2026 Finalist Summaries
HSR of the Year Finalists
Paul Cooper
Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service
Paul works as a frontline clinician in one of the highest acuity units – the Trauma and Cardiothoracic Inpatient Unit (the Unit). Every day, he and his colleagues provide care to people who have experienced trauma-related injuries or require cardiothoracic care. Most patients are acutely unwell and they, and their families, are dealing with one of the most challenging times of their lives. This can drive challenging behaviours, including occupational violence, and the repeated exposure to this environment creates an ongoing risk of psychosocial harm to the team. Paul has worked in this complex environment since he commenced with Gold Coast Health in 2012 and has been the Unit’s Health and Safety Representative (HSR) for over five years. His extensive experience and understanding of the risks associated with his workplace has led to his ongoing success in the role, leading to positive change and enhanced safety for his team.
Meti Kitai
Cleanaway Pty Ltd
Meti Kitai is a respected Operator and Health, Safety and Environment Representative (HSER) whose leadership has delivered significant HSE improvements at Cleanaway's Yatala Health Services facility. Through his proactive approach to risk management, consultation and project oversight, Meti has led complex, high-risk initiatives while maintaining a focus on worker safety and wellbeing.His contributions include leading the safe recovery and rebuild of critical infrastructure following Cyclone Alfred in 2025, managing contractor safety across major works, overseeing a complex shredder relocation project, and strengthening site emergency preparedness through fire safety initiatives and confined space rescue exercises. Meti has also played a key role in improving site safety systems, incident investigations and workforce engagement.Known as a trusted advocate for frontline workers, Meti consistently promotes open communication, practical risk management and shared accountability for safety, helping to build a stronger HSE culture and deliver safer outcomes for employees, contractors and the workplace.
Emanuel Mason
City of Ballarat
Manny maintains an unwavering dedication to justice, safety, and dignity in the workplace. Most recently, he combined empathy with assertive advocacy to ensure a vulnerable worker was protected and supported through a traumatic experience, holding the employer accountable to their legal obligations, securing an independent review, and advocating for a safe return to work that has since set a precedent for how such matters are handled. His influence reaches further still, mentoring a new HSR through a crystalline silica exposure risk in street cleansing, and driving an engineering redesign that eliminated a hazardous manual handling risk in a floating water fountain's anchoring system.
WHS Rising Star Finalists
Joemike Almoguera
M80 Ring Road Completion (ACCIONA, MACA, AECOM)
Joemike Almoguera is the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) Compliance Advisor on the M80 Ring Road Completion Project, part of Victoria’s North East Link. Responsible for overseeing the safe movement of up to 300,000 truck journeys each month, Joemike recognised an opportunity to strengthen Chain of Responsibility (CoR) compliance and improve safety outcomes for workers, subcontractors, drivers and the wider community.Drawing on his experience in transport, logistics and the Australian Defence Force, Joemike developed an innovative framework to monitor fatigue management, speeding, approved routes and load limits in real time. Through strong stakeholder engagement, training and leadership, he successfully embedded the system across the project despite initial resistance.The innovation has delivered significant safety improvements, including substantial reductions in speeding and fatigue alerts, increased compliance, and a stronger culture of accountability. The framework is now being considered as a leading safety practice for other major infrastructure projects.
Dylan Cubitt
Skilltech, a Downer
Dylan Cubitt has rapidly established himself as an emerging WHS leader, delivering measurable improvements in safety performance across Skilltech's national Metering business. Supporting a geographically dispersed workforce that undertakes approximately one million property visits each week, Dylan has focused on addressing high-consequence risks including dog attacks, occupational violence and aggression, lone work and vehicle-related hazards. Through a combination of practical innovation, strong stakeholder engagement and a commitment to operational ownership, Dylan has strengthened early intervention and injury reporting practices, improved workforce participation in safety conversations and introduced new controls to better protect workers in the field. His leadership has helped transform safety learning and collaboration across the business while contributing to a significant reduction in recorded injury rates. Dylan's ability to translate safety strategy into practical, frontline solutions has earned the trust of workers and leaders alike, positioning him as a highly promising future leader within the WHS profession.
Rachael Franich
Downer Energy & Utilities
Rachael Franich is a WHS Rising Star because she consistently transforms frontline concerns into practical, measurable safety improvements. Over the past 18 months, she has played a pivotal role in rebuilding trust in the Logan Water HSE function, strengthening relationships with operational leaders, delivery partners and workers while driving meaningful improvements in safety performance and engagement. Rachael helped lift lead indicator completion, improved the visibility and usability of safety systems through digital innovation, delivered Supervisor Fundamentals across Queensland and influenced the development of Delivery Partner Fundamentals to strengthen contractor capability. What distinguishes Rachael is her ability to engage people before issues escalate. She listens to workers, recognises weak signals and converts stakeholder concerns into sustainable improvements. Through initiative, persistence and authentic leadership, she has improved HSE outcomes not only within Logan Water but across the regional Water business, demonstrating the capability and influence expected of a future WHS leader.
Ciara Freeman
Melbourne Park
Ciara Freeman gave up an established career in event management to join Melbourne Park's safety team in January 2025. It was a genuine leap, starting again in a profession she had not trained for, and she has spent the eighteen months since making the most of it.What sets her apart is her appetite for the problems the profession has not yet solved. She took on psychosocial risk as the new regulations arrived, when there was no settled method to follow, and set about building one. She established Melbourne Park's noise management program from the ground up, bringing in occupational hygienists and gathering exposure data across the full range of our events, which now underpins how we select hearing protection.Ciara has done all of this while working through a Graduate Diploma in OHS at RMIT, learning the profession and delivering in it at the same time.
