Occupational health and safety in Australia continues to have a low political and commercial profile, but that does not deny that we have significant OHS contributors. At a recent awards ceremony, WorkSafe Victoria recognised Tracey Browne (pictured above) for her contribution to OHS.
But other speeches raised other interesting OHS issues, especially regarding farm safety.
Psychological safety dominated the 2025 WorkSafe Victoria Awards held in late February 2026. (At somepoint, WorkSafe is going to have to bring the awards back to the Safety Month schedule of October) This is perhaps not surprising, as psychological safety and psychosocial hazards remain hot issues in Victoria, but some other important finalists shone.
A recent radio forum on working from home reinforced the political motivation behind promoting it as a legal right and also highlighted the knowledge gaps we have about it. Occupational health and safety (OHS) was mentioned in the discussion, but its core significance was again downplayed.
Over twenty years, Finland decreased the male suicide rate by 61%. What can the rest of us learn from that country’s achievement?
[The following article discusses the management of suicide and suicide prevention.]
One of the best summaries of burnout was an article in The Guardian on February 15 2026, written by Zing Tsjeng, titled “Facing meltdown? Over 75% of people suffer from burnout – here’s what you need to know” (paywalled). It has its flaws, but the selection of sources, including Christina Maslach, is impressive.
Discussions about “the human condition” rarely make it into board papers or safety strategies, yet they sit underneath almost every modern workplace challenge. Whether we’re talking about psychosocial hazards, insecure work, presenteeism, or the slow cultural erosion that comes from constant restructuring, the through‑line is unmistakable: work is a profoundly human activity, and when we forget that, harm follows.
Queensland doctors face an increased risk of burnout, but details have not been shared.
Several Australian media outlets reported on some survey results provided by Queensland Health, such as:
““One of the key results was that 49 per cent of clinicians surveyed met the threshold for risk of burnout, with burnout risk higher in rural and regional areas compared to metro areas.”
