Tuesday the 28th of April 2015 is the World Day for Safety and Health at Work and Worker’s Memorial Day.

Australia has a large variation in climates from the hot and steamy tropical conditions in the far North to the temperate South. Working in these conditions can sometimes be challenging due to the effects humidity and radiant heat can have on the body.

The risks of working in tropical and arid areas are generally well known and usually controlled. However in Southern areas heat stress is generally given less consideration and therefore usually not as well controlled.

This may seem like a strange statement but the reality is that obesity can result in hearing loss. Being overweight is unhealthy from many points of view but recent studies show that there is also a link between obesity and hearing loss.

I can hear you thinking to yourself ‘How on earth can obesity cause hearing loss?” There are actually 2 ways that obesity can affect your hearing:

We all know the common flu symptoms – fever, headaches, sore muscle, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, dry cough, tiredness – but did you know that the flu can also cause temporary and potentially permanent hearing loss?

How temporary hearing loss is caused

At our breakfast on Oct 17th Tammy Van Wisse had people laughing, crying and shaking their heads in amazement. Her anecdotes about her incredible achievements and how they relate to goal setting in business gave us all lots to think about.

Down to earth, warm and engaging, Tammy had us all enthralled as she related her many achievements including crossing Bass Strait and swimming the entire length of the Murray River – which took 105 days!

With Easter just gone, no doubt it has left feelings of guilt in some who gorged on lots of chocolate! So, what better time is there to discuss the benefits of eating chocolate to remove the aforementioned guilt and justify our binges?! And after some research, we've managed to unravel some pretty some pretty fantastic benefits.

The Australian population is among the most overweight and obese of the developed nations. Whilst you may think this is a personal issue for your workforce, you couldn't be further from the truth. Overweight employees can have a significant impact on workplace health and safety and be a drain on the workers’ compensation system.

Influenza spreads much faster than you might think. Contamination of a single doorknob can lead to the spread of virus throughout an entire office building or hotel in as little as two hours, according to a new study from the University of Arizona.

Think about how many days of work your employees missed last year as a result of the flu. Then consider how many more they cost you when they came to work sick and infected other employees. Unfortunately, people are going to get sick and it’s going to impact your business.

A recent internet discussion on the recommendation in the British HSE document ‘HSG 53 'Respiratory Protective Equipment at Work - a practical guide’ for a maximum of 1 hour continuous wear time for any un-powered RPE raised some interesting points. Several people in the occupational hygiene or allied fields commented to the effect that no-one should offer an opinion unless they had “walked a mile in the shoes” of workers required to do this.