Category: construction

Procurement as Safety Policy? The ACT’s Construction Culture Experiment

The culture standard for the construction industry has been discussed for several years. Trials have been conducted, and the results were positive, but the value of this standard has always depended on someone powerful implementing it in practice. Last year the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government embedded it into public-project procurement, arguing that government purchasing power can drive improvements in wellbeing, diversity and psychological safety across the construction sector.

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Christopher’s Death and the Questions That Still Demand Answers

Patrizia Cassaniti has produced a remarkable book about how her life changed due to the death of her 18-year-old son, Christopher, in a scaffold collapse in 2019. Her story comes from grief and anger, and the book is one of the few that made me cry.

Cassaniti’s story is compelling and heartbreaking, but its refusal to name those responsible for the scaffold collapse shapes the book’s impact and raises deeper questions about accountability in workplace deaths. The new first-person accounts in the last third of the book are enlightening and enraging.

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OHS Clarity Emerges Early in Victoria’s New Royal Commission

The Victorian government has commenced its Royal Commission into the Integrity of Major Public and Civil Infrastructure Construction Projects in Victoria. Occupational health and safety (OHS) was mentioned on Day 1 in the opening statements of Counsel Assisting the Commissioner, Chris Young KC, indicating that OHS may feature in the investigations over the next year.

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Trade unions, OHS and the hard question of representation

Trade unions have always had a substantial role in Australian occupational health and safety (OHS), particularly in the construction industry. That role should not be dismissed, minimised or romanticised. The history of union involvement in workplace safety is one of pressure, persistence and, at times, confrontation. But the more difficult question is whether trade unions should automatically control worker representation on health and safety matters. The answer is not as simple as many union advocates would like.

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The Royal Commission Needs Strong Consideration of OHS Actions and Consequences

The Victorian Government, under its new leader, Ben Carroll, has announced the “Royal Commission into the Integrity of Major Public and Civil Infrastructure Construction Projects in Victoria“. The Terms of Reference (ToR) have largely been praised for their breadth, but do they have any occupational health and safety (OHS) relevance? Early reporting of the government’s announcement often mentioned that the

“…lawful, legitimate and appropriate actions taken by parties under occupational health and safety laws and regulations.”

But there is more to consider.

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The Standards Paywall Falls but the Politics Remain

From July 2026, the official Australian Standards for occupational health and safety (OHS) management will become freely available. According to page 142 of Budget Papers Number 2, the Australian government will

“…. provide $55.2 million over four years from 2026–27 (and $11.6 million per year ongoing) to support implementation of reforms to increase productivity.”

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“She simply had too much work to do” – WorkSafe Awards 2025

Psychological safety dominated the 2025 WorkSafe Victoria Awards held in late February 2026. (At somepoint, WorkSafe is going to have to bring the awards back to the Safety Month schedule of October) This is perhaps not surprising, as psychological safety and psychosocial hazards remain hot issues in Victoria, but some other important finalists shone.

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