Searing, Hilary; Hillman, Laura --- "Editorial: Navigating risks, requirements and opportunities" [2022] PrecedentAULA 58; (2022) 173 Precedent 2

---

NAVIGATING RISKS, REQUIREMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

By Hilary Searing and Laura Hillman

Providing a safe workplace, and ensuring your workers work safely and go home safely, is (or should be) a priority for most organisations. Workplace injuries can have an extensive impact – not only on the injured worker and their employer, but also on the worker's family, co-workers and the broader community through the use of health resources and other services. Aside from the moral and societal implications, Deloitte Access Economics estimates that Australia’s economy would have been $28.6 bn larger each year if productivity losses and costs from work-related injuries or illnesses were avoided.^[1]

In providing a safe workplace, as well as supporting and managing injured workers, employers face a complex legal framework. This includes the need to navigate a range of laws in relation to workplace health and safety, workers compensation and anti-discrimination, as well as obligations under employment laws such as the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

Our understanding of workplace risks, and illness and injury, is constantly increasing with more research and improved technology. However, the nature of the ‘workplace’ is also evolving. Workplaces have had to adapt to the ‘hybrid’ working model, which arose largely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many employees now mixing work from home with work in the office. What comprises the ‘workplace’ has therefore expanded, and workplace risks have changed too. For example, there is now an increased risk of workers being exposed to domestic violence in the workplace, as discussed in Emily Wittig’s article.

Psychosocial hazards have also received increased focus and priority: in 2022, the national Model WHS Regulations were amended to require a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) to implement control measures to manage psychosocial risks. These changes have been adopted in NSW and similar changes proposed in Queensland and Victoria. In July 2022, Safe Work Australia released the Managing psychosocial hazards at work Model Code of Practice (Model Code)^[2] and state jurisdictions have either already released their own codes of practice (such as NSW and WA) or it is anticipated they will do so in the future. Many employers are aware of workplace risks such as violence, bullying and harassment. However, in outlining a risk-based approach to eliminating or minimising psychosocial hazards, the Model Code explores less well-understood workplace hazards including low job control, lack of role clarity, remote work, poor physical environment, poor organisational justice and poor workplace relations, which can interact and create a greater risk of stress and psychiatric injury. How this area develops, including in relation to employer and employee obligations, will be interesting to watch.

Sexual harassment, which is discussed in the article by Melanie Schleiger, Sally Latter, Jen Lynch and Rachel Athaide, is now recognised as a psychosocial hazard. The current federal Government has committed to implementing all 55 of the Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report^[3] recommendations, and the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022 currently before Parliament includes a positive duty on employers to safeguard their staff from sexual harassment at work, developments which will need to be carefully considered by employers. Employers should take steps to manage risk areas, including reviewing their workplaces and workplace cultures more holistically, reviewing policies and procedures, undertaking new or additional risk assessments, and taking proactive steps to address concerns and complaints of sexual harassment.

As you can see, this is an ever-developing legal area. The articles in this edition explore a range of topics to help develop a broader understanding of the challenges and opportunities in this space. While each article explores a different challenge, whether it be vicarious trauma, psychological injury claims, silicosis, or risks to gig workers, all of the articles address the importance of providing a safe workplace and what employers and employees can do, and are required to do, to achieve this.

Hilary Searing is a Partner and Laura Hillman is a Senior Associate in Clayton Utz's Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety Team. EMAIL [e-mail] and [e-mail].

---

^[1] Safe Work Australia, Safer, healthier and wealthier: The economic value of reducing work-related injuries and illnesses (October 2022) 17 <https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/safer-healthier-wealthier-economic-value-reducing-work-related-injuries-and-illnesses-summary-report>.

^[2] See <https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/model-code-practice-managing-psychosocial-hazards-work>.

^[3] AHRC, Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report (2020) <https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/publications/respectwork-sexual-harassment-national-inquiry-report-2020>.