If you knew your son or daughter was about to start their first job and there was a five per cent chance they would be seriously injured or killed, would you let them go?
What about one per cent?
Half a per cent?
At what point does the risk become acceptable?
For most of us, when we put someone we care about into the equation, the answer changes quickly.
Perhaps, the more uncomfortable question is this.
Would the workplace you lead, manage or influence meet the standard you would expect for someone you love?
October is National Safe Work Month, and this year's theme, Safe work is for life, is an important reminder that workplace safety cannot be something we only think about for 31 days and then quietly return to business as usual on November 1.
Nor can our definition of safety stop at hard hats, high-vis clothing, machinery guards and hazard signs.
Safe Work Australia reported that 188 Australian workers lost their lives to traumatic workplace injuries in 2024, while 146,700 serious workers' compensation claims were recorded in 2023/24.
Behind every statistic is a person who left home expecting to return in the same condition they left and that fact should remain confronting.
But there is another dimension to workplace safety that is sometimes less visible.
The colleague afraid to speak because of how their manager will respond.
The graduate routinely humiliated under the guise of “toughening them up”.
The employee subjected to sexual jokes they are expected to laugh along with.
The worker facing relentless demands, unclear expectations and little control over how their work is completed.
The team member who has learned that raising concerns creates more problems than staying silent.
No broken bone. No trip to emergency.
Still harm. Serious harm.
Safety is physical and psychological
Western Australia's Work Health and Safety Act 2020 is explicit: health includes both physical and psychological health.
That distinction matters.
Workplaces have become increasingly sophisticated at identifying physical hazards. We assess plant, equipment, chemicals, manual handling, confined spaces, noise and countless other sources of risk.
We investigate incidents. We establish controls. We train people. We monitor compliance.
Psychosocial risk deserves the same discipline.
Bullying, harassment, discrimination, aggression and violence can create psychological harm.
So too, can poor support, excessive job demands, low role clarity, traumatic work, inadequate recognition, poor organisational change and dysfunctional workplace relationships.
These are not simply “people issues”. They are serious workplace risks.
An interesting observation is to listen to the reason behind some of the above. The word culture is often thrown around; almost to wave the white flag that the issue is not salvageable.
Fortunately, describing or attributing something amiss as ‘culture’ does not remove an organisation's responsibility to manage it.
Under WHS legislation, organisations are required to eliminate risks to health and safety where reasonably practicable or, where elimination is not possible, minimise those risks so far as reasonably practicable.
That principle does not suddenly disappear because the hazard happens to be human behaviour.
Respect is a safety control
We often talk about respectful workplaces as though they are primarily about values.
They are, but they are also about risk.
A respectful workplace creates clearer behavioural boundaries around what is and is not acceptable.
It enables someone to say, “That wasn't okay,” before inappropriate behaviour becomes normalised.
It allows colleagues to challenge conduct without immediately escalating conflict.
It creates greater confidence to report hazards, mistakes and concerns.
And, importantly, it establishes an expectation that everybody has some responsibility for the environment they help create.
This is where psychological safety and respectful behaviour intersect.
Psychological safety does not mean everyone agrees.
It does not mean difficult conversations disappear, standards are lowered or poor performance goes unchallenged.
In fact, healthy workplaces should contain challenge.
People should question decisions.
Managers should address underperformance.
Colleagues should disagree.
Teams should debate ideas.
The difference is whether those interactions occur in an environment where people can contribute, question, admit mistakes and raise concerns without fear of humiliation, intimidation or retaliation.
High standards and high psychological safety are not opposites.
The best workplaces expect both.
Culture is created in small moments
Most organisational cultures are not shaped by statements printed on the wall, they are shaped in moments.
Someone makes an inappropriate joke. What happens next?
A manager loses their temper. Is it challenged or excused?
A new employee raises a safety concern. Are they listened to or labelled difficult?
A high performer behaves poorly towards colleagues. Does performance protect them from accountability?
Someone witnesses bullying. Do they intervene, report it, support the person affected, or decide it is safer not to get involved?
These moments tell employees what an organisation genuinely tolerates.
And what leaders walk past can quickly become what teams believe is acceptable.
This is why creating respectful workplaces requires more than policies and annual compliance training.
People need practical capability.
They need to understand where behavioural boundaries sit.
They need the language to address inappropriate behaviour early.
They need to know how to listen, without immediately becoming defensive.
They need confidence to give and receive feedback.
They need practical ways to intervene when they witness something that does not align with the standards of their workplace.
And leaders need the courage to deal with behaviour consistently, particularly when doing so is inconvenient.
Zero harm cannot simply be a slogan
The aspiration of zero harm is powerful.
But it becomes meaningless if it refers only to incidents we can photograph, count or record on a safety dashboard.
A workplace may report an impressive physical safety record while employees are exhausted, afraid to challenge their manager, exposed to repeated inappropriate behaviour or psychologically checking the exits.
That is not a safe workplace.
Safe Work Australia's 2026 theme describes safe work as being for life.
There is something important in those two words.
The impact of work travels beyond the workplace.
People take injuries home.
They take fatigue home.
They take stress home.
They take humiliation, fear and anxiety home too.
Conversely, people can also take pride, belonging, confidence and purpose home.
That makes workplace safety much bigger than avoiding an incident.
It is about creating environments where people can perform demanding work without unnecessarily sacrificing their physical or psychological health to do it.
National Safe Work Month gives organisations an opportunity to reflect on that responsibility.
But there are another 11 months in the year.
Safety cannot be a campaign.
Respect cannot be a poster.
And culture cannot simply be something organisations say they value.
Ultimately, the standard is remarkably simple.
Would you be comfortable sending someone you love to work there?
If the answer gives you pause, there is still work to do.
At Aveling, we aren't willing to accept unreasonable physical or psychological risk and we want to help our clients create workplaces where people feel safe, respected and able to do their best work.
Our new Respectful Behaviours course explores the practical behaviours that create healthy and psychologically safe workplaces. The course gives people the confidence to recognise inappropriate behaviour, understand its impact, speak up when something isn't right and navigate difficult conversations constructively.
Because creating a safe workplace isn't just about managing hazards. It's about managing the behaviours that can cause harm, too. For more information about this course, contact us on 9379 9999.
To support National Safe Work Month this October we are offering our Mental Health Awareness short online course at 50% off! Complete the course yourself or enrol multiple of your team members and help encourage better awareness around mental health. View the course here.
