Our role includes working as a leader, advocate and partner with a range of industries.

This can involve supporting organisations by channelling funding from the South Australian Government, helping to raise awareness of national initiatives, or sponsoring events to deliver work health and safety improvements.

HSR Strategy

SafeWork SA’s Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) Strategy(PDF) aims to improve safety by increasing the number of trained HSRs at work sites and to support existing HSRs to help them fulfil their critical role.

The strategy launched in December 2024 and was developed in conjunction with the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee following recommendations arising from the 2022 Independent Review of SafeWork SA.

The strategy has five goals:

• To improve engagement between SafeWork SA, HSRs and employee and employer associations
• To empower HSRs to feel confident in undertaking their role
• To support and encourage businesses to actively engage and utilise HSRs to help improve safety outcomes
• To review and improve HSR training
• To recognise and celebrate the work of HSRs.

A handbook was also developed as a resource for new and existing HSRs.

The recognition program, HSR Heroes, highlights the work of HSRs and how they contribute positively to their workplace.

To further recognise the individual achievements of HSRs, an individual HSR of the Year Award has been established to recognise the work of an outstanding HSR.

The award was presented at the inaugural SafeWork SA HSR Forum during National Safe Work Month on 2 October.

Augusta Zadow Awards

SafeWork SA managed and sponsored the annual Augusta Zadow Awards which recognise safety initiatives proposed by young workers and women with up to $25,000 each in grant funding.

The grants help meet the costs of initiatives, research or further education that improves health and safety for women and young workers.

The 2024 winners were presented by the Governor of South Australia, her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC at a Government House ceremony on 25 October.

The Augusta Zadow Awards have been run by SafeWork SA since 2005 and provide grants of up to $25,000 to help meet the costs of a work health and safety initiative.

Presented each October during National Safe Work Month, the awards support initiatives, research or further education that improve health and safety for women and young workers in South Australia.

The 2024 winners were:

• Jackie Wood, Wendy Foster, Nicola Williams pictured below from left to right and Micah Peters were awarded a $22,500 grant. This collaboration between the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and UniSA aims to answer the question of whether the historic caseload model for midwives is aligned to the changes to modern care requirements. Findings will be used as the basis for negotiating changes in midwife caseloads, leading to a decrease in risk factors causing burnout and work overload.
• Matt Lowe from the Apprentice Employment Network was awarded a$10,500 grant. The SMART Kit Upgrade Project is a program offered by the Apprentice Employment Network to help host employers identify gaps in their WHS systems and provide them with the tools needed to improve. The Augusta Zadow Awards grant will allow the kits to be updated in line with new regulations and also fund consultation with host employers to develop resources to be added to the kit.

• Alison Hunter from Alison in the Universe received a $12,000 grant. Burnout Resilience for Support Workers and Carers is a health and safety training package for workers in the care sector being developed by social worker Alison Hunter. The training focuses on ego-resilience, compassion satisfaction, and the creation of a personal self-care toolkit for each participant. The funding will allow the training to be rolled out.

Augusta Zadow was an advocate and safety champion for women’s rights in the workplace as South Australia’s “First Lady Inspector of Factories” in 1895.

National Safe Work Month

The theme for National Safe Work Month in 2024 was Safety is everyone’s business with weekly sub themes including Work health and safety fundamentals, Psychosocial hazards, Risk management fundamentals and Musculoskeletal injuries.

SafeWork SA helped spread the safety message throughout October with a raft of public and targeted events including a workplace competition, an incident simulation, four webinars and two mock trials are among the events promoted by SafeWork SA during the month.

A state-wide advertising campaign was also held during the month with print and digital advertisements promoting safety published in mainstream media across the state.

National Safe Work Month has been held since 2009 after workplace deaths in Australia reached a peak of 310 in 2007.

South Australian Mines Emergency Response Competition

SafeWork SA was a principal sponsor of the annual South Australian Mines Emergency Response Competition (SAMERC), which was held in Roxby Downs from 18 to 20 October 2024.

The event was hosted by principal sponsor BHP Copper SA - Olympic Dam with most scenarios staged in the Roxby Downs township from 18-20 October.

The event used lifelike scenarios to test and improve the skills of seven teams that would be called on to respond to a mine emergency.

A record number of nine teams including the first international challenger put their safety and rescue skills to the test across 10 scenarios designed to test their skills and knowledge in the event they are called on to respond to a mine emergency.

Overall winners were Whyalla-based SIMEC Mining, which also took out individual categories - Theory, BA Search and Rescue, Road Crash Rescue and the Best Captain Award.

Keeping business and community informed

SafeWork SA published 80 news items and seven Safety Alerts on its website in 2024-25.

The agency’s social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn had 19,813 followers at June 30 2025, up from 17,182 on July 1 2024.