Ben Mann
St John WA
In five years as a workplace health and safety professional, Ben Mann has progressed from Safety Advisor to Safety Team Lead at St John WA, demonstrating initiative, innovation and leadership potential. Ben leads a multidisciplinary team supporting more than 8,500 volunteer and employed team members across Western Australia. His contributions include leading St John WA’s first live interactive WHS dashboard, creating a heat stress procedure for remote operations, and expanding the Health and Safety Representative network from seven representatives to 32 and still growing. These initiatives have improved access to safety information, strengthened consultation and enabled earlier identification and management of risk. Ben combines the discipline and systems thinking developed through his RAAF and aircraft engineering career with a practical, people-centred approach to WHS. His progression, influence and ability to convert complex safety issues into workable improvements establish him as an emerging leader in workplace health and safety.
Rachel Marlais
BMD
Rachel Marlais is an emerging WHS professional who turns safety strategy into practical frontline action. At BMD, she coordinates strategy delivery, workforce consultation and campaign feedback for the enterprise safety reset, including Clear the Clutter and Full Power Safety. Her contribution helped translate more than 1,600 workforce suggestions into clearer critical-risk guidance and a campaign reaching more than 1,400 BMD workers and 7,000 subcontractors across 120 projects. Since launch, rolling High Potential Incident counts reduced by 41% for Mobile Plant and Equipment and 33% for Critical Service Strikes, while 90% of surveyed workers reported feeling more empowered to make safe decisions. Before BMD, Rachel supported Fulton Hogan’s Living Safely 2.0 program, including the rollout of Living Safely Walks, The Living Safely Leadership Program development and critical-risk consultation. She combines clinical, rehabilitation, data and engagement experience with initiative, credibility and clear potential to become an influential safety leader.
Amy Nicholas
Amy Nicholas (Sole trader)
Amy Nicholas is an emerging WHS professional who has advanced the Australian state of knowledge on the management of psychosocial risk associated with occupational exposure to potentially traumatic events, materials and content. Through her 2025 Winston Churchill Fellowship report, Mitigating Vicarious Trauma: Adopting an Occupational Safety Approach, she gathered and synthesised international evidence into a practical framework that has supported WHS professionals and duty holders to better understand and control psychosocial risks arising from indirect trauma exposure in the workplace. Since publishing the report, Amy has worked independently as a specialist WHS consultant and subject matter expert, publicly championing the application of WHS principles and contemporary evidence to vicarious trauma mitigation. In her work as a consultant, she partners with government, not-for-profit and corporate organisations to strengthen approaches to risk controls for trauma-exposed workers across a diverse range of affected industries.
WHS Leader of the Year Finalists
Less than 1,000 employees
Josh Bryant
Mitchell Services Limited
Josh Bryant has transformed risk management at Mitchell Services from a compliance process into a practical system testing whether controls for fatal risk work in the field. In 2025, Mitchell Services and Deepcore Drilling completed over fifty thousand critical control verifications, 32 per cent more than in 2024, while the failure rate remained below 1 per cent. Josh connected critical risks, performance standards, field verification, operational learning and executive decision-making, and introduced the Fail Safely/Fail Lucky distinction so that fortunate outcomes were not mistaken for effective risk management. Josh's leadership supported a Serious Injury Frequency Rate of 0.0 in 2025, an almost 50 per cent reduction in equipment damage costs and hundreds of frontline-led improvements. Through public speaking, practitioner support, co-authoring the 4Ds for HOP and Learning Teams guide, and co-founding the Brisbane Safety Differently Book Club, Josh shares methods and unresolved challenges, extending his contribution beyond Mitchell Services.
Joel Chan
Minprovise International
Joel is a transformative HSEQ leader driving a culture of care across the mining industry and local government, operating on the firm principle, focus on people and everything else follows. Across complex multi-site environments, Joel built a custom internal application, re-engineering traditional HSEQ tools to suit the shutdown workforce, drastically lightening the supervisor’s backpack while collecting meaningful, results-driven data to drive realistic change. A dedicated mentor, he has a proven track record of upscaling frontline personnel into qualified corporate HSEQ positions, transitioning workers into roles like HSEQ Coordinators and Hygiene Technicians. In public service as an elected Councillor, Joel champions strategic rural road safety, volunteer protections, and psychosocial advancements. Across all sectors, Joel directly operationalises the consultation and duty of care principles of the WA WHS Act. Moving forward, he is embedding this sustainable blueprint via a Leadership Ethics Charter and risk-focused Operational Care Conversations.
Rick Najar
VIDA Rail
Rick Najar is a transformational safety leader who has shaped and delivered our widely recognised safety culture at VIDA Rail (formerly the Level Crossing Removal Project) and its broader delivery network.Under his leadership, safety has shifted from siloed, compliance-driven activity to a collaborative model that accelerates the adoption of effective controls and strengthens decision-making across projects. This is reinforced by a clear internal model, where the VIDA Rail safety team operates as an active, enabling client - supporting delivery partners to safely deliver, rather than defaulting to oversight alone.Rick has extended this influence beyond principal contractors, directly engaging subcontractor industries to co-develop practical, beyond-compliance solutions that lift safety performance across the sector.As a member of the VIDA Rail Executive Leadership Team, he has embedded safety into core decision-making, complemented by visible, values-driven leadership that positions safety as both a strategic priority and a shared way of working.
