Asking ‘why?’ about incidents several times and answering, ‘because … ’, inevitably leads to the answer, ‘culture’—the climate of practices, values, accountability and communications pervading in an organisation, summed up in the phrase, ‘the way we do things around here’.

When construction clients demonstrate a commitment to a strong project safety culture, and establish a team responsible for safety leadership from the outset, our analysis shows a significant reduction in costs, time and allocated resourcing for the project. Client Safety Leadership also minimises the residual costs associated with occupancy safety issues once construction is completed.

Once dedicated teams of safety advocates with a diverse range of skills have been enlisted, procedures should be developed. The team should be authoritative, providing a single, unambiguous contact point for safety matters with clear responsibilities. This can be achieved by the formal appointment of a senior level representative of the client as chairperson.

Safe Work Australia has published new information and resources on COVID-19 and work health and safety. Under the model work health and safety laws, employers have a duty of care for the health and safety of their workers and others at the workplace. The new information includes: Information for workplaces Information for small business Information for workers What to do if a worker has COVID-19 - infographic New information on minimising the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is also available for specific industries: Building and construction Retail work Taxi and ride share services Office workers Delivery drivers Road freight Agriculture Safe Work Australia will continue to update these web pages and resources to provide the latest information to workers and employers on work health and safety and COVID-19. For more information, go to the COVID-19 Information for workplaces.

Limiting the spread of infectious, communicable diseases within the workplace is a complex and frequently sensitive issue. Hazards associated with diseases vary significantly from one workplace to another and the need to privacy adds further complications.

The Comparative Performance Monitoring report 21^st edition and Comparison of Workers’ Compensation Arrangements in Australia and New Zealand 2019 have been published.