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The Ideas Boom.<br />

Aug-Oct <strong>2018</strong>


21<br />

CONTENTS<br />

24<br />

11<br />

1<br />

Latest Bytes<br />

Tips to get the most out of your workday<br />

24<br />

3<br />

The Ideas Boom<br />

CoWorking spaces the new economy<br />

27<br />

7<br />

Temperature at Work<br />

3D Printing in the Construction Industry<br />

31<br />

11<br />

Health of the Construction Industry<br />

Back to Work<br />

33<br />

15<br />

How to stop Bullying at work<br />

Top Apps for your workplace<br />

35<br />

21<br />

Introducing worker 4.0<br />

<strong>OCCTECH</strong> Occupational Health & Technology <strong>AUG</strong>UST - <strong>OCT</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />

<strong>OCCTECH</strong> - Occupational Health &<br />

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LATEST BYTES<br />

LATEST BYTES<br />

<strong>2018</strong> NATIONAL SAFETY AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE AMENDED HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL INFORMATION DISPUTE RESOLUTION THROUGH THE<br />

FAIR WORK COMMISSION<br />

<strong>AUG</strong>UST IS TRADIES HEALTH MONTH<br />

Safe Work Australia is a proud sponsor of the <strong>2018</strong><br />

National Safety Awards of Excellence, held on 11 October<br />

<strong>2018</strong>. Nominate your safety heroes now.<br />

Safe Work Australia is a proud sponsor of the NSCA’s<br />

<strong>2018</strong> National Safety Awards of Excellence (Best Health<br />

and Wellbeing Program).<br />

Winners will be announced on 11 October <strong>2018</strong> at the<br />

Awards Gala Lunch in Sydney at Doltone House, Hyde<br />

Park.<br />

Nominations are open to organisations of all sizes as well<br />

as individuals.<br />

NSCA National Safety Awards of Excellence, Proud<br />

Sponsor of Category 7: Best Health and Wellbeing<br />

program<br />

Key dates<br />

Entries open: Now<br />

Entries close: 29 June <strong>2018</strong><br />

Judging and shortlisting: July/August <strong>2018</strong><br />

Finalists and non-finalists notifed: early September <strong>2018</strong><br />

Winners announced: 11 October <strong>2018</strong><br />

To submit your nomination, download a copy of the <strong>2018</strong><br />

Awards Nomination Guide, or find out more information<br />

about the Awards, visit their website.<br />

More than 750 chemicals have been added to the<br />

Hazardous Chemical Information System to update<br />

classification information available for manufacturers,<br />

importers, suppliers and end users.<br />

The update includes the addition of 755 chemicals and<br />

amendments to more than 600 currently listed chemicals.<br />

The Hazardous Chemical Information System provides<br />

information on chemicals that have been classified<br />

in accordance with Globally Harmonized System of<br />

Classification and Labelling of Chemicals<br />

You can find details on the new and amended chemicals<br />

by using the advanced search feature to show chemicals<br />

revised this week.<br />

The update incorporates classification information<br />

published under the Inventory Multi-tiered Assessment<br />

and Prioritisation program run by the National Industrial<br />

Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme.<br />

If you have any questions about this update please contact<br />

our Chemicals Policy team. For more information about<br />

working with chemicals visit our Hazardous chemicals web<br />

page.<br />

Members of the Fair Work Commission (the Commission)<br />

are experienced in a wide range of alternative dispute<br />

resolution techniques including conciliation, mediation and<br />

arbitration.<br />

They are skilled in helping employers and employees<br />

resolve workplace disputes and can suggest means of<br />

resolving differences that may not have been immediately<br />

apparent to those directly involved.<br />

They are also impartial and have a sound knowledge and<br />

understanding of the relevant legal and industrial issues.<br />

Depending on the circumstances, the Commission can<br />

exercise statutory powers that enable disputes to be<br />

resolved on a final basis.<br />

Who can seek assistance from the Commission?<br />

In general, the Commission can assist in resolving disputes<br />

involving employers, employees and unions and employer<br />

associations who are covered by the national workplace<br />

relations system.<br />

These include:<br />

• any employer that is a constitutional corporation<br />

• any employer in Victoria or the territories<br />

• the Commonwealth (including any Commonwealth<br />

authority) • any employee of one of the above types of<br />

employers<br />

• a registered union or employer organisation.<br />

Unsure if you are covered?<br />

• Contact the Commission on 1300 799 675 to see if you<br />

may be able to seek assistance.<br />

This year, we’re reminding employers to protect their<br />

business’ greatest assets – their workers.<br />

We want to raise awareness of work health and safety<br />

risks for tradies – this includes technicians and trades<br />

workers, labourers, and machinery operators and drivers.<br />

Safe Work Australia’s CEO Michelle Baxter said that<br />

worksites for tradies are hazardous by nature, and that<br />

employers have a duty to ensure their team is working<br />

safely.<br />

“According to the latest WHS statistics, tradies make<br />

up almost one-third of Australia’s workforce, but they<br />

represent over half of the country’s serious claims for<br />

workers’ compensation,” said Ms Baxter.<br />

Throughout August, we’ll be sharing resources on tradies’<br />

health and safety by publishing a collection of data, videos,<br />

resources and information on our website and on our<br />

social media channels.<br />

“Serious injuries and fatalities will end up costing you more<br />

if you take shortcuts. Deadlines are serious, but injuries and<br />

fatalities are worse.”<br />

Visit our website for resources, WHS contacts and general<br />

guidance on how to keep safe as a tradie.<br />

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profound impact on the future of work. Their everincreasing<br />

complexity and accelerating change means<br />

constant disruption is the new business as usual.<br />

If we are to respond to the changing nature of future<br />

work, we need to build a world-beating national innovation<br />

ecosystem, especially by equipping Australians with skills<br />

and experience relevant to 2030. As we transition into the<br />

digital economy, that means technical, digital and STEM skills<br />

are vital. (STEM refers to science, technology, engineering<br />

and maths.)<br />

The Ideas<br />

Boom<br />

Growth in STEM jobs is 1.5 times that of non-STEM since<br />

2005, yet we continue to produce non-STEM graduates<br />

at higher rates than those in STEM. The performance of<br />

our kids at school – particularly in maths and science – has<br />

declined against international benchmarks.<br />

Clearly, strategic intervention is needed: this is where ISA<br />

should come in.<br />

Nothing new on education<br />

The ISA report recommendations on education cover:<br />

• better training for teachers, particularly STEM teachers<br />

• preparing students for STEM degrees and jobs<br />

• improving student achievement in literacy and<br />

numeracy<br />

• interventions to reduce educational inequality<br />

• improving our vocational education and training (VET)<br />

system.<br />

Written by: Sean Gallagher, Beth Webster & Sarah Maddison - Swinburne University of Technology<br />

