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.
My small- and micro-business clients have often asked whether they are covered by workers’ compensation insurance even if they do not pay a workers’ compensation premium. The easy answer is, it depends, which is very unhelpful. But there are some answers, sort of, in a way.
At this point, I remind readers that I am not a lawyer and have very little experience in workers’ compensation. The information below is for consideration only.
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.
You should have heard by now that Safe Work Australia (SWA) has come through with guidance on having work-related suicides included in each jurisdiction’s occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation as incidents that will require notification to the local OHS regulator. If you haven’t, get a new OHS or Human Resources (HR) adviser because the future will be a bumpy, uncomfortable and challenging ride.
Warning: this article discusses suicide.
To truly understand occupational health and safety (OHS) issues, it is necessary to examine OHS concerns beyond one’s own industry. Recently, this blog has reported on some parliamentary debates on OHS in the horse racing industry. The November edition of The Monthly includes an exposé of the OHS of Australia’s horse racing industry by freelance writer, Madison Griffiths, with lessons for all of us on morality, Godliness, accountability and leadership. The article is paywalled but well worth the purchase.
The media is providing extensive coverage of the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government on 11 November 1975. Shortly before that date, Australia came within a whisker of mirroring New Zealand and gaining a national no-fault accident compensation scheme.
This would have provided:
“.a national rehabilitation and compensation scheme for Australia so that all who suffer disabling injuries, whether at home or at work, are provided with adequate income cover.”
Below is an article I wrote about this missed opportunity in October 2014 shortly after Whitlam’s death.
