Compensation for workplace injury leading to suicide in Australia.

Workplace-related death by suicide raises a number of difficult issues in the context of workers compensation. On first reading, workers compensation statutes usually prevent recovery of compensation where an injury is self-inflicted, suggesting that compensation for suicide will be excluded. Additionally, compensation is usually denied when the nexus between employment and injury is broken which is frequently the defence to any claim by the dependants of workers who takes their own life following a work injury. This article examines the Australian landscape in relation to the evolution of principles that apply to consideration of workers compensation claims where suicide is an element.

Workers compensation and occupational health and safety in the Australian agricultural industry.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this paper is to review the available workers compensation and occupational health and safety data and the legal framework in relation to the agricultural industry to explore whether any factors highlight the need to pay special attention to the particular circumstances of those engaged in the industry. DESIGN: This paper explores some of the special features of the agricultural industry, looking first at agricultural worker fatalities and injuries as a matter of ongoing concern for all participants in this industry, government, as well as occupational health and workers compensation authorities. The paper analyses how occupational health and workers compensation laws may have special application to this industry. Finally, the paper considers some workers compensation provisions that have particular application to the agricultural industry. CONCLUSIONS: Our survey of the available data and literature leads to the conclusion that the dangerous nature of agricultural work and the special legal and economic framework in which that work is undertaken identify the agricultural industry as presenting Australian Governments and specialist authorities with particular challenges in relation to improving workplace safety and reducing workplace injury.

Emerging legal concerns with chronic diseases in the Australian workplace: pre-employment medicals, functional capacity evaluations, workers' compensation and disability discrimination.

Although considerable attention is paid to injury and disease sustained or contracted through work causes, by far the most prolific cause of diminished health in the Australian workplace is chronic illness, which is not caused by work but which may have significant effects upon the work environment. Employers' concerns in relation to loss of productivity through poor health are reflected in a number of practices such as pre-employment screening, on-the-job drug testing and other health and safety requirements. In turn, workers' concerns regarding discrimination, workers' compensation and privacy are frequently raised in relation to discussions on workplace fitness for work. This article reflects on the issues of chronic illness and the legal issues which arise through the interaction of employers' obligations for safety and efficiency and workers' concerns with fairness and privacy.

How does the changing profile of infants who are referred for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation affect their overall respiratory outcome?

OBJECTIVE: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation has been shown to be effective in term neonates with severe but reversible lung disease within the context of randomized, controlled trials. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation now has been open to a wider population of infants in the United Kingdom, and other treatments have become available. The population referred for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, therefore, has changed. The aims of this study were to (1) compare respiratory outcomes of infants who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in recent years with those from 10 years ago and (2) determine whether respiratory outcome varied with diagnostic group. METHODS: All infants who were referred to a single extracorporeal membrane oxygenation center and were <12 months old during a 7-year period were eligible. One year after extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, lung volume, airway conductance, maximum expiratory flow, and indices of tidal breathing were measured. RESULTS: A total of 106 infants (77% of those eligible) were tested, and results were compared with those of 51 infants referred for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as part of the original United Kingdom extracorporeal membrane oxygenation trial. Lung volume was not different, but there was a strong trend for the infants who were seen in more recent years to have better forced expiratory flow and specific airway conductance. Restricting analysis to the major subgroup (meconium aspiration) confirmed these findings. When divided into diagnostic subgroups, infants who required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for respiratory distress syndrome or who were >2 weeks old when extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was commenced had a poorer respiratory outcome than others. CONCLUSIONS: The respiratory outcome of infants who were treated beyond the tightly regulated criteria of the United Kingdom trial remains good and even shows a trend toward improvement. Certain subgroups require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for longer and have poorer pulmonary function when followed up.