Safe Work Australia Urges Employers to Address Hidden Occupational Health Risks

This is a workplace-health campaign update, not an announcement of a new law or a new exposure limit.

A focused review of one workplace hazard

Workplaces are encouraged to identify one physical or psychosocial hazard, discuss its possible health effects and use the campaign's Health Hazards Map activity to review controls. The resources also explain the hierarchy of controls and the importance of addressing risks at their source.

Safe Work Australia develops national policy; enforcement and regulation sit with the relevant Commonwealth, state and territory authorities.

HSE Blog analysis: make the review specific

A useful discussion should describe the actual task, who performs it and when exposure occurs. For chemical-related work, HSE Blog's explanation of hazardous-substance risk assessment offers background on identifying exposure and evaluating controls. COSHH is a UK framework and should not be presented as Australian law.

Applying the hierarchy of control can help teams question whether a hazard can be removed, substituted or isolated. A poster or training session alone does not demonstrate that risk has been adequately controlled.

For each chosen issue, a review can identify the existing control, how its effectiveness is checked and who will address any gap. These are HSE Blog suggestions for putting the campaign into practice, rather than additional requirements announced in the update.

Source: Safe Work Australia: Go beyond injuries for week 2 of National Safe Work Month, 12 October 2026. Featured image is an editorial illustration.