In 2015, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull welcomed<br />

us to the “ideas boom”, launching a National<br />

Innovation and Science Agenda to<br />

drive smart ideas that create business growth, local<br />

jobs and global success.<br />

In January <strong>2018</strong> the specially-created independent statutory<br />

board Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) released its<br />

report Australia 2030: Prosperity through Innovation. It’s a<br />

document that has been described not as a roadmap for<br />

action, but “more of a sketch with detours, dead ends, and<br />

red lights which should be green.”<br />

The federal government’s May <strong>2018</strong> response to this<br />

report adds further disappointment. The response fails to<br />

seize the opportunity to deliver a properly funded and<br />

connected education, research and innovation system.<br />

Australia is left with a series of well-meaning but disparate<br />

programs that only get us part way to ensuing that Australia<br />

thrives in the global innovation race.<br />

Action is required<br />

Today, we sit at the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution<br />

where virtual, physical and biological worlds are merging.<br />

Sophisticated cognitive and automation technologies will<br />

transform our world in ways difficult to imagine. These<br />

technologies are increasingly able to perform human tasks<br />

better, faster, and more cheaply.<br />

But it is the emergence of vast, expanding digital platforms<br />

and the ecosystems they support that will have a more<br />

Yet none of these education recommendations were<br />

directly supported by the government: only “in principle” or<br />

“noted” support was offered in the response document.<br />

While school education in Australia is the constitutional<br />

responsibility of the states and territories, the Australian<br />

government never shies away from using the funding carrot<br />

to leverage school policy outcomes for the betterment of<br />

the country.<br />

For instance, full marks go to the federal government<br />

supporting STEM education through the Education<br />

Council’s National STEM School Education Strategy 2016-<br />

2026, and for funding several excellent STEM education<br />

projects and initiatives. So why not fund increased numbers<br />

and quality of STEM teachers?<br />

Likewise, the urgent need to support the Vocational<br />

Education and Training (VET) sector to help it drive<br />

innovation, automation and new technologies, and provide<br />

businesses with requisite skills training is absent. The Skilling<br />

Australians Fund – the government’s main VET policy<br />

instrument and a welcome apprenticeship initiative – does<br />

little to transition the existing workforce through VET.<br />

Funding for R&D is unclear<br />

Turning to research and development (R&D), the<br />

government supports the ISA recommendation to enhance<br />

‘It is the emergence of vast,<br />

expanding digital platforms<br />

and the ecosystems they<br />

support that will have a more<br />

profound impact on the future<br />

of work’<br />

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AI and machine learning capabilities – absolutely essential<br />

in the digital economy. However, there was no additional<br />

funding in the <strong>2018</strong> federal budget beyond existing digital<br />

