Category: risk

Culture is the New Compliance in Victoria’s Psychological Health Code

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?

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Polishing What Exists: Making Sense of the New Psych Safety Code

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.

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When Jurisdiction Blocks Safety Justice for Learner Drivers

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.

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The ACT’s Evasive Response to Horse Racing Safety Questions

On September 17, 2025, Jo Clay, deputy leader of the ACT Greens, asked the Minister for Skills, Training and Industrial Relations, Michael Pettersson, about workplace deaths in the Australian Capital Territory horse racing industry, pointedly:

“What regulatory action is the government taking to try to make this industry safer?”

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Are the Business Council’s Objections to Working From Home Changes Genuine?

Victoria’s consultation on its work-from-home proposals closes this weekend. The government has claimed over 18,000 submissions and interactions, but none of them are yet publicly available. The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has garnered recent media attention, pre-empting the closure of the consultation. The BCA could have a more mature discussion on the concept and practice of working from home, but perhaps it realises that the argument has already been lost.

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Rethinking Trauma in the Workplace

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.

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Every Worker Deserves A Good Life

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.

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