Andrew Pachioli
ADCO Constructions Pty Ltd
Andrew Pachioli has been a founding member of ADCO's WA leadership team since operations began in 2013, growing alongside the business to a now 121-strong WA team spanning project delivery, commercial, design and support functions. As HSE Manager and a member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), Andrew has led a sustained transformation in how our people understand, own and practise workplace health and safety.Under his leadership, ADCO WA's All Injury Frequency Rate reduced by 25%, achieved while hours worked nearly doubled from 2023 to 2025. This was driven by a strategic shift from compliance-focused reporting to a visible leadership model built on proactive risk management and shared WHS ownership across all levels of the business. Total lead-indicator activity increased 78% over the same period, with senior leadership inspections up 98%. Andrew also champions mental health, supporting 990+ workers through MATES General Awareness Training over the past two years.
Peter Westbrook
Gilbarco Veeder-Root Australia Pty Ltd
Peter Westbrook, EHS Director at Gilbarco Veeder-Root Australia Pty Ltd (approx. 230 employees), has driven outstanding strategic and innovative WHS leadership over the past 12–24 months. He pioneered a comprehensive Psychosocial Risk Program, the Actively Caring for People (AC4P) felt-leadership initiative, and an Early Intervention program that delivered a significant reduction in workplace injuries and a 96% reduction in lost time. Concurrently through his leadership, he implemented digital HSE systems and tools that drove a near-400% increase in employee engagement and gave leaders real-time visibility and greater control of operational risks. Using data-driven approaches, including the 2025 Positive Productivity Score survey and live operational risk review dashboards, Peter has embedded physical and psychological safety as core organisational priorities. His leadership has contributed to British Safety Council recognition for Australian sites and a culture where “Home Safe, Every Day” encompasses both physical and mental wellbeing.
WHS Leader of the Year Finalists
Greater than 1,000 employees
Tim Allred
Downer Energy & Utilities
Brian Gallop is the Manager – Safety, Injury Management and Prevention at St John WA, leading statewide safety, injury management and prevention across more than 8,500 employed and volunteer team members. Since commencing in June 2025, Brian has strengthened governance, accountability and frontline support across one of Australia’s most geographically dispersed emergency and healthcare organisations. He introduced the department’s first KPI framework, established confidential de-identified incident reporting to the Group CEO, strengthened regulatory and biological exposure processes, expanded regional engagement and developed his teams through cross-skilling, recognition and practical leadership. During FY26, St John WA’s LTIFR reduced by 20.6 per cent to 15.0, lost-time injuries reduced from 100 to 81, near-miss reporting increased by 76 per cent and workers’ compensation claim duration continued to improve. Brian’s leadership combines strategic governance, operational credibility and genuine care for people, embedding safety as an enabler of service delivery rather than a compliance function.
Louise Belcher
bp Australia
As Head of HSE Centre of Excellence, Dr Tim Allred has transformed how Downer Energy & Utilities develops safety leaders, builds HSE capability and manages emerging workplace risks across a workforce of approximately 5,500 employees. Over the past two years, Tim has repositioned the HSE Centre of Excellence as a highly connected capability function, bringing together four Heads of HSE, >80 HSE professionals, and operational leaders to address complex HSE challenges collaboratively. He has led the deployment of leadership initiatives including Leading Wellbeing & Performance, expanded Supervisor Fundamentals capability programs and strengthened psychosocial risk management across Energy & Utilities. His work has directly contributed to the development of more than 200 frontline leaders, 69 operational leaders and organisational engagement reaching over 5,500 employees through the Our Safety Focus campaign. Through strategic leadership, collaboration and industry engagement, Tim has helped embed HSE as a leadership responsibility and organisational value rather than a compliance obligation.
Brian Gallop
St John WA
As HSSE Advisor for bp, Louise Belcher has strengthened the safety capability needed to support Australia and New Zealand’s energy transition. Recognising emerging WHS risks in EV charging infrastructure, she led cross-industry initiatives focused on critical risk management, including Arc Flash, Ground Disturbance, Principal Contractor Management, Psychosocial Safety and Safety Leadership.Over the past two years, Louise has brought together energy operators, contractors, technical experts and frontline workers to improve understanding of high-consequence risks and strengthen critical controls. Her initiatives have reached hundreds of workers and leaders, including more than 250 participants from 63 organisations at an industry-wide Arc Flash event and over 200 employees and contractors through Ground Disturbance and BYDA awareness programs.Through practical leadership, collaboration and a strong focus on learning, Louise has influenced behavioural change, strengthened contractor capability, improved risk management practices and helped lift workplace health and safety standards across the broader energy transition sector.
Rachel Jones
Fortescue
Rachel Jones has transformed how Fortescue manages health and safety, positioning it as a strategic capability that supports safe growth, operational excellence and innovation. As Head of Health and Safety and Operational Risk, she has strengthened risk management, critical controls, assurance, leadership capability and operational discipline across a large, complex and global business. Rachel led the development and organisation wide rollout of the Leading Safety Index, integrated Operational Risk into the Health and Safety function and advanced digital transformation through Enablon and AI enabled assurance. Under her leadership, Fortescue has achieved significant improvements in TRIFR and CIFR, while strengthening psychosocial health, contractor engagement and capability. Rachel is a strong, approachable and widely respected leader who genuinely cares about the safety and wellbeing of Fortescue’s people. Her authenticity, judgement and ability to connect with people at every level have made her highly regarded across the organisation and created lasting cultural change.
Caitlin Seaha
Downer Group – Social Infrastructure & Citizen Services
Caitlin Seaha leads Zero Harm Performance & Assurance for Downer's Social Infrastructure & Citizen Services business, a 13,000 worker portfolio across health, education, defence, justice, housing, transport and facilities management.She runs safety as an engineering discipline. Under her leadership the business stopped accepting that controls worked because a document said so, and started verifying it in the field. Her critical control program, “control the roll” fitted 177 handbrake alarms and inspected a further 117 vehicles that already carried auto apply electronic brakes, to implement an engineering controls to stop roll-away vehicle incidents. Caitlin spearheaded the deployment of a contractor management systems in targeted portfolios, to improve competency and assurance.She rebuilt her function around a service catalogue, automated workflows and live dashboards, so specialist safety effort follows the data rather than the loudest request. Recordables fell from 67 to 48 across two years while hazard and near miss reporting increased.
