Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Brodie Panlock. I have been thinking of her a lot over the last few months as Victorian employers (finally) start to seriously consider their legislative obligations to provide a mentally safe and healthy work environment. I wonder whether the new psychosocial safety regulations had been in place in 2005-06, Brodie Panlock would have lived.
[Note: This article discusses issues related to suicide.]
Australia’s efforts to enhance the health and safety of its workers are hindered by the constitutional framework, which assigns responsibility for occupational health and safety (OHS) to local jurisdictions.
Recent comments by a Federal Minister on sexual harassment illustrate this dilemma, which is not restricted to OHS.
Short 5- or 6-minute summaries of SafetyAtWorkBlog articles are available on Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud. The three latest episodes discuss working from home, psychosocial regulations and work-related suicide.
I have tried to stay brief, as we are all busy, and more information, quotes, links, and profiles can be found in the original blog articles.
Please let me know if you find these (clearly) home-produced summaries useful.
Workers and employers seem to be facing more and more traumatic events at work, but are we? An interesting article on the topic (paywalled) was in the UK newspaper The Times on September 27 2025, on the eve of the international Transform Trauma Oxford 2025, which discussed the “concept creep” of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is an important context to consider when preventing psychosocial hazards in the workplace and managing psychological risks.
Work-related suicide is more insidious in some ways than non-work suicide, as it is institutionally stigmatised to the extent that its reality has been denied. There is an additional level of complexity when an employer is in control of the work, and a strong economic ideology often denies the influence of work factors. The tide is turning, but organisational factors are not receiving the prominence they deserve, and the change remains slow.
New Australian research is playing a crucial role in accelerating this change.
Note: This article discusses issues related to suicide.
[Guest post by Eric Windholz]
Last week I again had the pleasure to contribute to the Headfirst: A Concussion Podcast, this time talking about recent developments concerning the compensation of athletes (and in particular, AFL (Australian Football League) players) suffering concussion. The key takeaway – the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Continue reading “Australian Football Needs Better Workers Compensation”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.
