health and safety representatives – SafetyAtWorkBlog

The HSR Obsession that Skews OHS Reform

Safe Work Australia has many submissions to its Best Practice Review after a very slow start. Consultation has been extended to the end of November 2025. A curious request appeared by email invitation on November 14, 2025, developed in conjunction with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

The email says:

“Responses will help shape future improvements to consultation, representation and participation in Australia’s WHS laws. If you’re an HSR [Health and Safety Representative], there’s a short additional section specific to that role.”

I find some of the questions and its focus odd.

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Workplace safety reform is happening but you probably won’t hear about it in the headlines

Occupational health and safety (OHS) can feel like a humdrum career when working in a low-risk, well-managed organisation. But the wheels of change roll on. Here’s a quick sample of some of that activity over the last week or so that you are unlikely to see elsewhere.

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Victoria’s Psychosocial Reforms will Test Employer Commitment to OHS

The Victorian Government plans to introduce legislation regarding psychosocial hazards, similar to that of all other Australian jurisdictions, by the end of 2025. But what workplace changes are expected when this new set of occupational health and safety regulations is enacted? Other States’ laws may provide clues.

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Workplace safety, AI , and what the Victorian Premier said

Last week’s International Workers’ Memorial Day in Melbourne is stuck in the back of my mind, niggling into my thoughts. I reread the article I wrote at the time and realised that it did not outline what was said by Victorian Trades Hall Council Secretary, Luke Hilakari or the Premier, Jacinta Allan. Below are my takeaways from Hilakari’s speech and a slightly edited transcript of the Premier’s speech.

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The 2024 WorkSafe Victoria Awards night

At the end of February 2025, WorkSafe Victoria held its annual awards night. The event met all of its requirements on the night—recognizing excellence and rewarding it—but it should also be a launching pad for innovation in occupational health and safety (OHS) and a media event in the broadest sense.

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OHS and the CFMEU

Australian media and politicians have been frothing over revelations and allegations of criminal and bikie gang influence in the country’s largest construction industry trade union, the CFMEU (Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union). The coverage has been almost entirely concerned with industrial relations, but occupational health and safety (OHS) is present in any trade union scandal, though usually on the fringes. OHS appeared in several areas of the controversy in late August 2024.

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If you don’t sound the alarm, who will?

Last week the Australian Institute of Health and Safety (AIHS) National Conference contained some excellent speakers and one or two stinkers. (I will not be reporting on the last speaker of the conference, who spent his first ten minutes “roasting”. i.e. insulting the delegates!) Safe Work Australia’s Marie Boland was an important and informative speaker who nudged the occupational health and safety profession to be more active.

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