Best Recovery & Return to Work Finalists
Essential Energy - Beyond Compliance to Best Practice
Essential Energy
Essential Energy has built a leading Recovery and Return to Work system that enables injured and ill employees to achieve safe, timely and sustainable recovery while remaining connected to meaningful work. Operating across regional, rural and remote New South Wales, Essential Energy recognises that recovery outcomes are strongest when recovery is viewed as a shared responsibility between employees, leaders, health professionals, insurers and the organisation.Our integrated model combines a dedicated multidisciplinary Health Team, evidence-based recovery practices, comprehensive worker and leader education, early intervention programs, executive engagement and strong partnerships with EML and Oxley Insurance Brokers. Employees receive tailored support through our Health team, access to suitable duties, telehealth GP services, Medipacks, recovery planning and regular case reviews.This approach has delivered outstanding outcomes, with return-to-work rates consistently outperforming industry benchmarks across every reporting period while fostering a culture where employees are supported, valued and empowered to recover through work.
55% RTW Within 30 Days
Fortescue
Fortescue has introduced a leading return to work (RTW) measure that puts timely recovery at the centre of injury management. The target requires a 12-month rolling rate of at least 55% of injured workers resuming their preinjury duties or commencing an approved RTW program within 30 days of claim submission. This is an ambitious target for a company of Fortescue's size. Treating officers on site resolve many lower severity injuries/illnesses without a workers compensation claim. Therefore, injuries that progress to claim submission contain a greater concentration of higher complexity injuries and psychosocial conditions. Implementation brought together prompt suitable duties, accountability, practitioner engagement, and education. After commencing in October 2024, performance increased from 48.17% to 56.2% within eight months and remains above target today. This goal, and the changes behind it, reflect Fortescue's dedication to supporting recovery without compromising wellbeing or operational safety.
Gilbarco Veeder-Root Australia Pty Ltd
Gilbarco Veeder-Root Australia Pty Ltd
Gilbarco Veeder-Root Australia Pty Ltd (approximately 230 employees) introduced the Engagement, Care and Support (ECS) Program in 2025 to provide injured workers with rapid, no-cost access to medical triage, assessment and treatment, together with structured, capacity-based return-to-work pathways. The program is organisation-owned, voluntary, and operates nationally through partnerships with Kinnect triage and Sonic Health Plus network providers, while preserving employee choice of treating practitioner. It is closely integrated with the organisation’s WHS systems, psychosocial risk management and Actively Caring for People leadership approach. Within the first year the program delivered a 99% reduction in the total cost of workers’ compensation claims and reduced lost-time days from 1,255 in 2024 to 41 in 2025. These outcomes demonstrate a proactive, structured approach that prioritises early support, safe recovery and sustainable return to work for a geographically dispersed field and warehouse workforce.
Injury Management, Work Health and Safety
Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service
Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service's submission showcases the Integrated Return and Recovery at Work Framework (IRF), an innovative whole-of-organisation system which transformed rehabilitation from a reactive administrative process into an integrated, worker-centred operating model.GCHHS designed the IRF around six interconnected pillars: Immediate Clinical Response, Early Intervention and Clinical Coordination, Meaningful Work Pathways, Leadership Accountability, Organisational Intelligence, and Continuous Improvement.The IRF has delivered measurable improvements in both worker and organisational outcomes. More than 530 injured workers have accessed immediate clinical support through InjuryAssist, average lost time following injury reduced from 34 to 27 days, average statutory claim costs reduced from $21,000 to $12,700, and annual workers' compensation premiums reduced from $19.1 million to $15.7 million, while maintaining premiums at approximately 75% of the industry rate.
Zinfra Injury Management Team
Jemena/Zinfra Group
Zinfra’s Injury Management Team has transformed recovery and return-to-work through its Prevention-to-Participation Model, integrating prevention, rapid access to care, recovery at work, sustainable participation and organisational learning. Supporting more than 3,000 employees across Australia’s safety-critical energy utilities sector, the multidisciplinary team combines medical and allied health, workers compensation, legal, insurance and financial expertise to remove barriers to recovery. Bodycare physiotherapy, guaranteed MaxHealth GP access, Job Task Analysis resources and tailored recovery plans enable concerns to be addressed early, and capacity translated into meaningful work. In 2025, Bodycare prevented an estimated 151 workers compensation claims, avoided $1.2 million in claim costs and generated projected premium savings of $3.62 million over three years. The result is a prevention-first culture where employees are supported to stay well, recover safely and remain productive throughout their working lives, while every injury becomes an opportunity to strengthen future prevention.
Workplace Health & Safety by Altius - Outsourced RTW Coordinator
Workplace Health and Safety by Altius
Altius WHS established its nationally scalable Return to Work Coordination (RTWC) service to solve a persistent challenge for Australian employers: managing complex workers compensation obligations with limited internal resourcing and expertise, managing inconsistent jurisdictional requirements; and juggling continuity gaps caused by turnover, leave or short-term capacity constraints. Designed and led by the Altius WHS team, the outsourced RTWC model replaces fragmented and reactive claims management with a consistent, proactive and evidence-informed approach. It integrates early intervention, structured RTW planning, stakeholder coordination utilising a multidisciplinary team approach across WHS, allied health, organisational psychology and mediators. The service has delivered measurable improvements, including faster RTW outcomes, reduced claim duration, stronger sustainability and increased leader confidence in complex physical and psychological injury cases. By embedding RTW as an organisational capability, Altius WHS helps employers maintain compliance, protect workforce participation and achieve safer, more durable recovery outcomes across changing operational conditions.