technologies program.<br />

At face value, the raft of funding commitments in the<br />

budget for R&D looks promising. But are the funds in<br />

addition to existing commitments, or a re-labelling of<br />

existing funds?<br />

A persistent criticism from industry of government support<br />

is the continual chopping and changing of policies and<br />

programs, both in name and content.<br />

ISA recommended extending export support programs,<br />

which is sensible given the solid evidence that they work.<br />

However, in its response the government merely said<br />

they are supported in principle, with no further funds<br />

forthcoming.<br />

What about the future of work?<br />

Agile approaches, exponential organisations, freelance<br />

economy, and Industry 4.0 are rewriting the rules of how<br />

economic value is created.<br />

The ISA report aims to provide comfort about how to<br />

create employment opportunities towards 2030, but it<br />

speaks more to the past than to the future. Knowledge<br />

work – a main focus of the report – will increasingly be<br />

performed less by people and more by machines, creating<br />

vast workforce transformation challenges for industry.<br />

The closer we get to 2030, the less the ISA view of<br />

the future will be true. Emerging evidence already<br />

contraindicates this view.<br />

For work done by people, data from the United States and<br />

Australia already show enormous growth of freelancers,<br />

including operating from co-working spaces. Modelling<br />

suggests this trend will continue.<br />

In parallel, business are becoming more agile. ANZ is<br />

completely restructuring itself to look more like 150 startups,<br />

and downsizing in the process. NAB is sacking 6,000<br />

staff – including many knowledge workers – and replacing<br />

them with 2,000 technology specialists and digital workers.<br />

All large companies are expected to follow.<br />

Dissociating ‘work’ from ‘jobs’<br />

In the emerging freelance economy, work is increasingly<br />

being dissociated from jobs on digital platforms like<br />

Upwork. And as more companies go agile, they will have<br />

fewer employees but have a larger workforce, leveraging<br />

the freelance economy through these platforms.<br />

The upshot? People will increasingly need to create their<br />

own work opportunities rather than expect to get a<br />

traditional job.<br />

Developing digital skills is essential, and the ISA report<br />

rightly focuses on them. But in the highly disruptive<br />

and dynamic environment of digital platforms, the core<br />

worker skill set will be competent risk taking. Diversity of<br />

experience combined with continuous learning are essential<br />

ingredients.<br />

Alongside investments in teaching, we should be investing in<br />

opportunities where students – from secondary to tertiary<br />

education – can “learn-by-doing” in emerging futures of<br />

work.<br />

It is for others to discuss the merits of whether these<br />

disruptive changes to the economy and employment should<br />

be allowed happen or not. But New York Times columnist<br />

Tom Friedman sums up the certainty of the approaching<br />

tech disruption perfectly:<br />

Whatever can be done, will be done. The only question is,<br />

“Will it be done by you or to you?” but it will be done.<br />

The inexorable and exponential rise of sophisticated<br />

technologies in the digital economy – the Australian<br />

economy – will impact all work and change all jobs. We<br />

need to be investing in this future for our children.<br />

And we need the government to support and fund a wellintegrated<br />

innovation ecosystem to incorporates education,<br />

research, industry and government.<br />

TOTAL STEM WORKFORCE STEM UNIVERSITY GRADUATES STEM PhD GRADUATES<br />

STEM qualified population<br />

32%<br />

University<br />

qualified<br />

2.3<br />

MILLION<br />

16% of STEM qualified<br />

people are female<br />

Unemployment rate<br />

STEM = 3.7%<br />

Non-STEM = 4.1%<br />

68%<br />

Growth of STEM vs<br />

non-STEM qualified population<br />

Between 2006 and 2011:<br />

Per cent growth<br />

2006<br />

29%<br />

University<br />

qualified<br />

2011<br />

Vocational<br />

Education &<br />

Training (VET)<br />

qualified<br />

9%<br />

VET<br />

qualified<br />

26% Non-STEM<br />

15% STEM<br />

Office of the Chief Scientist<br />

AUSTRALIA’S STEM WORKFORCE<br />

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics<br />

Industries and occupations<br />

STEM graduates work across the<br />

economy in a wide variety of industries<br />

and largely as professionals (55%) and<br />

managers (18%).<br />

Top six industries<br />

(65% of STEM graduates)<br />

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services<br />

Manufacturing<br />

% of STEM graduates<br />

earning in the top income<br />

bracket ($104 000 or above)<br />

32% male 12% female<br />

% of employed STEM graduates<br />

in the private sector<br />

77%<br />

10%<br />

10%<br />

Public Administration and Safety<br />

10%<br />

Education and Training<br />

6%<br />

Health Care and Social Assistance<br />

5%<br />

Financial and Insurance Services<br />

All STEM<br />

graduates<br />

43%<br />

25%<br />

STEM PhDs<br />

Business ownership<br />

23%<br />

Non-STEM<br />

PhDs<br />

10% of STEM PhDs owned<br />

a business compared to 23%<br />

of non-STEM PhDs.<br />

A PhD can provide an<br />

earning premium<br />

PhD<br />

Bachelor<br />

Degree<br />

Biological<br />

Sciences PhD<br />

2.7x<br />

10%<br />

STEM<br />

PhDs<br />

Environmental<br />

Studies PhD<br />

2.0x<br />

PhD earning multiplier<br />

Chemical<br />

Sciences PhD<br />

1.9x<br />

In every STEM field, higher<br />

proportions of PhDs earned in<br />

the top income bracket compared<br />

to bachelor graduates.<br />

Contents<br />

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian<br />

Census of Population and Housing, 2006 and 2011.<br />

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CHILL OUT<br />

A slightly warmer office<br />

won’t make it too hot to think<br />

If you’re reading this article in your office, chances are<br />

the air conditioning is set to around 22°C. Setting the<br />

temperature to 25°C could cut your office’s daily airconditioning<br />

energy consumption by 18%, drive down<br />

electricity bills and help save the planet.<br />

But would it be too hot to think?<br />

Not according to our study, published recently in the<br />

journal Building and Environment.<br />

Our experiment found that office workers’ “cognitive<br />

load” – the total amount of mental effort being used<br />

in the working memory – was not significantly affected<br />

by a little temperature boost.<br />

What we did and how we did it<br />

To test our hypothesis,<br />

we asked volunteers to sit<br />

some performance tests, under<br />

various air-con temperature<br />

settings. We ran the experiments<br />

at 22°C and 25°C.<br />

Our experiments took place in the<br />

University of Sydney’s Indoor Environmental<br />

Quality Laboratory climate chamber. It has a<br />

floor area of about 25 square metres, and is designed<br />

such that it’s easy for us to control the room<br />

temperature.<br />

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Participants sat at separate workstations, each consisting of<br />

a desk, a chair, and a computer.<br />

A total of 26 office workers (12 men and 14 women)<br />

volunteered as subjects in this study.<br />

A little over 70% of the participants were aged between<br />

31 and 50 years and about a third were aged 30<br />

years or under. These people had diverse employment<br />

circumstances, ranging from professional (35%) and<br />

technical (31%) to managerial (15%) and administrative<br />

(19%). Participants wore their normal office clothes, and<br />

were also free to adjust their clothing as they liked during<br />

the experiments.<br />

All participants, in groups of two to four, were given half an<br />

hour to acclimatise to the environment, and then sat two<br />

one-hour tests (with a break in between the tests).<br />

Before they sat the tests, our participants were fitted<br />

with a number of electrodes worn via a headset, so we<br />

could monitor their brain activity and “cognitive load”<br />

– how hard their brains were working – through an<br />

electroencephalogram (EEG). They also wore a heart rate<br />

monitor.<br />

During each one-hour experiment session, participants<br />

first filled in a questionnaire designed to ascertain how<br />

comfortable they were with the room temperature. Then<br />

it was time to test how their brain power coped at the<br />

different temperature settings.<br />

Assessing ‘cognitive load’<br />

The first test they did is called the Cambridge Brain Science<br />

(CBS) test, which has been used in many studies aimed at<br />

measuring cognitive performance.<br />

Then, we asked them to fill in a questionnaire aimed at<br />

determining how challenging they found that task. This<br />

questionnaire is called the NASA Task Load Index and<br />

asks participants questions such as: how much mental and<br />

perceptual activity was required? Was the task easy or<br />

demanding, simple or complex?<br />

After a 10 minute break, we then asked our participants to<br />

complete three different difficulty levels of another brainpower<br />

test, called the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test<br />

(PASAT). Again, when the test was over we asked them<br />

to fill in the NASA-TLX questionnaire to ascertain how<br />

cognitively challenging they found the test.<br />

At the end of the one hour experiment session, our<br />

test participants then completed the thermal comfort<br />

questionnaire again.<br />

Our results showed that their CBS test scores were not<br />

significantly affected by temperature.<br />

In fact, many of the participants performed even better at<br />

a warmer temperature of 25°C, (but this could be due to<br />

what scientists call “the learning effect”, meaning it is not<br />

uncommon to do better the second time you sit a test<br />

compared to the first).<br />

And when we analysed and compared the EEG and<br />

heart rate monitoring results during the PASAT tests, we<br />

did not find any significant difference, whether the room<br />

temperature was at 22°C or 25°C.<br />

Why does this matter?<br />

A typical Australian commercial lease stipulates indoor<br />

air temperatures of between 20°C and 24°C. This means<br />

that building managers or landlords who set the indoor<br />

temperature higher than 24°C during summer run the risk<br />

of breaching leases and incurring penalties.<br />

However, the research shows there is no empirical<br />

evidence that this temperature range should be maintained.<br />

The significant over-cooling in commercial buildings not<br />

only often leads to office workers complaining their<br />

workplaces are too cold, but also affects building energy<br />

use, greenhouse gas emissions and electricity bills.<br />

The standard 22°C setpoint for office air conditioning<br />

has prevailed in Australia for over a decade now. Many<br />

employers may fear that boosting the office temperature<br />

will make it too hot to think, and reduce worker<br />

productivity.<br />

However, our study shows that boosting the office<br />

temperature a little can save energy and keep office<br />

workers comfortable without sacrificing their cognitive<br />

performance.<br />

Authors:<br />

Dian Tjondronegora<br />

Southern Cross University<br />

Christhina Candido<br />

Shamila Haddard<br />

University of Sydney<br />

Fan Zhang<br />

Griffith University<br />

<br />

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HEALTH OF THE<br />

CONSTRUCTION<br />

INDUSTRY<br />

Construction sites are busy places.<br />

Many contractors work side-byside<br />

and heavy vehicles come<br />

and go. In this environment<br />

consultation, cooperation and<br />

coordination are essential to<br />

ensure the health and safety of<br />

everyone on site. They are also<br />

a requirement for businesses<br />

under the model WHS Act.<br />

Construction work: a definition<br />

Construction work is any work carried out in connection<br />

with the construction, alteration, conversion, fittingout,<br />

commissioning, renovation, repair, maintenance,<br />

refurbishment, demolition, decommissioning or<br />

dismantling of a structure, or preparation of a building<br />

site. Under the model WHS Act, the term ‘demolition’<br />

includes ‘deconstruction’.<br />

Work-related injuries<br />

An industry profile we compiled in 2015 found the most<br />

common work-related injuries experienced by workers in<br />

the construction industry were:<br />

cuts and open wounds (31%)<br />

sprains and strains (21%)<br />

chronic joint or muscle conditions (16%).<br />

These injuries were mainly due to:<br />

hitting or being hit by an object (31%)<br />

lifting, pushing or pulling objects (30%)<br />

falls from a height (15%).<br />

Work-related fatalities<br />

When it comes to work-related fatalities, the most recent<br />

statistics from the Construction Industry Profile show<br />

that between 2003–13, 401 workers died on construction<br />

sites in Australia. The majority of those (28% or 112<br />

workers) involved falls from a height:<br />

40 involved ladders, mobile ramps, stairways and<br />

scaffolding<br />

32 involved a fall from a roof<br />

17 involved buildings under construction or demolition.<br />

Other fatalities during this period were made up of:<br />

vehicle collisions 16% (65)<br />

electrocution 15% (61)<br />

being hit by a moving object 12% (48)<br />

being hit by a falling object 11% (46)<br />

being trapped between or in equipment 8% (31)<br />

other causes 9% (38).<br />

Work health and safety duties<br />

At each step of the process in construction work, PCBUs<br />

are subject to certain general and specific duties under<br />

the model WHS laws. For example:<br />

The model WHS Regulations require the person that<br />

commissions construction work to consult with the<br />

designer of a structure about safety matters and to give<br />

the designer and the principal contractor for the project<br />

information about safety matters.<br />

A PCBU that carries out construction work must manage<br />

and control WHS risks associated with that work. It<br />

must also ensure that a construction site is secured from<br />

unauthorised access.<br />

The principal contractor for a construction project is<br />

also a PCBU and must be aware of the WHS duties that<br />

apply to all PCBUs that carry out construction work, as<br />

well as the specific duties that are imposed on principal<br />

contractors in that industry.<br />

Specific duties that apply to principal contractors include,<br />

but are not limited to, the duty to be clearly identified<br />

by signage posted at the construction site, the duty to<br />

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worker has completed white card training, including those<br />

