Safe Work Month focuses on being safe 365 days of the year

Saving lives by raising awareness about workplace health and safety is the focus of National Safe Work Month this October.

Safety doesn’t happen by chance or guesswork; safety is everyone’s business.

The Office of Industrial Relations offers a full program of events during Safe Work Month, providing a great opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to improving work health and safety, rehabilitation and return to work outcomes in your workplace.

October’s program includes the Work Well Conference in Brisbane, two Work Well Regional Breakfast Forums (in Rockhampton and Cairns), and free online webinars as part of the Work Well Speaker series.

Each week of Safe Work Month is dedicated to a particular safety topic designated by Safe Work Australia. This year the focus is on work health and safety fundamentals, psychosocial hazards, risk management fundamentals and musculoskeletal injuries.

This year’s Work Well Conference is on 22 October and will showcase leading safety experts including Dr Kirsten Way, Associate Professor and Program Director at the Centre for Business and Organisational Psychology at The University of Queensland, sleep and fatigue research expert, Professor Drew Dawson and change strategist and Morning Show contributor, Michael McQueen who explores the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

While Dr Deborah Simmons OAM will tell her story of the post-traumatic stress she suffered after saving the lives of miners involving in a serious explosion at Moranbah, at the Work Well Conference in Brisbane and at the regional events in Cairns and Rockhampton.

Topics featured in the free Work Well Speaker series include how to consult with workers effectively, mastering mental health conversations with workers and managing airborne contaminants in the workplace.

Queensland Mental Health Week also falls during Safe Work Month—running from 5–13 October.

WHSQ’s focus for this series of events is on fostering mentally healthy workplaces and managing the risk of psychosocial hazards in the workplace. The flagship event of this week is the World Mental Health Day breakfast on 10 October, which will be hosted by Queensland’s Mental Health Ambassador, Hayley Lewis, who will also moderate a discussion with a panel of experts on the topic of sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment in the workplace.

For more information and to register for these events go to Safe Work Month 2024 | WorkSafe.qld.gov.au.

Quotes attributable to Deputy Director General Donna Heelan

“Safety is everyone’s business.

“This Safe Work Month take the time to talk about workplace health and safety with your team your family and your colleagues.

“We know that if you take action to talk about safety and to raise the importance of safety in the workplace, workers are more likely to be proactive and follow safety procedures and manage the risks.

“We all have a right to come home safe and healthy at the end of every working day.

“We urge Queenslanders to engage with Safe Work Month, it may just save a life”.

Media contact: OIRMedia@oir.qld.gov.au or 0478 33 22 00