New Reports Reveal Gaps in Australia’s WHS and Compensation Research

Safe Work Australia has released a new series of reports that map the current work health and safety (WHS) and workers’ compensation research landscape across Australia. The findings are designed to inform more coordinated, evidence-based approaches to creating safe and healthy work, including the design and implementation of WHS management systems, Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) and workplace policies.

Commissioned by Safe Work Australia and delivered by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the project examined existing research aligned to the five initial focus areas of Safe Work Australia’s Research and Evaluation Strategy. The analysis clarified where the evidence base is strong, where it is still emerging, and where there are clear opportunities to build a more robust foundation through targeted future research.

This work directly supports implementation of the Research and Evaluation Strategy and reinforces Safe Work Australia’s leadership role in strengthening the national WHS and workers’ compensation evidence base. By consolidating and assessing current knowledge, the reports aim to assist governments, industry and researchers to focus on high-impact areas that will improve real-world safety outcomes.

The research outputs are presented as a comprehensive suite of publications, including an executive summary, a technical overview, five focus area reports and detailed methodology reports. This structure is intended to support broad use and practical application across government agencies, academic institutions, industry bodies and workplaces seeking to align their WHS management systems and policies with best-available evidence.

The findings provide a clearer picture of the current state of WHS and workers’ compensation research in Australia. They highlight substantial research activity in the prevention of psychosocial harm and in recovery and return to work. At the same time, they identify relatively limited research into organisational and system-level WHS approaches, including the evaluation of how policies, procedures and system-wide interventions perform in practice.

Despite rapid technological change reshaping work across many sectors, the reports also reveal a lack of comprehensive research into the WHS implications of new and emerging technologies. This gap has important implications for organisations implementing digital tools, automation and other innovations, underscoring the need to proactively integrate WHS risk assessment into technology planning and implementation, supported by robust SWMS and documented procedures. For organisations seeking structured WHS documentation to match evolving risks, tools such as professionally developed SWMS can assist in translating research insights into day-to-day practice. More information on industry-specific SWMS templates is available at https://www.bluesafeonline.com.au/store/swms.

These insights will help shape future research priorities, guide partnerships between government, industry and academia, and inform WHS and workers’ compensation policy development. They are expected to support the evolution of evidence-based WHS management systems and organisational strategies that respond to psychosocial risks, system-level challenges and technological change.

Safe Work Australia encourages stakeholders across the WHS and workers’ compensation community to engage with the reports and to use the Research and Evaluation Strategy as a framework for building a stronger, more coordinated national evidence base that underpins safer work practices and more effective compensation systems.