Best Health & Wellbeing Strategy Finalists
BCE Health and Wellbeing Strategy
Brisbane Catholic Education
Brisbane Catholic Education’s (BCE) Health, Safety and Wellbeing Strategy 2023–2025 was developed in response to workforce data identifying wellbeing, psychosocial risk and injury management challenges across a workforce of more than 12,500 employees.Through integrated initiatives, the strategy strengthened leadership capability, employee participation and early support, helping to embed a culture of health and wellbeing across BCE.The strategy achieved measurable improvements in wellbeing, capability and recovery outcomes. A transition to an internally facilitated Wellbeing Champions network increased participation by 40%, expanding wellbeing leadership and local ownership across BCE workplaces. Respectful Communication and De-escalation Training reached 502 employees across 106 schools, strengthening capability to prevent and respond to occupational violence and aggression. Through BCE’s Injury Assist early intervention service, 71% of injuries were reported on the day of incident and 84% of employees remained at work on normal or modified duties following injury.
Brisbane Grammar School
Brisbane Grammar School
Brisbane Grammar School’s Workplace Health and Safety Strategy 2024–2028 delivers a whole-of-school approach to creating a safe, healthy and thriving workplace for approximately 500 employees across teaching, professional, operational and support roles. Building on the School’s People and Culture Strategy, the Staff Wellbeing Strategy and the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy frameworks integrate physical safety, psychological wellbeing, leadership accountability and employee engagement into everyday decision-making. The strategy is underpinned by six pillars: Beyond Compliance, Working Together, Health and Safety by Design, Leadership and Capabilities, Protect and Connect, and an Integrated Approach. Key initiatives include strengthened safety governance, proactive risk identification and reporting, psychosocial hazard management, wellbeing champions, staff consultation mechanisms, targeted training and enhanced support services. By embedding health, safety and wellbeing into culture, systems and leadership practices, Brisbane Grammar School has strengthened prevention, increased capability and awareness, fostered shared responsibility, and enhanced workforce resilience, connection and overall organisational wellbeing.
Built Wellbeing: Safer Minds, Stronger Teams, Sustainable Performance
Built
Built’s health and wellbeing strategy positions wellbeing as a core driver of safety, engagement and sustainable performance in construction. Over the past two years, Built has evolved its approach from standalone wellbeing initiatives into an integrated, leader-owned operating system embedded across WHS, People & Culture, onboarding, project start-up routines and team conversations. The strategy combines monthly Wellbeing Pulse Checks, psychosocial risk management, leadership capability development and practical self-enhancement programs including Built to Finish Stronger, the 8-Week Energy Challenge, Sonder 24/7 support and Mental Health First Aid. Its impact is demonstrated through stronger project-level wellbeing visibility, national pulse participation, improved psychosocial safety maturity, increased leader accountability and clearer action planning at team and project level. Engagement results further validate the approach, with Wellbeing and Safety emerging as Built’s highest-performing organisational category, confirming wellbeing as a measurable enabler of safer teams, stronger culture and sustainable performance.
Stay Well
Elecnor Australia
STAY WELL is Elecnor ANZ’s structured health and wellbeing strategy, developed from a Project EnergyConnect campaign into an ongoing organisational framework. The strategy was created following cardiovascular-related health events within the project workforce and now supports workers across project sites, camps and office environments. It is built around four pillars: LIVE WELL, MOVE WELL, EAT WELL and BE WELL. Together, these address physical health, movement, nutrition, mental wellbeing and early intervention.The initial campaign achieved strong engagement, with 894 participants, 1,602 health checks and an 81.0% cohort participation rate. It identified key cardiovascular and metabolic health risks and prompted GP follow-up for workers requiring further medical review.STAY WELL has now been embedded into Elecnor ANZ’s broader health and wellbeing approach, with defined governance, monitoring, annual review and measurable KPIs to guide ongoing delivery and continuous improvement.
Sherri Ring
Marinus Link
Marinus Link's workplace health & wellbeing strategy has delivered extraordinary outcomes across 28+ months on a high-pressure major infrastructure project. Built on the evidence-based integrated model of workplace mental health & co-designed with Pracademia (Prof. Angela Martin), the strategy established governance architecture, not just wellness activities. Psychosocial & Psychological Safety Frameworks, Board-level reporting, and leader-level KPIs, grounded in the Safe Work Australia Code of Practice for Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work, made psychosocial safety an organisational control.The Hierarchy of Controls was applied to psychosocial hazards before targeting individual behaviour, a prevention-first model that inverts conventional industry practice.November 2025 engagement survey (96% participation): overall engagement rose from 76% to 83% during 22% workforce growth. Zero psychological injury claims over 28+ months. Personal leave 5.2 days against a national benchmark of 8–10 days. 205% ROI formally modelled. Winner, Excellence in Wellness, Major Project or Company Award, inaugural National Wellness in Infrastructure Awards 2025.
NGM Group Psychosocial Risk Management Framework: Designing Safer Work, Stronger Leaders and Healthier Teams
Newcastle Greater Mutual Group (NGM Group)
NGM Group is a customer-owned financial institution operating across multiple states, with approximately 1,830 employees working in branch, contact centre and corporate environments. Its workforce supports customers through financial services, including roles that can involve emotional demands, customer vulnerability, organisational change and exposure to customer aggression.The organisation identified key health and wellbeing risks through incident trends, employee feedback, survey results, injury data and psychosocial risk assessments. These risks included workplace violence and aggression, workload pressures, fatigue, role clarity, change, leadership capability and emotional demands.In response, NGM Group developed a Psychosocial Risk Management Framework to prevent harm, intervene early, support recovery and promote positive work. The strategy applies across the organisation and embeds psychological health into governance, work design, recruitment, leadership capability, incident response and local risk controls, supporting a safer, healthier and more sustainable workplace.
