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Mix it up for musculoskeletal health: a webinar

BeUpstanding Stories

One of BeUpstanding’s lead investigators, Associate Professor Genevieve Healy, presented at the recent national Musculoskeletal Disorders Symposium in June. The event was held virtually and hosted by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, on behalf of the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities in Australia, and featured international and national experts, industry case studies, and online exhibitors with the theme of MSD prevention by design. Genevieve’s presentation titled “Addressing sedentary behaviour: occupational sitting, an emerging workplace health and safety issue” focused on why excessive sedentary time has now been acknowledged as an emergent health and safety issue and potential solutions for supporting workers to sit less and move more. Genevieve also presented some early findings from the BeUpstanding national implementation trial we have currently underway, that are showing reductions in self-reported musculoskeletal discomfort scores in three areas (Lower back; Upper back, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, or hands; and hips, thighs, buttocks, knees, ankles, or feet), with nearly a 15% relative reduction overall. Promising early results! You can now view the presentation as well as some of the other presentations via this link. Happy watching!

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Wherever you work, a safe and healthy workplace is for everyone

BeUpstanding Stories

By now we all know that the COVID-19 global pandemic has caused an unprecedented change in how and where people are working. Helping people to sit less and move more at work has been a key priority in recent years, with much of the focus being on the office workplace. The phrases ‘pre-COVID’ and ‘COVID-normal’ are thrown around a fair bit these days, but perhaps they are a fitting way to describe the shift that many desk-based workers have experienced. Even for those who have now returned to their workplaces, the ‘pre-COVID’ work environment is likely to be quite different to the ‘COVID-normal’ workplaces many are now working in. Other workers have seen a complete (perhaps long term) shift to working remotely, or a mix of both. What remains, however, is the need to ensure a safe and healthy workplace for everyone. We do not yet know the long-term impacts of these current changes to our work environment, but we do know that there is a clear need to continue to help workers to be able to sit less and move more, regardless of where they are working. The term ‘desk-based workers’ rather than ‘office workers’ is a term we often…

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Happy 3rd Birthday BeUpstanding!

BeUpstanding Stories

On September 1st, BeUpstanding celebrated three years of going online. In that time, we have had over 650 workplaces unlock the toolkit, with potentially more than 56,000 staff exposed to the program! We have also published over 100 blogs! Of course, the journey to supporting workers to sit less and move more has been a lot longer than that, spanning over a decade and resulting in a substantial body of evidence into what works. The data collected through BeUpstanding is making an important contribution to this evidence base as it is examining how well the program works when it is delivered in a widely-accessible format and without direct support from researchers. Key questions we are interested in are: who is taking up the program, how are they running the program, how effective is the program, the costs of the program, and the sustainability of any changes. We received funding from the NHMRC Partnership Project scheme to address these questions in the context of a national implementation trial. Teams who sign up to the trial must commit to completing all the evaluation elements in the program, as well as complete an additional evaluation approximately 9 months after program completion to understand…

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How to be a Safety Champion

Bite size facts

This month is Safe Work Month and the theme is Be a Safety Champion. Comcare hosted a series of regional events to mark Safe Work Month, with BeUpstanding featuring as an exemplar of a program that uses a train-the-champion model. You can download and view the presentations from here. One of the key things to help you be a safety champion is good work design. It is important to consider health and safety issues when designing work as this can help to eliminate hazards and manage risks. Effective design of good work considers: the work work systems the physical working environment the workers. Taking into account these things can help improve performance, job satisfaction and productivity. Take a look the Handbook – Principles of Good Work Design* to learn about the ten principles to good work design. Hierarchy of control The hierarchy of control can help identify ways to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety. The most effective control is to eliminate the risk. However, if that is not possible, working through the hierarchy helps to find the most effective measure. For sitting less and moving more at work, substitution and redesign strategies could include provide high table options in meeting rooms…

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National Safe Work Month

Key events

October is National Safe Work Month – a time for workplaces to consider how they can build a safe and healthy workplace for all Australians. This year, Safe Work Australia’s theme for Safe Work Month is ‘Be a Safety Champion’. This is meant to encourage employers and workers from all occupations and industries to become a champion for work health and safety. Everyone can support a safety culture at their workplace and promote best practice work health and safety initiatives. SafeWork Australia’s website has a great list of what’s on in your state or territory. BeUpstanding is a featured resource being promoted for National Safe Work Month! SafeWork Australia has been a long- time supporter of BeUpstanding and is one of five partners in our recent NHMRC parternship grant. This grant has given us funding for a national implementation trial of the BeUpstanding Champion Toolkit. As part of the implementation trial we are able to offer champions free coaching by our expert team and customised data feedback reports. It really is a great time to Be Upstanding!

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Safe Work Month – Free Community Breakfast

Key events

This October is National Safe Work Month, an initiative of Safe Work Australia. Safe Work Month focuses on asking workers and employers across Australia to commit to building safe and healthy workplaces for all Australians. To launch Safe Work Month, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland are hosting a free breakfast on Wednesday 2 October 2019 at King George Square, Ann St, Brisbane from 7am to 9:30am. There will be free food, lucky draw prizes and giveways, cooking demonstrations and more. The BeUpstanding team will also be there to talk to you about how your workplace can sit less and move more and you can even sign up to be a BeUpstanding Champion on the day. We hope to see you there!

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C’mon Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday, Let’s Shape Up!

Key events

If you are in central or north Queensland, here is an added incentive to get your work colleagues to sit less and move more. The Mackay and Central Queensland Hospital and Health services are encouraging their population to get involved in a great community challenge with some healthy competition. Read on to find out how the Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday regions are promoting people to get involved. C’mon Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday, Let’s Shape Up! and show Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service (CQHHS) we are the rightful owners to the title of healthiest regional community in Queensland. Help us by joining the Mackay Hospital and Health Service (MHHS) vs CQHHS health challenge. Count your steps, reduce your waist circumference and kilos, and make bite-sized changes towards a healthier lifestyle, you could even win a $3,000 Mackay City Centre incentive prize for an individual who makes the most overall improvement to their waist measurement, kilograms, and steps. So to be in the draw you need to be signed up as a Mackay hospital and Health Service challenge participant and regularly log your waist measurements, kilos, and steps. Why not inspire your workplace tribe, become a health challenge coordinator in your workplace, and encourage your colleagues to join you…

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100 Champions!!!

Key events

We are jumping for joy because 100 champions have officially joined the BeUpstanding™ revolution! We are so excited to have you on board! And as always, we are very grateful to all champions and work teams who have signed up in the quest to make their workplaces healthier. If you are already a champion and are looking for inspiration, head over to our post on the “Top Tips From Champions For Champions” and our Motivational Email Tips. Not a champion yet, but curious what a BeUpstanding™ champion is? Head over to our blog, “BeUpstanding™ Champion – What’s That? And Can I Be One?”. And check out our posts on who’s come on board and the top reasons to BeUpstanding™ to learn more about why BeUpstanding is so fantastic! If you want to join the movement head over to beupstanding.com.au and click “Sign up”.

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BeUpstanding™ is now live!

BeUpstanding Stories

After nearly two years of behind the scenes work, and building on more than a decade of evidence, the team at BeUpstanding™ are very excited to let you know that the toolkit is now live and recruiting! In this “soft launch” phase of the toolkit, we are really keen to hear from YOU – the champions, workers, and organisations about your experiences with the toolkit. This will help us to continue to improve the toolkit and resources for other champions and their teams. So – sign up now! and don’t forget to also follow and like our Instagram.

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