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.
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.
