Where Workplace Health and Safety Is Going in Australia – A Glimpse into the Future

Australia’s work health and safety (WHS) regime is changing. Gone are the days of WHS compliance. WHS is becoming the strategic, cultural, and operational heartbeat of contemporary organisations. It is being driven by a record-high national strategy in the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2023–2033 by SafeWork Australia and is being assisted by proactive, on-the-ground leadership from Commonwealth regulators like Comcare.

Whereas the last decade was characterised by harmonisation of regulation and sensitisation, the next decade will be characterised by deep embedding of security far into the very business-making ethos, especially given that work itself is being reconfigured at accelerating speeds.

A National Strategy Rooted in Vision and Purpose

At the heart of Australia’s WHS revolution is the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2023–2033, a single strategy with one ambitious goal: to eliminate death, injury, and illness in the workplace by encouraging good WHS practice in every workplace and industry. It’s not simply fewer numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s healthy and safe work, being the very essence of what Australia represents. The vision of “Safe and healthy work for all” positions safety not as a compliance issue, but as an economic and social imperative.

The Strategy establishes a set of measurable targets to oversee this change. They are a 30% decrease in deaths of workers from traumatic injury, a 20% decrease in serious injury claims, and a 15% decrease in cases of permanent impairment. More specific outcomes must be included in the report, e.g., the eradication of new incidences of accelerated silicosis by 2033 and a significant decrease in occupational respiratory disease incidence rates.

But most of all, their highest level of need might not be measurable. Perhaps it is cultural. The Strategy challenges us to shift from the “how to do WHS” problem to the “why we do WHS” problem. It is an adult system, where safety is a basis of trust, because that will affect productivity, and for survival in the long term, more than compliance activity.

From Strategy to Action: What 2024 Taught Us

While the strategies provide the vision, the day-to-day activities of the regulators breathe life into the vision. Comcare, being the Commonwealth jurisdiction national WHS regulator of Australia, in 2024 took great steps towards making the national strategy objectives a reality.

One of its most significant achievements was increased regulation to tackle psychosocial hazards. The release of the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice 2024 was groundbreaking, providing clear English guidance on workplace psychological health management under law. This was supported by the presence of an expert in-house Psychosocial Regulation team within Comcare, not only policing but also providing trauma-informed awareness training and forums around the country.

Simultaneously, the government launched a wave of targeted aggressive measures to avert exposure to poisonous chemicals at work. The ban on engineered stone, starting in July 2024, and the remainder of the general requirements for crystalline silica, coming into effect in September, are suggestive of increasing intolerance for occupational exposure with long-term health-catastrophic effects. The standards are backed by enforcement initiatives such as mandatory risk control plans, air monitoring, and health surveillance programs for exposed workers.

Comcare’s compliance activity also ramped up in 2024. The agency initiated over 1,200 compliance and enforcement activities, including five WHS prosecutions. From on-site visits to high-risk sectors like construction and transport, new training offerings reached over 15,000 students through methods of live and independent learning.

Most encouraging for the future of the system was the pilot success of the Psychosocial Inspection Program. Piloted in isolation, the program demonstrated a dramatic improvement in PCBU awareness and commitment to psychologically safe workplaces. It is being rolled out nationally in 2025.

Responding to a Changing World of Work

Little surprise, therefore, that the character of work itself is changing at a breakneck pace. Not only does the Australian WHS Strategy acknowledge that, but it positively expects that it will happen. The Strategy charts new risks in the era of digitalisation, gig work and hybrid economy jobs, climate change, and the ageing of the workforce.

Hybrid work practices, ushered in by the pandemic, have introduced new psychosocial hazards such as isolation, burnout, and boundary blurring between work and life. Climate hazards—such as heat stress, flooding, and exposure risk of emerging pathogens—are also generating new safety challenges, especially for outdoor and frontline workers.

The. Strategy also endorses workplace safeguarding of the vulnerable groups of workers, such as young workers, culturally and linguistically diverse workers, and precarious work arrangements. These workers are exposed to greater risks and have no knowledge or power to represent themselves.

Contractor health and safety and supply chain risk management are the prime future priorities. With increasing third-party labour available for more and more organisations, additional common duty between PCBUs is more difficult to obtain, but more than ever, it is required. Complexity calls for nearer guidance, more robust systems of consultation, and regular monitoring of compliance.

Reinventing the Role of Health and Safety Representatives

A further trend that is gaining momentum and is most likely to influence WHS over the coming two years is the revitalisation of the Health and Safety Representatives’ (HSRs) role. Comcare significantly expanded its HSR coverage in 2024 by almost doubling its subscriber numbers to more than 1,900 representatives. A number of tools, such as a new HSR Handbook, an eLearn module, and forums, have been created to build capability and promote HSR-facilitated consultation in workplaces.

By investing in HSRs, not only will the system fall into place, but also enhance the quality of its front-line ability to anticipate and fix health and safety issues before they become cost issues.

A New Culture of Safety and Leadership

The most challenging part of the Strategy is likely to be the summons to fresh thinking. It’s a summons to employers to escape the compliance mindset and place WHS at the forefront of leadership priorities. Those organisations that are showing the safety lead aren’t merely preventing injuries, they’re maximising productivity, conserving turnover, and building reputational trust.

It will take investment in research, education, and cross-sector collaboration to deliver that cultural change. Safe Work Australia has set the foundation for achieving that through best-practice knowledge transfer, leadership and evidence-based policy direction across jurisdictions. Strong consultation will be needed to move forward with workers, industries, and unions in the future to develop effective and sustainable WHS solutions as partnership outcomes.

Conclusion: National Safety as a Shared Interest

Work health and safety for Australia’s future of work is not a dream but an evidence-informed, accountable, and collaborative strategy. Over the next ten years of change and innovation, Australia will progress, and WHS will no longer be on the fringe of business activity. It will be at the forefront of how we work, how we lead our people, and how we measure success.

Safe and healthy work is not a regulation to be complied with anymore it is ever more the mark of good leadership, long-term business success, and business sustainability. From addressing challenging hazards like psychosocial hazards and exposure to crystalline silica to extending WHS to supply chains and virtual workplaces, the challenges organisations are being put under are more stringent and exacting than ever.
The businesses that will flourish are those that proactively seize this transformation those that no longer see WHS as a limitation, but as a possibility.

How Bramwell Partners Can Assist Your Company

Bramwell Partners understands that the path ahead to the future of WHS is not merely keeping abreast of legislative development. It requires strategic guidance, practical solutions, and commitment to transforming culture.

We help organisations implement next-generation adult safety systems that go beyond compliance to design suitably safe and sustainable workplaces. Our WHS specialists can help with:

•      New law update rollout and interpretation, such as the psychosocial Code of Practice and silica risk reform.
•          Tailored WHS management system development for operational and national strategy goals
•      Auditing, gap analysis, and system reviewing to future-proof your safety solution
•      Developing the capability of your internal personnel through HSR training, eLearning, and leadership engagement
•       Facilitating consultation processes and systemic adoption of best-practice risk management by your employees

As WHS obligations become more embedded, more complicated, and more rigorously scrutinised, it’s a necessity to have your safety management system documented and upgraded.