who have completed training in the past but have not<br />

carried out construction work in the last two years. Once<br />

a person has completed that training they may apply to a<br />

WHS regulator for a white card.<br />

A white card issued in one state or territory or by the<br />

Commonwealth is generally recognised Australia wide.<br />

Hazardous Manual Tasks<br />

How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace<br />

How to Safely Remove Asbestos.<br />

Our national approach<br />

The Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012–<br />

2022 has identified the construction industry as a priority<br />

due to the high number and rate of work-related fatalities<br />

and serious injuries.<br />

prepare, review, keep and inform others about the WHS<br />

management plan for the construction project.<br />

Under the model WHS Act, the person with management<br />

or control of a workplace must ensure, so far as is<br />

reasonably practicable, that the workplace, the means of<br />

entering and exiting the workplace and anything arising<br />

from the workplace are without risk to the health and<br />

safety of any person.<br />

The model Code of Practice for Construction Work<br />

provides practical guidance to achieve the standards of<br />

health, safety and welfare required under the model WHS<br />

Act and Regulations in relation to construction work.<br />

High risk construction work<br />

In the construction industry, a PCBU that carries out high<br />

risk construction has additional WHS duties. These include<br />

requirements to prepare, keep, comply with and review a<br />

safe work method statement for the work and provide the<br />

safe work method statement to the principal contractor.<br />

High risk construction work:<br />

involves a risk of a person falling more than 2 m<br />

is carried out on a telecommunication tower<br />

involves demolition of an element of a structure that is<br />

load-bearing<br />

involves demolition of an element of a structure that is<br />

related to the physical integrity of the structure<br />

involves, or is likely to involve, disturbing asbestos<br />

involves structural alteration or repair that requires<br />

temporary support to prevent collapse<br />

is carried out in or near a confined space<br />

is carried out in or near a shaft or trench deeper than 1.5<br />

m or a tunnel<br />

involves the use of explosives<br />

is carried out on or near pressurised gas mains or piping<br />

is carried out on or near chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines<br />

is carried out on or near energised electrical installations or<br />

services<br />

is carried out in an area that may have a contaminated or<br />

flammable atmosphere<br />

involves tilt-up or precast concrete<br />

is carried out on, in or adjacent to a road, railway, shipping<br />

lane or other traffic corridor in use by traffic other than<br />

pedestrians<br />

is carried out in an area of a workplace where there is any<br />

movement of powered mobile plant<br />

is carried out in areas with artificial extremes of<br />

temperature<br />

is carried out in or near water or other liquid that involves<br />

a risk of drowning<br />

involves diving work.<br />

Requirements for carrying out construction work<br />

To be able to carry out construction work, a person<br />

must complete an introductory safety training course<br />

called ‘general construction induction training’. This is also<br />

commonly known as ‘white card’ training.<br />

Under the model WHS Act, a PCBU must make sure every<br />

For more information about white card training, crossborder<br />

recognition, applications and renewal of white cards,<br />

contact the WHS Regulator in your state or territory or the<br />

Commonwealth.<br />

Some types of construction work—such as operating<br />

certain types of cranes or carrying out scaffolding work—<br />

require a high-risk work licence.<br />

Model codes of practice<br />

The model Code of Practice for Construction Work should<br />

be read in conjunction with other codes on specific hazards<br />

and control measures relevant to the construction industry<br />

including:<br />

Demolition Work<br />

Excavation Work<br />

Safe Design of Structures<br />

Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces<br />

Preventing Falls in Housing Construction<br />

Managing Electrical Risks at the Workplace<br />

Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work<br />

Confined Spaces<br />

Serious claims for tradies 2010-11 to 2014-15<br />

190<br />

serious claims<br />

each day<br />

Incidence rate<br />

x3<br />

all other<br />

occupations<br />

44%<br />

Traumatic joint<br />

injuries<br />

Source: Safe Work Australia’s National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics, 2014-15.<br />

Note: For the purposes of this infographic, ‘Tradies’ are comprised of Technicians and trades<br />

workers, Labourers, and Machinery operators and drivers.<br />

For a number of years, construction has consistently been<br />

among the top few industries with the highest number of<br />

serious claims. Since 2006–07, it has had the fifth highest<br />

incidence rate of serious claims of all industries.<br />

The Strategy aims to reduce the incidence of serious<br />

injury by at least 30% nationwide by 2022, and reduce the<br />

number of work-related fatalities due to injury by at least<br />

20%. The construction industry will play a critical role in<br />

meeting these targets.<br />

Since the Strategy launched, Safe Work Australia and all<br />

jurisdictions have been working collaboratively with the<br />

industry, unions, relevant organisations and the community<br />

to reduce traumatic injury fatalities and injuries in the<br />

construction industry.<br />

Further advice<br />

SWA is not a regulator and cannot advise you about<br />

compliance in the construction industry. If you need help,<br />

please contact your state or territory work health and<br />

safety authority.<br />

Most common types of serious claims<br />

18%<br />

Wounds/<br />

lacerations<br />

Tradies are<br />

30%<br />

of workforce<br />

15%<br />

Musculoskeletal<br />

disorders<br />

10%<br />

Fractures<br />

but represent<br />

58%<br />

of serious claims<br />

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Being bullied as a child, being female, young, and<br />

