The Western Australian Government has opened nominations for the 2025 Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards, which recognises and celebrates health and safety initiatives across the state’s workplaces.
This year’s award categories include work health and safety invention of the year, best solution to a work health and safety risk, best intervention to address a psychosocial hazard in the workplace, leadership excellence award, and health and safety representative of the year.
There are two awards in each category, one for small businesses and one for larger businesses. The state government says this ensures that all sizes of business have a fair opportunity to win an award.
Industrial Relations Minister Simone McGurk says these awards recognise solutions and innovations in health and safety across all workplaces.
“This is a terrific opportunity for Western Australia businesses of all sizes to show off their workplace health and safety initiatives and to receive some well-deserved recognition,” McGurk says.
Nominations close on 27 June 2025 and winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October during Safe Work Month.
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.
According to Safe Work Australia, the nation’s current work-related injury rate of 3.5% is roughly one-third the global rate of 12.1%.
As of 20 March this year, 22 workers have been killed at work this year in Australia. In 2024, 168 workers were killed at work in Australia, with 11 of those deaths being in the mining industry.
Last year, Mining.com.au launched its inaugural ‘Masters of Mining Awards’, which were the newest national awards program to recognise and celebrate people and companies that contribute to the mining and minerals processing industry within Australia and beyond.
The awards recognise organisations and individuals that excel in everything from exploration to diversity and inclusion, innovation, leadership, job creation, and sector advocacy.
Mining is a major part of Australia’s landscape, contributing a record $455 billion in export revenue in 2022-23, highlighting, once again, its importance to the nation’s economy. Australia’s resources industry directly employs more than 300,000 people and has deployed $236.3 billion in capital expenditure over the past 10 years.
Mining.com.au’s inaugural 2024 Masters of Mining ‘Excellence in Safety Shield’ was awarded to Russell Mineral Equipment.
The ‘Excellence in Safety Shield’ recognises a company, individual, or program that is committed to ensuring safety, removing risks, or reducing potential worker harm on a project or mine. The company must have a clean historic record for workplace health, and safety. Individuals must have been involved in a safety function or be clearly advocating for safety for 12 months or longer prior to the nominations’ closing date.
Russell Mineral Equipment Director Cherylyn Russell says the company is committed to safety, and its mill relining system is designed to improve safety by reducing the need for manual labour and working at heights.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au & WA Government
