New WHS Data Highlights Risks for Australia’s Sales and Service Staff

More than 2.3 million Australians are employed in sales and service positions, making this one of the nation’s largest and youngest workforce groups. New WHS data from Safe Work Australia has placed a strong focus on those working in hospitality, retail and food trades, revealing important insights into who these workers are, the hazards they face and the injuries they most commonly sustain.

The latest WHS data profile outlines key trends in workforce demographics, including age, employment patterns and industry segments, and links these to the specific risks present in customer-facing roles. The findings highlight the importance of robust WHS management systems, clear policies and procedures, and practical tools such as Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) to manage both physical and psychosocial hazards in these environments.

This profile draws together evidence from multiple national sources, including Safe Work Australia’s National Dataset for Compensation-based Statistics, the SuperFriend Indicators of a Thriving Workplace Survey and Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data. By combining these datasets, the profile offers a more complete picture of injury patterns, near-miss events and emerging risk factors across sales and service occupations.

For businesses operating in hospitality, retail or food trades, the data underscores the need to systematically identify hazards, consult with workers and implement targeted control measures. Integrating findings from the profile into your WHS management system and developing task-specific SWMS can assist in reducing incident rates and improving overall safety performance. Resources to support this work, including WHS management systems and SWMS templates, are available from specialist providers such as BlueSafe and BlueSafe SWMS.

The insights from this WHS data profile are intended to support employers, workers, industry bodies and regulators to better understand and manage WHS risks in this critical sector. By using evidence-based data to inform policies, procedures and day-to-day safety practices, organisations can strengthen compliance, reduce injury rates and foster safer, more sustainable workplaces for sales and service staff across Australia.