Best WHS Training & Development Finalists
Emergency Services Skills Assessment (ESSA)
Emergency Management Community of Practice
The Emergency Services Skills Assessment (ESSA) is an industry-led capability assurance program designed to strengthen emergency response readiness in high-risk environments. Delivered through the Emergency Management Community of Practice (EMCoP), ESSA provides a structured, performance-based assessment of core emergency response skills in realistic operational scenarios.The program shifts traditional compliance-based models toward a consistent, transparent benchmark of capability—improving confidence, clarity and trust in workforce readiness. It standardises assessment across organisations, creates portability of skills, and supports ongoing professional development through structured feedback and reassessment pathways.ESSA is aligned with the AIHS Emergency Response Certification framework, enabling assessment outcomes to contribute to formal certification pathways and long-term professional recognition. This integration drives workforce capability, improves psychological safety, and supports the development of confident, competent emergency responders across industry.
Levande Work Well: Building Psychosocial Safety Capability
Levande
Levande’s Work Well program is a structured, organisation-wide psychosocial safety training initiative designed to strengthen capability across a geographically dispersed, resident-facing workforce. Developed following a comprehensive Psychosocial Health and Safety Review, the program forms a key deliverable of Levande’s 25-point Psychosocial Safety Action Plan and responds to identified psychosocial risks including workplace conflict, inappropriate behaviours, traumatic events and role overload.Work Well was delivered as a branded training suite rather than a series of standalone sessions, combining Psychosocial Safety Awareness, Respect at Work, and Managing for Team Wellbeing / Mental Health Awareness through live online sessions, facilitated workshops, webinars and e-learning.A key outcome has been the development of shared language and practical confidence around psychosocial safety, supported by measurable improvements in knowledge and confidence, stronger early intervention, and more consistent responses to workplace issues across the business.
Komatsu Apprentice HSE Development Program: From Training to Owner
Komatsu Australia Pty Ltd
Komatsu Australia’s Apprentice Safety Development Program has evolved since 2025 from a practical onboarding initiative into a structured learning pathway spanning onboarding, year-level Safety Weeks, hands-on games, workplace application, coaching and ongoing apprentice forums. The program uses tailored activities including Riskopoly, LEGO stop-work challenges, hazard-versus-risk games, risk-matrix exercises, StartSafe and JSEA practice, Cority hazard reporting, glove-selection games, isolation boards and scale models, chemical micro-stations, Golden Rules trivia and Just Culture case analysis. Safety Weeks extend learning through practical modules such as Jacking and Blocking, Driver Risk, Move-to-Test, mental health, drug and alcohol awareness, SafeSpine SafeMind and HSE refreshers. Learning is reinforced through the Apprentice Development System Matrix, supervisors and monthly reporting. StartSafe completion increased from 0.59 per apprentice timesheet in April 2025 to 1.02 in March 2026, demonstrating stronger engagement, accountability and application of pre-task risk assessment.
Safe Over Summer: frontline-led critical risk capability, delivered at scale
Downer Group, Social Infrastructure & Citizen Services
Safe Over Summer is the frontline-led critical risk capability program run by Downer's SICS division. It covers December to February, when heat, fatigue, holiday disruption and operational tempo lift exposure across dispersed, shift-based work.Sessions are delivered by the site's own operational leader rather than by a safety adviser. Each site runs eight weekly toolbox sessions drawn from 15 critical risks, four of them mandatory. A session opens with a short video of a named Downer worker describing that risk in their own job, moves to a hazard hunt poster the crew works through together, then a scenario, a discussion and a three-question group knowledge check. In 2025-26 the program trained 320 leaders across 24 facilitator sessions, recorded 3,260 toolbox sessions and 22,651 attendance interactions across 195 contracts in Australia and New Zealand, and converted its mobile plant topic into in-field verification that reached 180 of 340 risk-profiled sites.
Vodafone Managing Aggressive and Disrespectful Customer training
Vodafone
Customer aggression in retail is a growing psychosocial safety risk. Vodafone responded by developing Managing Disrespectful and Aggressive Customers, a national WHS capability program that equips retail leaders and frontline teams to prepare, de-escalate, respond to and recover from disrespectful or aggressive customer behaviour. Developed with organisational psychologists APS and co-designed with frontline teams, the program combines psychologist-led leader workshops for 121 Store Managers, practical store-based drills, 1,690 online learning completions, updated procedures, incident reporting refreshers and ongoing reinforcement through retail leadership routines. It was piloted, refined using participant feedback and embedded into Vodafone’s WHS operating model. The program has delivered measurable improvements in knowledge, confidence, reporting behaviour and perceived organisational support. It has strengthened leadership accountability, improved post-incident follow-up and enabled practical risk controls that support safer, more consistent responses across Vodafone’s national retail network.
Self-Care Program
AGL Energy
AGL's Contact Centre Self-Care Program is a structured, trauma-informed training program that builds the psychological capability of frontline staff exposed to aggression, occupational violence and distressing calls, including family and domestic violence disclosures. Designed by AGL's Health, Safety and Environment and People and Culture teams and delivered with specialist psychologists, it equips three role groups, resolution agents, technical coaches and team leaders, with practical skills to control difficult calls, limit exposure to trauma, and recover in real time. Across two contact centres, 333 employees completed the program. Confidence in managing aggressive or distressed callers rose from 49 to 94 per cent at one site and from 79 to 98 per cent at the other, and leaders' confidence in supporting team wellbeing doubled. The program is embedded through leader toolkits and workplace nudges, and has been published by its provider as an industry case study.
