Category: research

Australia’s Migrant Majority and the New Realities for OHS

Australia is living through a demographic and economic shift that is far more consequential for workplace safety than most organisations or regulators have acknowledged. George Megalogenis’ new book, Three Shocks, identifies three structural changes reshaping the nation: Australia is now a majority‑migrant country; professional women have overtaken blue‑collar men as the largest occupational group; and the geopolitical environment that once provided stability has become unpredictable. These shocks are lived realities in workplaces, and they demand an occupational health and safety (OHS) overhaul.

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Systems Thinking Remains the Blind Spot in Australia’s Leadership Conversation

Australian employers keep saying they’re improving how they manage mental health at work, yet the basic problem remains: HR and OHS still operate in silos. You can see it in every psychological injury case where HR handles the person, and OHS handles the paperwork, but no one fixes the work. A recent episode of The Caring CEO featuring a conversation between Graeme Cowan and Kat Page showed how close we are to integrating people management and work design — and how far we still have to go.

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The Royal Commission Needs Strong Consideration of OHS Actions and Consequences

The Victorian Government, under its new leader, Ben Carroll, has announced the “Royal Commission into the Integrity of Major Public and Civil Infrastructure Construction Projects in Victoria“. The Terms of Reference (ToR) have largely been praised for their breadth, but do they have any occupational health and safety (OHS) relevance? Early reporting of the government’s announcement often mentioned that the

“…lawful, legitimate and appropriate actions taken by parties under occupational health and safety laws and regulations.”

But there is more to consider.

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Open Access to PHSCon articles

In September 2026, I will be reporting from the Psych Health and Safety Conference (PHSCon) in Sydney. It is the pre-eminent workplace mental health conference in Australia and is it its third year.

In support of the 2026 conference, I have opened some of my PHSCon articles from 2024. These articles illustrate the high calibre of speakers this conference attracts and, hopefully, shows the worth of subscribing to the SafetyAtWorkBlog for these exclusive reports.

I David Daniels’ US perspective on psychosocial risks at work
Slow progress on mental health at work
Psychosocial incidents to be notifiable in Australia

Concussion Reform Won’t Happen Until We Stop Pretending Sport Is Exempt from OHS

The risk of concussion in professional sports is getting an increasing amount of attention, and the prevention of harm is starting to be considered, but the consequences of the changes required are being resisted or, perhaps more accurately, dreaded.

A recent article by John Hennessy of the Community Concussion Research Foundation (CCRF) in the Australian Financial Review highlights progress toward serious consideration of harm prevention in sporting workplaces.

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AFL Concussion Chaos Shows Why Players Must Be Returned to Workers’ Compensation

I have been writing about concussion and CTE prevention in professional sports, especially the Australian Football League (AFL), for a while. The current controversy in Australia is concerning a risk waiver. This debate should generate interest in workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety. This guest post from Eric Windholz (there have been others) is a major part of that conversation catalyst.

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The Psych Blueprint That Knows the Research but Misses the Workers

The reality of needing to provide psychologically healthy and safe work seems to have been widely accepted, if not still well understood, if the number of corporate work-related psychological assessment and management programs is any indication. One of the most recent is “The Psychosocial Safety Blueprint” published by Culture Plus Consulting’s Felicity Menzies. The blueprint is interesting until the document’s marketing purpose starts to dominate.

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