state of knowledge – SafetyAtWorkBlog

When Productivity Reform Stops at the Easy Bits

Regarding free access to some Australian Standards, an astute reader pointed me to a previous SafetyAtWorkBlog article from March 2023 and connected Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ 2026 Budget papers more closely to the issue of productivity and what was NOT included in the latest Budget – open access to government-funded research. At that time, I wrote:

“On March 17 2023, the Australian government released the Productivity Commission’s latest 5-year Productivity Inquiry report. At well over a thousand pages, few people are going to read it to the level it deserves. Nor will I, but I have dipped into it and found a couple of important comments that relate directly to the management of occupational health and safety (OHS).

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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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Why Quad Bike Safety Reform Keeps Stalling

Safe Work Australia’s (SWA) latest consultation on quad bike safety is another reminder that fatalities and serious injuries continue despite years of guidance, rebates, training campaigns and polite encouragement. The evidence laid out in SWA’s consultation paper shows that harm has persisted even after “extensive education and awareness efforts”, so voluntary approaches have reached their limit. When a hazard keeps killing people in the same predictable ways, the question is no longer whether we need stronger regulation but why it has taken so long to get there. This moment demands more than another round of messaging — it demands decisions that actually change the machines people ride and the conditions they ride them in.

Below is my submission to SWA’s consultation process on improving the safety of quad bikes used in the workplace. I strongly encourage everyone to participate.

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Compliance is Not Safety and Data is Not Wisdom

In the 1990s, there was a significant discussion about “Big Data”. Organisations had begun working digitally due to rapid technological growth and the digitisation of historical records. But the data was so large at the time that its usefulness was questionable. Big Data was of only historical and archival importance until artificial intelligence (AI) tools were developed. Now organisations can turn their Big Data into commercial products and services. International law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer may be a model of the future.

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“Words and gestures … can only be genuine when they are backed by doing”

As I write this, hundreds of workers’ memorial services are taking place around the world. I usually attend the Melbourne, Victoria, event and wish I could have been there today because one speaker, Lana Cormie, transcended the usual politics and platitudes to outline a broader strategy for occupational health and safety (OHS) reform.

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Why Employers Keep Designing Psychological Harm into Work

By now, SafetyAtWorkBlog readers are well aware that the ways to prevent psychosocial hazards and manage psychological harm and safety are well established. A brand-new global report from the International Labour Organisation in support of next week’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work provides excellent information on psychosocial hazards, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to know why these hazards exist and thought the ILO report may offer some answers or clues.

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Dr Kat Page’s Good Work Book Is A Blueprint for Preventing Harm

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 exercise in mutual admiration. Last week, Page released her book called “Good Work: Transform Your Work from the Inside Out“. Finally, a book by an organisational psychologist on redesigning work, aimed at preventing harm.

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