Best WHS Technology & Innovation Finalists
Molonglo River Bridge Lifting Program
BMD Group
BMD developed an integrated safety-by-design solution for the Molonglo River Bridge project’s eight-week lifting program. The works required 12 precision lifts to install 2,430 tonnes of weathering steel using a 1,600-tonne crawler crane, with potential to expose workers to suspended loads, crush points, manual handling and work-at-height risks.The solution combined remotely controlled synchro hoists, project-specific rigging, mechanical restraint, hydraulic alignment, self-propelled modular transporters and digital sequencing. This replaced manual guidance of suspended girders with remote positioning and supported final alignment, while custom shear beams controlled the 100-tonne midspan segment as it descended between installed girders.All 20 steel segments were installed within design tolerances with no injuries, near misses, quality defects or rework. Lift times reduced from approximately 2.5 hours to one hour as the repeatable process matured. The program demonstrates how practical technology, engineering and workforce-led improvement can remove critical exposure while increasing delivery certainty.
Eyes Above the Fireground Real-Time Drone Intelligence Protecting Firefighters and Communities
City of Moreton Bay
City of Moreton Bay has transformed bushfire risk management and worker safety through the integration of advanced drone technology into planned burn and fireground operations. Equipped with thermal imaging, enhanced optical zoom and aerial ignition capability, drones provide real-time oversight of fire behaviour, burn boundaries and worker locations, giving incident controllers an unprecedented view of operations from above. The technology enables hazards to be identified early, supports safer operational decisions and reduces the need for personnel to enter hazardous environments solely for reconnaissance or monitoring purposes. Drones are also used to conduct aerial ignition in locations where ground access is difficult or unsafe, further reducing worker exposure to risk. The capability has become an integral part of hazard reduction burning and bushfire response activities, improving situational awareness, operational efficiency and frontline safety. The result is safer fireground operations, better outcomes for workers and enhanced protection for the community.
Beam Pump Pre-Assembly Steel Support Frame: Engineering Out Stillage Risk
Downer Energy & Utilities
Downer Energy & Utilities developed a purpose-built steel support frame to improve the safety and efficiency of beam pump pre-assembly on Origin APLNG wellsite builds. Traditionally, walking beams were supported using timber stillages, requiring workers to manually stack and position heavy timber blocks. This approach created significant manual handling exposure, lacked verified load capacity, and provided no reliable means of preventing movement of the beam during assembly.The engineered steel support frame replaces this process with a stable, repeatable and load-rated solution. Integrated holding pins prevent movement of the beam while supported, while the frame height improves ergonomic access during assembly activities. The innovation eliminates manual stacking, reduces setup time and introduces engineered certainty into a critical task.The result is a practical safety innovation that simultaneously reduces exposure, improves control, enhances productivity and establishes a repeatable standard across beam pump installation activities.
Stacker LiDAR Collision Avoidance System
Fortescue
Fortescue have developed a stacker LiDAR Collision Avoidance System (LCAS) to protect people and vehicles near autonomous stackers in our Port Hedland operations. The solution replaces reliance on procedures, signage and communication with an engineering control that detects hazards and stops machine movement before contact. LiDAR sensors on each stacker continuously monitor defined protection zones. When a person, vehicle or object enters the detection zone, the autonomously moving stacker comes to a halt. Also, the relevant teams are instantly notified and provided with playback for investigation. Developed by Fortescue’s Port Hedland Process Control team with operations personnel and external engineering support, the system was progressively tested and refined for Port Hedland and iron ore stockpile conditions. It now protects all of Fortescue’s Port Hedland stackers. Since implementation, no collision involving a stacker, vehicle, person or other object has occurred and reporting and critical control assurance have improved.
SnapBack Protection Frame
McConnell Dowell
The SnapBack Protection Frame is a practical, engineering-led safety innovation developed for McConnell Dowell’s Swanson Dock Remediation Project – Stage 2, Berth 3, delivered for Port of Melbourne. It protects workers from high-energy mooring line snapback by placing a purpose-designed physical barrier between people, work zones and credible parted-line pathways. The solution was informed by WGA’s transient dynamic Snapback Path Analysis, which modelled Swanson Dock West vessel and mooring scenarios, including a 300m x 43m, 6,800 TEU design vessel, line parting cases and VAR005 barrier positioning. Specialist Geobrugg snapback protection panels were integrated into an MCD-designed wharf-mounted frame, creating a visible, repeatable and task-ready control. The innovation moves snapback risk management beyond signage and exclusion zones by introducing a tangible layer of protection, supporting safer marine remediation, clearer workforce engagement and stronger confidence for McConnell Dowell, Port of Melbourne, subcontractors and frontline crews.
Light Head Automatic Tightening Machine
Spa Electrics Pty Ltd
Spa Electrics is a family-owned Australian manufacturer committed to creating safer, smarter and more sustainable workplaces through practical innovation. During the introduction of the R10 pool light, a new final assembly process was required. One critical step involved manually tightening the locking nut on the light head, which required significant physical effort and repetitive force, creating potential ergonomic risks including operator strain and fatigue. To eliminate this risk at the source, we designed an automated light head tightening machine which was implemented in September 2025. The innovative equipment solution removes the physical demands of manual tightening, improving operator safety and reducing the likelihood of repetitive strain injuries.The machine provides a controlled and consistent tightening process, improving product quality, reducing human error and increasing operational efficiency. This innovation demonstrates Spa Electrics’ commitment to using technology and engineering solutions to proactively manage WHS risks and enhance employee wellbeing.