neurotic are significant predictors of whether<br />

you might be bullied in the workplace, our online<br />

anonymous survey shows.<br />

Our team investigated the personality traits and coping<br />

styles of workplace bullying victims which might contribute<br />

to their victimisation.<br />

Neuroticism is defined as a vulnerability to negative mood<br />

states such as excessive worrying, anxiety, anger, hostility,<br />

self-consciousness, and difficulty coping with stress.<br />

Destructive behaviours such as bullying or harassment<br />

reduce employees’ potential at work, in turn increasing<br />

businesses’ operational costs. They are often associated with<br />

staff absence, increased sick days, and high staff turnover,<br />

which are also expensive for organisations.<br />

Absenteeism is usually a direct consequence of repeated<br />

harassment in the workplace. However, presenteeism<br />

(attending work when not fit to do so) is the new norm in<br />

psychologically unsafe workplaces.<br />

Our study showed that most employees suffering repeated<br />

abuse at work nevertheless chose to continue attending.<br />

Yet only a small percentage reported taking action towards<br />

changing their situation – 10% of individuals had attempted<br />

to resolve the situation and 9% had made a complaint.<br />

Presenteeism contributes to a loss of work productivity.<br />

An Australian Medibank survey in 2011 showed that<br />

presenteeism results in the loss of an estimated 6.5 working<br />

days per year, per employee. This cost an estimated A$34.1<br />

billion to the Australian economy over 2009 and 2010.<br />

These statistics show that although employees might<br />

keep going to work, they do not maintain their previous<br />

standards when their mental health is compromised.<br />

What neuroticism looks like in the workplace<br />

Neuroticism and mental health difficulties are often<br />

expressed in subtle ways.<br />

For example, an employee might become excessively<br />

worried about missing work and professional opportunities,<br />

or unreasonably concerned about what others will think or<br />

do in their absence.<br />

But mental distress is not always a function of personality.<br />

Resilient people can also be brought to breaking point by<br />

the “climate” at work without the control to change it.<br />

Bullying takes many forms<br />

Safe Work Australia defines workplace bullying as repeated<br />

and unreasonable behaviours directed towards a worker or<br />

a group of workers creating a risk to health and safety.<br />

But bullying is not limited to overt behaviours. Covert<br />

and subtle victimisation, such as spreading gossip about<br />

someone or deliberately excluding them, also causes<br />

distress.<br />

Concealed harassment tactics often involve abuse of power<br />

that functions to silence potential complainants.<br />

Organisational policy is one effective way to stop bullying<br />

and incivility at work. However, there is a difference<br />

between policy and application. Most bullying policies only<br />

tackle overt behaviours.<br />

What should be done?<br />

Suffering in silence and not seeking help is costly to<br />

individuals and organisations. On the flip side, workplace<br />

psychological safety increases productivity.<br />

According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada,<br />

employers who invest in psychologically safe workplaces<br />

see the benefits not only in productivity but also in<br />

recruiting and retaining staff, reduced workplace conflict,<br />

and declining costs of disability and absenteeism.<br />

But to tackle the problem effectively, workplace policies<br />

need to tackle all types of bullying behaviours, both overt<br />

and covert.<br />

Whether the individual chooses to leave or stay at work,<br />

the consequences of bullying persist for years and are never<br />

forgotten. All workplaces should provide effective policies<br />

for managing continuing abuse and improving the mental<br />

health outcomes of individuals after bullying.<br />

How can companies stop bullying at work?<br />

Raquel Peel & Beryl Buckby - James Cook University<br />

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Introducing ‘Operator 4.0’<br />

a tech-augmented<br />

human worker<br />

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has arrived. The first was<br />

the steam engine-driven Industrial Revolution; the second<br />

involved the innovations from Henry Ford’s assembly line.<br />

Third, microelectronics and computer power appeared<br />

on factory floors. Now, manufacturing businesses are<br />

beginning to integrate robotics, automation and other<br />

data-driven technologies into their workflows.<br />

Robots have taken over difficult, dangerous and repetitive<br />

physical tasks, improving factory safety, worker comfort<br />

and product quality. The next phase of labor innovation will<br />

do the same thing for cognitive work, removing mentally<br />

stressful and repetitive tasks from people’s daily routines.<br />

Human work will become more versatile and creative.<br />

Robots and people will work more closely together<br />

than ever before. People will use their unique abilities to<br />

innovate, collaborate and adapt to new situations. They will<br />

handle challenging tasks with knowledge-based reasoning.<br />

Machines enabled by the technologies that are now<br />

becoming commonplace – virtual assistants like Siri and<br />

Alexa, wearable sensors like FitBits and smart watches –<br />

will take care of tedious work details.<br />

People will still be essential on the factory floors, even as<br />

robots become more common. Future operators will have<br />

technical support and be super-strong, super-informed,<br />

super-safe and constantly connected.<br />

We call this new generation of tech-augmented human<br />

workers, both on factory floors and in offices, “Operator<br />

4.0.” There are several types of enhancements available,<br />

which can be used individually or in combination to put<br />

humans at the heart of this technological revolution.<br />

One straightforward enhancement would let workers<br />

wear robotic exoskeletons to enhance their strength. A<br />

“super-strength operator” could let a human truly control<br />

the physical power of a large robot. In today’s warehouses<br />

and construction sites, workers risk injury and exhaustion<br />

by handling heavy objects themselves. Or they are forced<br />

to compromise, using a more powerful tool with less<br />

adaptability, like a forklift.<br />

The benefits go well beyond the workplace. Of course,<br />

a worker in a powered robotic suit could easily handle<br />

extremely heavy objects without losing the flexibility of<br />

natural human movements. The worker would also be<br />

far less likely to suffer severe injuries from accidents or<br />

overwork. And at the end of a day, a super-strength worker<br />

could take off the exoskeleton and still have energy to play<br />

with the kids or spend time with friends.<br />

Super informed<br />

Fighter pilots use heads-up displays, which provide them<br />

with crucial information right on the cockpit windshield<br />

and directly in their line of sight. This is “augmented<br />

reality,” because it displays information within a live view<br />

of the world. It used to be very specialized and expensive<br />

technology. Now, Microsoft’s HoloLens makes it available<br />

for consumers.<br />

An “augmented operator” can get directions or assistance<br />

without interrupting the task he or she is working on.<br />

Often, when new equipment or processes are developed,<br />

trainers need to travel long distances to factories, staying<br />

for weeks to teach workers what to do. Designers do the<br />

same, getting feedback for refinements and improvements.<br />

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All that travel takes up a huge amount of time and is<br />

extremely expensive. With augmented reality available, it is<br />

often unnecessary.<br />

Augmented reality on the job.<br />

A worker wearing a set of smart glasses can receive<br />

individualized, step-by-step instructions displayed right<br />

in front of his or her eyes, no matter where he or she is<br />

looking. With earbuds and a microphone, she or he could<br />

talk directly to trainers in real time.<br />

Super safe<br />

Many manufacturing environments are hazardous, involving<br />

heavy equipment, caustic chemicals and other dangers that<br />

can maim and kill human workers. A “healthy operator”<br />

may be equipped with wearable sensors tracking pulse rate,<br />

body temperature, chemical exposure or other factors that<br />

indicate risks of injury.<br />

This type of system is already available: Truck drivers can<br />

wear the Maven Co-Pilot, a hands-free headset that detects<br />

fatigue symptoms, like head-bobbing movements. It can also<br />

ensure drivers check their rear-view mirrors regularly to<br />

stay aware of nearby traffic. It can even provide reminders<br />

to take scheduled breaks. This helps keep the truck’s driver<br />

safe and improves everyone else’s road safety.<br />

And beyond…<br />

Possibilities are limitless. An “analytical operator” would<br />

wear a monitor showing real-time data and analytics, such<br />

as information on chemicals in a sewage treatment plant<br />

or pollutants at an incinerator. A “collaborative operator”<br />

may be linked to collaborative robots, or co-bots, like the<br />

assembly assistant YuMi. A “smarter operator” could be<br />

equipped with an intelligent virtual personal assistant, like an<br />

advanced Siri or Alexa.<br />

There does not have to be conflict between robots and<br />

humans, with machines taking people’s jobs and leaving<br />

them unemployed. Technology should be designed with<br />

collaboration in mind. That way, companies and workers<br />

alike will be able to capitalize on the respective strengths<br />

of both human and machine. What’s more, the inherent<br />

flexibility of “Operator 4.0” workers will also help to<br />

ensure workplaces of the future that can change and adapt.<br />

That means getting ever more efficient and safer, as new<br />

technologies emerge.<br />

5 Tips to<br />

get the<br />

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of your<br />

workday<br />

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University of Wollongong<br />

