HSR of the Year.

admin • March 3, 2025

The Annual WorkSafe Awards night was held last week. As always, the highlight was the Health and Safety Representative of The Year Category. We all know what amazing work HSR’s do every day across Victoria to keep workplaces safe and it was great to see a handful of them called out for their great work.


The finalists for 2025 were:

  • Barry McKenna – from United Petroleum Hastings Terminal
  • Cameron Barber – from Delcon Civil
  • Cameron Middleton-Else – from Wodonga Middle Years College
  • Danny Humphrey – from Qenos
  • Mick Puche – from Glenelg Shire Council
  • Sue Healey & Melissa Courts – form Echuca Regional Health


Each of these HSRs was nominated for the award by someone who had seen their outstanding commitment to health and safety. They each had a particular challenge to deal with at work and had persevered until they got the right safety outcomes for their co-workers.

This year, the winner of the award was Mick Puche. As a plant operator and with a previous workplace injury where he lost a finger at work, he is a dedicated advocate for health and safety. Find out more about Mick here: HSR of the Year - Mick Puche | Glenelg Shire Council


Another award on the night was the Worker Return to Work Achievement. The finalists were:

Matthew Manley – from Kinross Farms

Nicholas Johansen – from Mainstream Aquaculture

Steel Anderson – Steel Anderson Carpentry


The award went to Matthew Manley. Find out more about Matthew here: Worker Return to Work - Matthew Manley | Kinross Farms

All three of these workers had suffered severe injuries in their workplace. It was such an important reminder of how important safety is. This award focused on their return to work, but we all know that there are many workers who are so severely injured, physically and mentally, that they will never make it back to work. The work of all HSRs is targeted at preventing such terrible incidents – so that no one has to endure what these three workers, and countless others, experience.


HSR’s, as the workers' representatives, are integral to genuine and meaningful consultation in the workplace. Every workplace should have legally elected and trained HSR’s, with safety structures in place. One can’t help but wonder how much safer the workers of Victoria would be if every workplace had HSR’s!


If you need help with setting up safety structures in your workplace, running HSR elections, or HSR training and support – don’t hesitate to get in touch: HSR Training and support | BeSafe | Regional Victoria

Working from home

By admin • April 21, 2025
Working from home has become very common. Sometimes we can be permanently working from home, temporarily or as part of a hybrid arrangement. Even though we are not physically in our usually workplace, our home has now become our workplace and so this means that OHS Laws still apply, and all the legislated duty holders still have the same duties under The Act. The employer still has duties, including to ensure a safe workplace, mitigate OHS risks and to consult with their employees. The employee has a duty to take reasonable care for their own safety and to co-operate with safety measure put in place by their employer. The risk management process should still take place, even though you are working in your home environment, and we must seek to identify hazards as a starting point. Common hazards which you may find when you assess your own home work environment could include: Poor lighting Noise Poor temperature control Electrical hazards Psychosocial hazards (eg: job demands, poor role clarity, lack of support, online abuse, bullying, etc) Fatigue Domestic violence Trip and slip hazards Poor ergonomics The individual worker is particularly important in the hazard identification and risk management process in the work from home context. This is because they are often the only person who will be aware of the risks associated with their individual home environment. For more information on this topic, take a look at: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/working-home https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/officewise-working-home

Hazard Hunts: A tool for creating safer workplaces.

By admin • April 15, 2025
Hazard Hunts can be a great tool to use in workplace safety programs. They're a proactive strategy to identify and mitigate potential risks before incidents or injuries occur. But what exactly is a Hazard Hunt, and why is it so valuable? Hazard Hunts are regular, structured inspections aimed at identifying and eliminating potential risks in the workplace. Advantages: · Prevent Harm: proactively identification of potential hazards before they caused harm. Hazard hunts can prompt us to focus on specific risks that may have been overlooked. · Engagement of Employees: Talk to employees in the area. They often have valuable insights into hazards that may take time to be evident to outsiders. · Empowers Individuals: Creates an opportunity for individual employees to make a tangible difference to the safety of their workplace. This can really empower the individual and turn their mind to safety. · Collect information: Hazard hunts can prompt us to focus on specific risks that may have been overlooked · Increases awareness: The engagement of the workforce in this way can turn the mind to hazard identification in a way which can sharpens our ability to identify potential dangers and enhances our overall safety. · Positive influences safety culture: The involvement of the whole workforce, from management to the shop-floor, can foster an environment where safety becomes a shared responsibility. It can encourage a culture of vigilance and care. What next? It is integral that there is thorough follow-up after a hazard hunt takes place. This means utilising the risk matrix and hierarchy of control to prioritise the hazards which are dealt with first. Then you must move forward with mitigating the risk of the hazards coming to fruition. As always, this process must take place with meaningful consultation. If you don’t do this, then the benefits of the Hazard Hunt will be lost. The effort put into the hazard identification exercise must be matched by the dedication of the employer to make meaningful safety improvements. The Role of HSR’s: The people who are doing the work are the best placed to identify hazards in their work. They are also often the best people to come up with successful OHS solutions. HSR’s can encourage the use of hazard hunts and encourage their co-workers to actively participate. As always, HSR’s act as a conduit between the workers and the employer – working to improve safety in their role as employee representatives.