WHS Team of the Year Finalists
Carrapateena Safety Vision - BHP
BHP
The Carrapateena Safety team delivered a workforce-centred, BOS-enabled strategy that strengthened fatality prevention, critical control effectiveness and frontline risk ownership across a complex underground copper-gold Block Cave operation. Following the FY25 Safety Culture Maturity Assessment, the team translated improvement opportunities into five practical pillars: Standards, Engagement, Capability, Risk Reduction and Contractor Safety Improvement. The team improved systems, communication, field leadership, contractor assurance and capability, shifting Safety to a trusted business partner. With contractors making up approximately 80% of the workforce, the team built stronger partnership with the largest contracting partner, representing around 50% of site personnel. The impact was measurable: TRIF improved from 20 to 14, hazard reporting increased from 7,681 to more than 11,000, coached field leadership rose from 4.6% to 20.5%, Carrapateena achieved High Potential Injury-free performance in FY26, and these outcomes were delivered during a record production year for people and production safely.
BMD Group
BMD Group
BMD's Group Safety Team delivered an enterprise safety reset that made critical-risk requirements clearer, easier to access and more practical to apply across projects. More than 1,600 suggestions from 240 workers and leaders were consolidated into 45 priority improvements to introduce Full Power Safety, refreshed induction and Permit to Work arrangements, Authority to Operate, centralised injury management and the staged implementation of HammerTech. The team worked with operational leaders, frontline workers and specialists in learning, communications and systems, supported by 160 Superusers and project Champions.Since Full Power Safety launched, rolling 12-month High Potential Incident counts reduced by 41% for Mobile Plant and Equipment and 33% for Critical Service Strikes. TRIFR reduced from 5.1 to 3.6, while 90% of surveyed frontline workers reported feeling more empowered to make decisions protecting themselves and others. Together, the initiatives have created a more connected safety function and stronger frontline ownership across BMD's operations.
Downer SICS - Innovation Through Technology, AI and Data
Downer
The Downer Social Infrastructure & Citizen Services Zero Harm Team has transformed WHS delivery across approximately 150 contracts and more than 13,000 workers in Australia and New Zealand. Through a multi-year program focused on technology, AI, automation and data-led decision making, the team established the Zero Harm Hub, service catalogue, digital workflows, Power BI reporting, machine-learning enabled leadership programs and risk-based assurance systems. These initiatives created a more scalable and visible safety operating model, improving how work is prioritised, how specialist support is allocated, how risks are identified, and how leaders make decisions. Importantly, technology was used to solve practical operational challenges: reducing administrative burden, strengthening contractor oversight, improving critical control assurance and increasing frontline risk visibility. The result is a modern, evidence-based WHS model that has contributed to measurable harm reduction, stronger leadership engagement and more consistent safety governance across a complex operating environment.
Coffs Harbour Bypass WHS Team
Ferrovial Gamuda Joint Venture
The Coffs Harbour Bypass WHS Team has delivered an integrated safety and occupational health improvement program that has transformed safety performance, strengthened organisational culture, and established new benchmarks for critical risk management on one of Australia’s largest infrastructure projects. Working collaboratively across safety, operations, engineering, leadership, subcontractors and client representatives, the team developed and implemented innovative solutions to address high-risk construction activities, including vehicle rollover prevention, safer plant selection, digital safety management, critical risk controls and silica management initiatives. A focus was developing engineered controls at the source of dust generation to minimise worker exposure to respirable crystalline silica, supported by occupational hygiene monitoring and health surveillance programs. The team fostered a culture of shared ownership, frontline engagement, health protection and continuous improvement. Their efforts contributed to zero vehicle rollovers over the past 24 months, more than six million work hours and national recognition for innovation and risk management.
Safety at St John WA
St John WA
The St John WA Safety Department is a six-person team delivering statewide support to more than 8,500 employed and volunteer team members across one-third of Australia. With only three Safety Advisors, the team triages and monitors more than 3,000 incident notifications annually while supporting emergency ambulance, healthcare, industrial, volunteer and corporate services. During FY26, the team strengthened its Safety Business Partner model, embedded the Essential Factors investigation methodology in MyOSH, expanded proactive risk governance and improved safety intelligence. These initiatives contributed to a 20.6 per cent reduction in LTIFR to 15.0, a reduction in lost-time injuries from 100 to 81, and a 76 per cent increase in near-miss reporting. St John WA’s workers’ compensation injury frequency rate was 21.6, substantially below the industry benchmark of 40.2 and occupation benchmark of 69.1. The team’s collaboration, accessibility and commitment have delivered measurable safety improvement across a large, diverse and geographically dispersed organisation.
Woolworths Group Acts of Violence and Aggression (AOVA) Squad
Woolworths Group
The Woolworths Group AOVA Squad is transforming retail safety by shifting from reactive to proactive, data-led interventions. Protecting over 134,000 frontline workers, the team implemented Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), a tactical "Conflict Bundle," and immersive VR training for high-stress scenarios. Their PROTECT program secures high-risk stores, while their legislative advocacy successfully pioneered Workplace Protection Orders (WPOs) to combat repeat offenders. These efforts have delivered measurable results: a 59% reduction in severe incidents in high-risk stores, a 280% increase in successful emergency lockdowns, and a significant drop in reoffending rates (92% in ACT; 100% in SA). The Squad’s multi-layered approach has effectively engineered a culture of systemic safety and resilience across over 1,400 stores and driven significant safety improvements across the industry and cross-sectors ensuring frontline workers across Australia have greater protections.
The Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards is open to government, non-government and private organisations operating in Australia that have an ABN, and to individuals who are currently employed and working within the field of WHS in Australia.
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