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Getting a lot done each day is about more than just having<br />

the right productivity tools and setup. It’s about taking care<br />

of your body and mind, and this starts even outside of the<br />

workplace.<br />

We all need strategies for increasing productivity; here are<br />

five to get you started.<br />

Researchers at MIT found that scheduling coffee breaks<br />

so that the entire team took it at the same time increased<br />

productivity. When tested at a bank call centre, efficiency<br />

increased by 8% on average, and 20% for the worst<br />

performing teams. The benefit here came less from<br />

the caffeine and more from increasing the interactions<br />

between team members.<br />

1) Get a good night’s rest<br />

The first key to productivity is plenty of sleep. Getting 7-8<br />

hours sleep a night will flow through into your work, from<br />

sharper decision making and problem solving, to better<br />

coping with change.<br />

But before you rush out to grab a coffee, remember<br />

that in these experiments “a good cup of coffee” means<br />

black coffee. Research shows the levels of the beneficial<br />

antioxidants in coffee were higher and lasted longer in<br />

black coffee drinkers than for people who added sugar or<br />

non-dairy creamer to their coffee.<br />

It is not just the quantity of sleep that matters, but quality as<br />

well. You should try to stick to a regular sleep pattern.<br />

Going to bed late during the working week and hoping to<br />

catch up with a sleep-in on the weekends may make you<br />

feel more productive, but you are disrupting your sleepwake<br />

rhythms. This makes it difficult to feel alert and ready<br />

for work on Monday.<br />

Get into a good sleep routine by setting a regular bedtime.<br />

Then avoid caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and other chemicals<br />

that interfere with sleep.<br />

Limit light exposure – including from TV, phone and<br />

computer screens - in the evening. Eat, drink and exercise<br />

enough, but not too much and not too close to your<br />

bedtime. Make sure your bedroom is a calm place, and use<br />

it only for sleep and intimacy.<br />

Shift workers may not be able to keep to a sleep routine, of<br />

course, and they need to be even more careful to get good<br />

sleep when they can.<br />

2) Drink some coffee at work<br />

Coffee helps you feel alert because it blocks adenosine, the<br />

main compound in your brain that makes you sleepy.<br />

A study of US Navy SEALs found caffeine had a range<br />

of positive impacts beyond keeping you awake. Benefits<br />

ranged from increased alertness and reaction time, to<br />

improved learning, memory and even mood. The effects<br />

lasted from one to eight hours.<br />

Another study found that caffeine speeds up how quickly<br />

we process words.<br />

But coffee isn’t just effective on a chemical level.<br />

3) Take a break and do some exercise<br />

Researchers in America have found that taking breaks<br />

during the workday is important for workers to<br />

replace workplace “resources” - energy, motivation,<br />

and concentration. These resources aren’t limitless, and<br />

periodically need “charging” by doing activities that require<br />

less effort or use different resources than normal work, or<br />

are just something the worker enjoys.<br />

A break could be mean completely stopping work and<br />

doing something fun. An office-worker might go for a run,<br />

for instance. Or it could just mean switching tasks and<br />

doing something different, such as a supermarket shelver<br />

sitting down and doing paperwork.<br />

The researchers also found it matters when you take your<br />

break. You will be most productive after a break if you take<br />

it early in the work day rather than later, when you are<br />

already tired.<br />

But perhaps you should also carve out special times in<br />

the day for physical movement. Researchers in Sweden<br />

found that devoting some work time to physical activity<br />

increases productivity. The research found that as little<br />

as two and a half hours of physical activity a week led to<br />

more work being done in the same amount of time, and<br />

reduced absenteeism due to sickness.<br />

assignments. Use the higher energy levels you have in the<br />

morning to do a small task you don’t feel like doing, such as<br />

phoning someone you have been reluctant to contact. You’ll<br />

give yourself the mood and energy boost that comes from a<br />

small achievement.<br />

5) Do one thing at a time<br />

4) Conquer procrastination<br />

Procrastinating not only reduces your immediate<br />

productivity by delaying work, but increases stress and<br />

lowers well-being. This can make your productivity even<br />

worse, later.<br />

There are a range of relatively simple interventions you<br />

can do, such as eliminating notifications on your devices,<br />

only working for 15 minutes to get a project started, or<br />

creating smaller goals.<br />

A classic remedy now supported by a University of<br />

Pennsylvania study is to divide tasks into smaller pieces<br />

so you can work through a more manageable series of<br />

Don’t be tempted to multitask. Our brains are not suited<br />

to dealing with multiple streams of information or doing<br />

multiple jobs at the same time. The more tasks we try to do<br />

simultaneously, the slower we complete them and the more<br />

mistakes we make.<br />

Further, the research found that those who do multitask are<br />

more prone to becoming distracted by their environment.<br />

By contrast, take that difficult phone call you just made. You<br />

gave it your full attention and finished it. Now, do something<br />

else important and then take a short coffee break, perhaps a<br />

walk. Your body and your mind will be in top gear and so will<br />

your productivity.<br />

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Co Working Spaces<br />

Part of the new<br />

economy<br />

to government subsidised and cooperatively managed<br />

community resource centres.<br />

The ownership and funding of individual co-working spaces<br />

may also change through time, as they may receive new<br />

sources of government funding, attract new types of clients<br />

or relocate to new facilities.<br />

What are the benefits?<br />

There are many potential benefits for sharing a working<br />

space, including access to common spaces, equipment, tools,<br />

and technologies. Some people may only need a space for<br />

a few hours a day or on one occasion for a special project,<br />

so they can hire spaces in desirable locations without high<br />

rental charges.<br />

Shared working spaces also offer social benefits through<br />

greater opportunities to interact, network and collaborate<br />

with like-minded workers.<br />

Cities are seeing a growing number of shared working, or<br />

co-working, spaces. They include spaces where individuals<br />

and businesses can flexibly rent desks or rooms, or do<br />

shared work in “third spaces” such as libraries and cafes.<br />

Co-working spaces offer a range of benefits and risks to<br />

the local economy. Our research looked at the role policymakers,<br />

regulators and city planners can play in ensuring<br />

that these spaces make a positive contribution to our cities.<br />

We found shared work spaces emerging in regulatory voids<br />

left by outdated policy frameworks. To exist, they are relying<br />

on the forward thinking of local innovators seeking to<br />

revitalise urban centres.<br />

Types of spaces<br />

Shared work spaces vary by the type of work they facilitate,<br />

from knowledge work (such as IT and professional services)<br />

to small-scale manufacturing. Some are purpose-built for<br />

co-working, whereas others (such as cafes) are informally<br />

used as such.<br />

Some also target particular markets by offering additional<br />

services such as a crèche for childcare, seminars for<br />

professional development and events for networking.<br />

Shared working spaces also differ in their models of<br />

ownership. These range from privately owned and managed,<br />

A co-working space can be a good use of unused spaces<br />

in buildings and be birthing places of new enterprises. They<br />

can also support local businesses by hosting large groups of<br />

potential customers.<br />

And they may afford people a place to work closer from<br />

home, reducing the need for long commutes.<br />

What are the downsides?<br />

Big players in the sharing economy – such as Uber, Lyft and<br />

Airbnb – have had a disruptive effect on existing markets<br />

by reducing opportunities for less advantaged people and<br />

workers in the market, and confusing regulators.<br />

A similar scale of disruption may be on the horizon with<br />

the rapid growth of big players in co-working spaces such<br />

as WeWork. These could threaten existing shared work<br />

spaces by absorbing customers and competitively leasing<br />

out available buildings.<br />

Shared work spaces could potentially contribute to the<br />

gentrification of older neighbourhoods by pushing up<br />

the price of real estate, and displacing established small<br />

businesses and residential tenants.<br />

Co-working spaces has also been seen as representative of<br />

an increasing casualised workforce, as such spaces may host<br />

short-term contractors doing work that was previously<br />

performed by full-time internal staff members.<br />

What we found<br />

We analysed planning and economic development policy<br />

and interviewed founders and users of shared working<br />

spaces in Western Australia.<br />

We identified around 20 shared work spaces in Perth and<br />

regional Western Australia. Many were in retrofitted older<br />

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and under-used buildings such as an old department store,<br />

