checklist, and critical conversations. Learning outcomes centered on higher degree management and supervision pedagogy, communities of practice, knowledge translation, and the establishment of a research culture. The contextual barriers and implications of the methodology and learning outcomes for the professional development of health and human science practitioners, researchers and educators is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illegal phoenix activity generally involves closing one debt-laden company and continuing its business through another company minus those debts. Its propensity to cause losses of federal revenue has recently been highlighted by the Australian Government Treasury announcement of a suite of measures to combat it. However, there is already an extensive array of legislative and administrative tools that are available against illegal phoenixing. This article considers both the existing and proposed measures and makes some practical suggestions to improve the recovery of tax. However, solutions are not found exclusively in tax law and its administration. Since illegal phoenix activity is facilitated by the creation and demise of companies and their controllers are regulated by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), suggestions are made regarding corporate law and its administration by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The privative clause is dead, but there are other ways of reducing meaningful judicial scrutiny of government illegality. Pushed to the extreme, these threaten to hollow out judicial review's much-vaunted promise of protecting the rule of law, even on such a basic issue as the interpretation of an Act of Parliament. Other mechanisms for judicial supervision have also become more fragile. These include collateral challenge, and the potential for holding public officers to account through tort liability and criminal responsibility. ASIO officers, for example, have prospective immunities from tort law and criminal responsibility. Courts can act upon government evidence kept entirely secret from the opposing party. This article asks whether there is any stopping point for Acts that effectively remove government officers from legal controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author discusses the proprietary rights in human bodily material, the legal rights for possession, control or sale and the limited exception to no property in human tissue rule. The Doodeward exception and several court cases including Jonathan Yearworth and others v. North Bristol NHS Trust, Kate Jane Bazley v. Wesley Monash IVF and Re the Estate of the Late Mark Edwards are also discussed.

This paper considers the extent to which the common law does or should protect fundamental human rights. It begins with reference to suggestions in various jurisdictions that there are some rights that are deeply rooted in common law, and which could not be interfered with by Parliament. It considers the position of common law rights in jurisdictions such as Australia with a written Constitution, and the extent to which rights are found in the common law or the Constitution or both, and the relation between the common law and the Constitution. It considers the possible theoretical underpinning of such suggestions, from a social contract, sovereignty and rule of law perspective. In so doing, it is acknowledged that, contrary to Diceyan theory, Parliaments do in fact act to take away fundamental rights, and it is argued to be simplistic to assume that the remedy for such behaviour is to be found at the ballot box, and never in the courts. Finally, arguments against the notion of rights protected by the common law are considered, including Parliamentary supremacy, arguments about democracy, and suggestions of ‘judicial activism’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic researchers and medical practitioners often need to obtain access to stored human tissue without consent from the people concerned. But the laws that relate to the ownership of, and control over, stored human tissue are at present unclear, especially in the light of recent cases and inquiries. Here, I discuss how the law might be clarified, and argue that the law should allow stored human tissue to be used without consent, providing that this occurs with ethical approval and that the confidentiality of the donor is protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1995 the Teaching and Learning Development Unit (TALDU) formerly known as the Academic Staff Development Unit (ASDU) at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) embarked on a benchmarking project to compare the ways in which university teachers are prepared for their teaching role. In particular, we benchmarked our Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education) with some examples of best practice of similar programmes in Australia, the USA and the UK. We developed benchmarking partnerships with the University of New South Wales, (Sydney) and the University of Texas at Austin and we used the UK Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) accreditation scheme to inform our practice. This paper outlines the process we used and the findings of our project. The improvements we have made to the Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education) in light of the benchmarking process and the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) requirements for accreditation are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the important federal tax developments in Australia in October 2015. It includes the release of exposure draft legislation and explanatory material on the imposition of goods and services (GST) on cross-border transactions, the issuance by the Commissioner of a final determination to the Div 7A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, and a court decision on the application of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986.

This article argues that the nature and character of separation of powers in Australia has been fundamentally shaped and defined by the High Court, which chose a Blackstonian, common law conception of separation of judicial powers in preference to the principles elaborated in The Federalist and articulated in the American Constitution. But the Court's recent jurisprudence, including its admission that it makes the law, has presented unprecedented theoretical and political challenges to the concept of separation of judicial power in Australia, including a transformation in the role of the attorney-general, the creation of new institutions and a move towards an American conception of checks and balances. Thus this article suggests that the Court continues to exercise a profound influence on the formulation of separation of powers in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights important federal tax developments in Australia that occurred during October 2015. It includes the release of exposure draft legislation and explanatory material dealing with the imposition of goods and services tax (GST) on cross-border transactions, the release of a taxpayer alert in relation to arrangements for research and development (R&D) tax incentive, and the investigation by Serious Financial Crime Taskforce of eight matters involving serious financial crime.