Month: July 2021

With life having changed dramatically, particularly in NSW now, it is important now more than ever to keep active. Exercise plays a key role in managing the symptoms of anxiety.

Through exercise and movement, you are helping to combat anxiety by stimulating the feel-good hormones: dopamine, endorphins, and positive mood states.

Below are some tips to help you get started:

• Small is better than not at all – adding modest amounts of physical activity to your weekly routine can make a big difference in reducing stress, improving memory, and boosting your overall mood.
• Add variety to how you exercise – change your exercise routine to help keep it enjoyable. This also helps to prevent overuse injuries and benefits different body systems.
• Move mindfully – the natural regular rhythm associated with exercising helps create a calmer and more positive mood state. Mindfulness practices through exercise can help us increase our ability to regulate our emotions, decrease stress, anxiety, and depression. 
• Exercise to connect – this one needs to be done in accordance with the government advice in your local area. However, human connection whether it be with a friend, family member, or work colleague can calm and soothe the nervous system and ameliorate depression.

It is so important to look after your mental health and ensure your employees are doing the same. If we can be of any assistance in this area or if you simply just want to have a chat, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team on (02) 9587 3500 or email your account manager.

Original article source: MyFitness Passport

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has seen a growing trend of cyber attacks affecting construction companies and their customers. In the past six months there has been an increase in cybercriminals targeting builders and construction companies to conduct business email compromise (BEC) scams within Australia.

According to the ACSC, in a BEC scam, cybercriminals will send fraudulent emails posing as a legitimate business. These emails typically target the customers of the business and will ask them to change bank account details for future invoice payments. Victims assume this request is legitimate and will then send invoice payments to a bank account operated by the scammer.

These fraudulent emails may come from hacked email accounts, or cybercriminals might register domain names that are similar to legitimate companies (typically by swapping letters or adding additional characters). At a quick glance, an email address may look legitimate when it is actually being operated by a cybercriminal.

Successful BECs may go unnoticed for weeks or months until the construction company follows up on missing payments.

All parties to construction projects should be vigilant when communicating by email, particularly when discussing bank account details or invoicing.

If you need help in any of these areas, or you have any questions with regards to Cyber insurance, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team on (02) 9587 3500 or email your account manager.

Original article source: https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/view-all-content/alerts/cybercriminals-targeting-construction-companies-conduct-email-scams

Similarly to what we saw happen with D&O cover, we are now seeing more challenging market conditions in the Cyberspace as a result of an increased number of cyber attacks against businesses – particularly the rise in ransomware.

We sat down with Gerry Power from Emergence Insurance who are a specialist insurer in Cyber. He suggested some additional claims trends in the cyberspace:

• There is an increased severity of ransomware attacks.
• Business email compromise – employees are getting tricked into clicking on phishing emails, clicking links and opening attachments.
• Exfiltration of the data – criminals are selling the data. 
• Cyber theft – for example, fraudulent invoices are being created and companies are paying them
• Social engineering – where people are being tricked into giving up confidential information.

In order to combat this challenging market and present your business in the best light to the insurers, it is important that businesses manage their risks. Some of the things businesses can do are:

• Multi-factor authentication – this introduces another level of complexity to an organisation.
• Disable legacy systems.
• Regular backups – keep these off-site. This assists incident responders in the event of a breach.
• Train employees on what to do in response to a suspicious email or pop up.
• Keep your systems up to date.
• Implement a two person sign off procedure.

If you need help in any of these areas, or you have any questions with regards to Cyber insurance, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team on (02) 9587 3500 or email your account manager.

NOT ALL HAZARDS IN THE WORKPLACE ARE VISIBLE

Work processes can release invisible dusts, gases, fumes, vapours, mists and microorganisms into the air.

The air you, your workers and others breathe at work can be hazardous and cause damage to your health. It’s important to understand the hazards at your workplace – whether it’s a construction site, a factory, on a farm or if you work with engineered stone. Your workers may be at risk of developing occupational lung disease.

Occupational lung diseases are conditions of the respiratory system caused by workplace exposure to hazardous chemicals and dusts. 

Types of occupational lung diseases

Pneumoconiosis is lung disease that is caused by breathing in certain types of dust. Commons types are:

• dust with aluminium (aluminosis)
• asbestos (asbestosis)
• dusts or vapours with beryllium (berylliosis, also called chronic beryllium disease)
• cotton dust (byssinosis)
• coal dust (coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, sometimes called ‘black lung’)
• dusts of hard metals such as tungsten, tungsten carbide and cobalt (hard metal pneumoconiosis, also called hard metal lung disease)
• crystalline silica (silicosis)
• talc dust (talcosis)

Other lung diseases can be caused by breathing in:

• asbestos or wood dust (mesothelioma and other cancers)
• some chemicals or allergens, like pollen (asthma), some gases or fumes (chronic bronchitis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD))
• exposure to the Coxiella burnetii bacteria in contaminated dusts and aerosols (Q fever)

FOUR KEY INDUSTRIES MOST AT RISK

• Manufacturing workers can be exposed to hazards in the air that are invisible to the naked eye, such as fumes and dust.
• Construction workers can be exposed to hazards like dust from concrete and fumes from welding.
• Engineered stone workers can be exposed to silica dust in all parts of their work process – from preparing and working on the slab, to cleaning up the workplace and disposing of waste.
• Agricultural workers can be exposed to a range of hazards in the air, such as pesticides, chemicals, and fuels.

WHAT CAN YOU DO AS AN EMPLOYER?

Ensure that as an employer, you regularly:

• Identify hazards and assess risks
• Manage risks
• Monitor and review

If you need help in any of these areas, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team on (02) 9587 3500 or email your account manager. Together, we can help ensure #cleanair and #cleanlungs for your employees.

Original source: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/clearlungs