October is National Safe Work Month – a time to commit to building safe and healthy workplaces for all Australians.

Safe Work Australia is the national policy agency responsible for WHS and workers’ compensation arrangements in Australia. Since 2009, we have run a national campaign each October to raise awareness of WHS and provide resources for Australian workplaces to run their own events.

National Safe Work Month, held annually in October, encourages all individuals and organisations to prioritise work health and safety (WHS) and take preventative action to reduce the number of work-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities.

The campaign aims to promote a positive safety culture and to emphasise the importance of good WHS practices.

Each National Safe Work Month revolves around an annual safety-related theme and each week is dedicated to a particular WHS topic. This year the weekly topics are: 

Week 1: Work health and safety fundamentals

Week 2: Psychosocial hazards

Week 3: Risk management fundamentals

Week 4: Musculoskeletal injuries