maternity hospital or converted office space.<br />

Most founders told us that shared working spaces needed<br />

to be accessible to be viable. Many also identified the<br />

quality and intensity of activities around the area as essential<br />

to attracting workers to their space.<br />

But founders identified regulatory frameworks, including<br />

land use permission controls, as significant barriers to<br />

establishing these spaces. For instance, a shared work space<br />

where people repair furniture or make jewellery could be<br />

considered as being used for manufacturing.<br />

This type of activity may not be permitted in a disused<br />

department store that falls within a retail zone.<br />

We found that often, local councillors and economic<br />

developers, have thrown their hat in the ring to help<br />

establish shared work spaces in their area. They would<br />

do so by helping founders secure required approvals,<br />

such as building accessibility certifications and emergency<br />

management plans.<br />

Knowing the potential contribution of such spaces to the<br />

economy, they’ve also helped founders navigate regulations<br />

and planning controls intended for more permanent use of<br />

spaces.<br />

But we found that town planners were rarely engaged<br />

in early conversations with shared work space founders.<br />

Planners generally didn’t identify or facilitate opportunities<br />

to host shared working spaces in unused buildings.<br />

Planning policy documents and city planning departments<br />

didn’t actively recognise co-working spaces as a major new<br />

way people use buildings in cities.<br />

Sharing spaces better<br />

Technologies are creating new ways to match a mobile<br />

and flexible workforce with work spaces. This is leaving<br />

regulators to manage the impacts from the temporary uses<br />

of many shared work spaces.<br />

City planners should be prepared to recognise and plan for<br />

the benefits these spaces bring, while minimising possible<br />

negative impacts on users, neighbours, and the broader<br />

community.<br />

Planning strategies that seek to regenerate urban places and<br />

provide economic and social opportunities in urban growth<br />

areas will need to prompt more engagement with shared<br />

work space proponents, users, neighbouring businesses and<br />

residents, and local government divisions.<br />

Shared work spaces have a positive role to play in<br />

Australian cities and regional centres. However, it seems<br />

planners are at risk of missing the boat when it comes<br />

to using shared work space to achieve more socially and<br />

economically viable planning outcomes.<br />

Courtney Babb<br />

Carey Curtis<br />

Sam McLeod<br />

Curtin University<br />

The Facility Management Association is the peak national industry body for facilities management,<br />

representing and supporting professionals and organisations responsible for the operational<br />

management of Australia’s built environments.<br />

Established in 1988, today FMA has branches in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales,<br />

Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania Victoria and Western Australia.<br />

A primary focus of the Association is to ensure the needs of professionals and organisations<br />

working in and dealing with facilities management are understood and considered in government<br />

and business policy formulation and decision making.<br />

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Join us at our prestigious Awards Gala Dinner as we spotlight the best in facilities<br />

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This event is a highlight on the FM Industry calendar so, after our sell-out 2015, 2016<br />

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www.fma.com.au<br />

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<strong>AUG</strong>UST <strong>2018</strong> - <strong>OCCTECH</strong>


It’s often claimed that 3D printing – known in the<br />

trade as “additive manufacturing” – will change the<br />

way we live. Most recently, a team from Eindhoven<br />

University of Technology announced plans to build<br />

the “world’s first” habitable 3D printed houses. But<br />

it’s one thing to build small, prototype homes in a park – it’s<br />

quite another to successfully use additive manufacturing for<br />

large scale projects in the construction sector.<br />

Additive manufacturing uses a combination of materials<br />

science, architecture and design, computation and robotics.<br />

Yet in some ways, it’s not as futuristic as it sounds. The<br />

simple approach of layer-wise construction – where<br />

building materials are layered on top of each other to<br />

create a facade – has already been practised for a long time<br />

in the construction sector, for example in conventional brick<br />

layering techniques.<br />

The true novelty of additive manufacturing lies in its ability<br />

to combine new, highly efficient and sustainable materials<br />

with architectural design software and robotic technology,<br />

to automate and improve processes that have already been<br />

proven manually. In this sense, additive<br />

manufacturing holds many potentially<br />

groundbreaking benefits for the construction sector.<br />

3D printing can produce up to 30% less material waste, use<br />

less energy and fewer resources, enable in-situ production<br />

(which in turn cuts transport costs), grant greater<br />

architectural freedom and<br />

generate fewer CO2 emissions<br />

over the entire lifecycle of the product.<br />

Printable feedstocks<br />

But there is still some way to go before additive<br />

manufacturing technology can deliver on its potential. There<br />

are several different components of additive manufacturing,<br />

each of which must be developed and refined before the<br />

process can be successfully used in large-scale construction.<br />

One component is printable feedstocks – the materials<br />

which are actually “printed” to create the final product.<br />

There are many types of printable feedstock, but the<br />

most relevant one for large scale construction is concrete.<br />

Printable feedstocks are typically made from a combination<br />

of bulk materials – such as soil, sand, crushed stone, clay and<br />

recycled materials – mixed with a binder such as Portland<br />

cement, fly ash or polymers, as well as other additives and<br />

chemical agents to allow the concrete to set faster and<br />

maintain its shape, so that the layers can be deposited<br />

rapidly.<br />

3D PRINTING HITS<br />

In a project I am currently working on at Brunel University,<br />

we are focusing on producing a printable cement feedstock.<br />

To create materials for 3D printed constructions, scientists<br />

must carefully control the setting time of the paste, the<br />

stability of first few layers and the bonding between the<br />

layers. The behaviour of the materials must be thoroughly<br />

investigated under a range of conditions, to achieve a<br />

robust structure which can take load.<br />

The combination of cement, sand and other additives must<br />

be just right, so that the feedstocks don’t set while still in<br />

the printer, and don’t stay wet for too long once they have<br />

been deposited to form a structure. Different grades of<br />

feedstock need to be formulated and developed, so that<br />

this technology can be used to build a range of different<br />

structural elements, such as load-bearing and large-scale<br />

building blocks.<br />

Building blocks<br />

Another component is the printer, which must have a<br />

powerful pump to suit the scale of manufacturing in the<br />

construction industry. The pressure and flow rate of the<br />

printer must be trialled with different types of feedstocks.<br />

The speed and the size of the printer is key to achieving<br />

a good print quality: smooth surface, square edges and a<br />

consistent width and height for each layer.<br />

How quickly the feedstock materials are deposited –<br />

typically measured in centimetres per hour – can speed up<br />

or slow down construction. Decreasing the setting time of<br />

the feedstock means that the printer can work faster – but<br />

it also puts the feedstock at risk of hardening inside the<br />

printer system. The printing system should be optimised to<br />

continuously deliver the feedstock materials at a constant<br />

rate, so that the layers can fuse together evenly.<br />

The geometry of the structures produced is the final<br />

piece of the puzzle, when it comes to using 3D printing<br />

in construction. When the printer and the feedstock have<br />

been properly set up, they will be able to produce full-size<br />

building blocks with a smart geometry which can take load<br />

without reinforcements. The shape stability of the truss-like<br />

filaments in these blocks is an essential part of printing,<br />

which provides strength and stiffness to the printed objects.<br />

This three-pronged approach to adapting additive<br />

manufacturing for construction could revolutionise the<br />

industry within the next ten to 15 years. But before that<br />

can happen, scientists need to fine tune the mix ratios<br />

for the feedstocks, and refine a printing system which can<br />

cope with the rapid manufacturing of building blocks. Only<br />

then can the potential of 3D printing be harnessed to build<br />

faster, and more sustainably, than ever before.<br />

CONSTRUCTION<br />

Seyed Ghaffar<br />

Brunel University London<br />

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Collaborative Partnership foundation member, ICA CEO<br />

