Recently, Australia’s Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, released his 2026 Budget. Other than better availability of Australian Standards, there was little in it that directly affects workplace health and safety. But perhaps we need to look at this in a broader socioeconomic and political context.
LinkedIn is an enormously inhumane software, but it does have some positive uses. One of them is being invited to meet people who might find you interesting or admire your work. Earlier this year, I jumped at the chance to have coffee with Dr Kat Page, who lived only a few suburbs away, as an …
Every company seems to have a Mission Statement, a Values Statement, or something similar that all employees are expected to follow and comply with. Largely, these are aspirational statements, but they are sometimes invoked when/if an employee needs to be disciplined or dismissed. The values are often vague and lend themselves to various interpretations, even …
Last week, I attended a webinar on psychological safety that confirmed all of my worst fears about the Human Resources approach to addressing psychosocial factors and mental health at work....
Work-related suicide is more insidious in some ways than non-work suicide, as it is institutionally stigmatised to the extent that its reality has been denied. There is an additional level of complexity when an employer is in control of the work, and a strong economic ideology often denies the influence of work factors. The tide …
Two major Australian media outlets are continuing to focus on the issue of working from home (WFH), criticising the concept and some local political moves. WFH offers some significant mental health benefits that are being largely ignored. The front page of The Australian newspaper for September 1, 2025, provides the latest example....
Companies are being urged to increase their attention on the human impacts of incidents. This is a much-needed and delayed focus that existed decades ago but went out of fashion. Companies can achieve these changes after a lot of hard work and expense, but very little attention has been given to the institutions and government …
