That sex work is a legitimate occupation is far less contentious in Australia than in the past, but the reality still requires reinforcement every so often, and we can all learn things from this industry.
On October 23, 2025, Greens Member of Parliament, Abigail Boyd, asked the New South Wales Parliament to recognise
Continue reading “Sex Work in the New South Wales Parliament”Recently WorkSafe Victoria revealed that in 2025:
“In the first half of this year, 174 Workcover claims have been lodged from the construction industry, from falls alone. A further 34 businesses have been charged and another 28 duty holders faced legal action, accumulating more than 2.54 million in fines, undertakings and costs. That already tops the entire 2024 figure of $1.65 million from 33 charged or prosecuted entities.”
I had the opportunity to ask WorkSafe’s Chief Health and Safety Officer, Sam Jenkin (pictured above), why such a well-known workplace hazard persists.
WorkSafe Victoria has just concluded a Safe Work Month webinar on psychosocial hazards and psychological risks, attended by around 14,000. The content was familiar to anyone who has been following the development of Victoria’s new occupational health and safety (OHS) over the last four years, but it was an important communications opportunity for WorkSafe with useful insight into employers’ perspectives on mental health at work.
Niru Tyagi recently wrote on LinkedIn about Denmark’s regulatory approach to work-related psychosocial hazards, comparing it the current Australian approach, framing Denmark as creating an industrial obligation. It is a perceptive comparison but downplays the significance in Australia of the criterion of reasonably practicable.
One of my previous employers was highly committed to occupational health and safety (OHS), but always gave the program, the schedule or utilisation a higher priority. Whether that was a justifiable compliance level was of little concern, as long as the auditors recertified the OHS management systems. The company realised their approach to OHS was not working, so it turned its focus on “critical risks”, which were, bluntly, anything that would kill you. But such was the strength of the culture that even this focus on critical risks failed to cut through and give OHS the respect that it legislatively deserves.
Matthew Hallowell‘s latest book, “Energy-Based Safety – A Scientific Approach to Preventing Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs)“, discusses this focus on critical risks.
Just over a week ago, RMIT University’s research funding program, SHINe, conducted its inaugural symposium. This symposium was both new and fascinating. It was overbooked with a considerable weight list, I think, because of the international safety research guests, but the fact that an event in Safe Work Month was free might have helped. The research by the Construction Safety Research Alliance (CSRA) for the United States was a highlight.
Mental health in the construction industry is a perennial occupational health and safety (OHS) concern – high levels of suicide, suicide ideation, depression, anxiety, etc, – the usual suspects. Research into this has been robust in Australia, with the work of Professor Helen Lingard and the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce, among others. Recently, I heard about the Wellness in Infrastructure organisation for the first time.