Rob Whelan, said: “Australia has a complex and fragmented<br />

approached to supporting people with illness and injury<br />

to participate in the workforce and obtain meaningful<br />

employment.<br />

“One of the aims of this partnership is to simplify the<br />

experience for people who, depending upon their specific<br />

circumstances, are currently dealing with multiple state<br />

and commonwealth schemes and service providers<br />

administered by public or private sector organisations.<br />

“The Insurance Council is proud to be a founding member.<br />

The general insurance industry sees this initiative as a<br />

positive and powerful partnership that will focus the<br />

expertise, research and resources to develop real solutions<br />

and positive outcomes for employees, employers and the<br />

broader economy.”<br />

The Partnership has identified priority areas and work<br />

is underway on projects looking at data and services,<br />

employer and employee attitudes and developing<br />

consistent supports for GPs:<br />

Cross-sector— examining data and services across<br />

compensation and benefit systems, identifying the flow<br />

of people through systems and finding opportunities to<br />

improve services. Led by the Department of Social Services.<br />

focussing on capacity for work. Led by AFOEM.<br />

A key driver of the national initiative is the growing body of<br />

research that shows employment generates positive health<br />

benefits for individuals and the community, while long-term<br />

unemployment can have a negative impact on health and<br />

wellbeing.<br />

This forms the basis of AFOEM’s Health Benefits of Good<br />

Work initiative to promote work as an integral part of<br />

recovery.<br />

Mr Whelan called on public and private sector stakeholders<br />

with an interest in improving the health and wellbeing of<br />

fellow Australians to join the partnership.<br />

“This is an opportunity for organisations, industry groups<br />

and sectors that support improved work participation to<br />

connect and work with like-minded businesses to help<br />

achieve positive outcomes for Australians seeking good<br />

work; to be seen as a leader in work participation; and to<br />

benefit from the experience of other sectors,” Mr Whelan<br />

said.<br />

More information about the Collaborative Partnership –<br />

including how to get involved - is available at www.comcare.<br />

gov.au/collaborativepartnership.<br />

A<br />

unique public-private sector initiative is driving<br />

new approaches to improving participation for<br />

Australians with health conditions that affect<br />

their ability to work.<br />

The Collaborative Partnership to improve work<br />

participation, established by Comcare and launched today, is<br />

focused on aligning the various sectors of Australia’s work<br />

disability system to deliver better outcomes for people<br />

with temporary or permanent physical or mental health<br />

conditions.<br />

The Partnership includes the Insurance Council of<br />

Australia (ICA), the Australasian Faculty of Occupational<br />

and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM), insurer EML, the<br />

Department of Jobs and Small Business, the Australian<br />

Council of Trade Unions and the Department of Social<br />

Services.<br />

Through a range of projects, the Partnership is working<br />

across sectors including workers’ compensation, life<br />

insurance, superannuation, disability support and<br />

employment services to improve disability employment<br />

and return to work rates for people experiencing work<br />

incapacity through illness and injury.<br />

Speaking at the launch, held at the Insurance Council of<br />

Australia’s <strong>2018</strong> Annual Forum in Sydney, Comcare CEO<br />

Jennifer Taylor said too many people with health conditions<br />

struggle to find work, recover at work or return to work.<br />

“The Partnership is the first real attempt to work across<br />

multiple benefit systems to deliver positive change,” Ms<br />

Taylor said.<br />

“We need to break down the siloes the support systems<br />

operate in. At the same time, we have to help businesses<br />

reduce barriers to employment, help GPs prescribe<br />

work as part of recovery, and give employees a better<br />

understanding of the importance of good work to their<br />

health and wellbeing.<br />

“There is a growing realisation that what happens in one<br />

support system impacts others, and the costs often just shift<br />

between the systems. There is also increasing recognition of<br />

the potential for a combined approach to more effectively<br />

influence employers, GPs and employees to achieve better<br />

health and work outcomes.<br />

“Return to work rates have stagnated nationally and,<br />

despite sustained efforts, work participation rates for<br />

people with disability have not improved. It’s time for a new<br />

approach.”<br />

Employer mobilisation— examining attitudes and barriers<br />

and improving employers’ capacity to provide work<br />

opportunities for people with temporary or permanent<br />

physical or mental health conditions. Led by the<br />

Department of Jobs and Small Business.<br />

Employee awareness— improving employees’<br />

understanding of the health benefits of good work and<br />

promoting their role in using work as part of their recovery.<br />

Led by EML.<br />

GP support— developing nationally consistent approaches<br />

that will help GPs use work as part of recovery, including<br />

Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council<br />

www.woorabinda.qld.gov.au<br />

07 4925 9800<br />

112 Munns Drive<br />

Woorabinda QLD 4713<br />

ceo@woorabinda.qld.gov.au<br />

The town of Woorabinda is located in Central Queensland, 170 km south west of Rockhampton. Woorabinda is situated on the traditional lands of the<br />

Wadja Wadja/Yungulu Aboriginal people. Woorabinda Council is located in the heart of the business area and supports the needs of the community.<br />

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apps for productivity<br />

Doodle is an online calendar tool for<br />

time management, and coordinating<br />

meetings. Doodle interacts with<br />

various external calendar systems.<br />

Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar,<br />

Microsoft Outlook and Apple iCal<br />

can be utilized with Doodle to track<br />

dates. Google Maps may also be used<br />

to share the location of the event<br />

Box is a cloud computing business<br />

which provides file-sharing,<br />

collaborating, and other tools for<br />

working with files that are uploaded.<br />

You can determine how content can<br />

be shared. Users may invite others to<br />

view and/or edit an account’s shared<br />

files, upload documents and photos<br />

to a shared files folder<br />

The BlueJeans app works with the<br />

BlueJeans service to provide true<br />

universal, multi-party video calls<br />

on the go with a variety of video<br />

conference systems such as Polycom,<br />

Cisco, LifeSize, Tely, Microsoft Lync,<br />

and more. With the BlueJeans<br />

app, users can host or join video<br />

conferences from anywhere<br />

When your team needs to kick off a<br />

project, hire a new employee, deploy<br />

some code, review a sales contract,<br />

finalize next year’s budget, measure<br />

an A/B test, plan your next office<br />

opening, and more, Slack has you<br />

covered<br />

Evernote is a mobile app designed<br />

for note taking, organizing, tasks<br />

lists, and archiving. ... The app allows<br />

users to create notes, which can be a<br />

piece of formatted text, a Web page<br />

or Web page excerpt, a photograph,<br />

a voice memo, or a handwritten<br />

“ink” note. Notes can also have file<br />

attachments<br />

CamCard is the easiest app to<br />

manage and exchange business<br />

cards, the perfect fit for sales people,<br />

entrepreneurs, business developers<br />

or marketing experts, and anyone<br />

who want to be one<br />

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<strong>AUG</strong>UST <strong>2018</strong> - <strong>OCCTECH</strong>


Injury or death in the<br />

workplace changes lives<br />

forever<br />

Take a safety moment in<br />

your workplace this October<br />

Share what workplace safety means to you

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