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.
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.
WorkSafe Victoria used to launch National Safe Work Month (or Safe Work Week as it started out) in a big way in Melbourne. They tried something similar when it relocated to Geelong, but this year, there was nothing of the same magnitude. There was some strong publicity benefit from having a big half- to full-day event at the start, but apparently, there was no additional benefit beyond that.
I would argue that the big event for this year’s safety month is the “Psychological Health Regulations: A focus on risk management” webinar on October 27, 2025. The new regulations and Compliance Code are what everyone seems to be talking about. For contrast, I have reviewed some of the presentations from the opening of WorkSafe Week in October 2012 by WorkSafe and VECCI.
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.
The most significant challenges for employers in Victoria’s new OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations, supported by a new Compliance Code, are likely to be fostering a strong workplace safety culture. Occupational health and safety (OHS) advocates have been emphasising the importance of culture for several decades now (Sociologists examined it decades before). It appears that we will be hearing a great deal more about culture for some time to come, but what is expected of employers?
Prominent occupational health and safety (OHS) lawyers Dale McQualter and Catherine Dunlop have just concluded the first of two online seminars about Victoria’s new psychological/psychosocial regulations and compliance code. Many employers will have a lot of work to do to comply, but the overall sense was one of reassurance.
