The Minns Labor Government is launching a $2.9m SafeWork NSW 'irreplaceable' campaign highlighting the importance of staying safe at work and the impact of workplace injuries and fatalities on families, communities, and businesses.
The SafeWork campaign reinforces that while everyone is important at work, they are irreplaceable at home, whether they be a parent, son or daughter, sibling, partner, friend or teammate.
According to recent figures, there was an annual average of 52 work-related fatalities reported in NSW in the past three years. That's one death every week over 12 months.
The initiative will be rolled out from Sunday 29 June across television, radio and social video platforms and caters for various Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) audiences.
The campaign follows the NSW Government's 2025-26 Budget announcement to strengthen the state's work health and safety regulator with a major $127.7 million investment over the next four years to address psychosocial hazards and compliance and enforcement of safe work practices.
The Budget investment will see SafeWork NSW inspector numbers bolstered from 370 to 469 in total over the past two years which amounts to a 27 percent increase.
51 new inspector roles will be recruited, which includes 20 psychosocial-focused inspectors and five psychosocial investigators.
An expanded SafeWork NSW inspectorate sharpens the agency's focus on psychological health at work, provides dedicated resources on psychosocial injury prevention, investigations and prosecutions, and ensures employers meet their return-to-work obligations to injured workers.
It also strengthens SafeWork NSW's capacity and capability as the agency becomes an independent regulator on 1 July 2025.
The funding will also see SafeWork NSW establish a new Psychosocial Advisory Service, which will connect NSW workers with expert support, and where needed, escalate work health and safety breaches to dedicated psychosocial inspectors.
The service will be staffed by a team of seven appropriately qualified staff and deliver up to 25,000 consultations or assessments each year.
The targeted reform is part of a broader $344 million Workplace Mental Health package, strengthening mental health support and injury prevention strategies in NSW workplaces.
For more information, or for access to free advice, toolkits and resources to stay informed on workplace health and safety, visit the SafeWork NSW website here or call 13 10 50.
More information on how businesses should manage psychosocial risk at work is available on the SafeWork NSW website: https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/hazards-a-z/mental-health
Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis said:
"I welcome this advertising campaign and new funding as we continue to reform and reshape SafeWork NSW into the strong and robust regulator needed to secure safe and healthy workplaces.
"We will take a firm stance to address persistent issues, working with industry, unions, workers and their representatives to secure compliance with our work health and safety laws.
"Every worker has the right to go to work and come home safely to their family and friends."
SafeWork NSW Executive Director Strategic & Corporate Services Petrina Casey said:
"We hope this campaign can drive home the message that while we may be important at work, the people we go home to at the end of the day are what matters most and if this can help drive some behavioural changes in the workplace, it'll go a long way to saving lives.
"Unfortunately, a lot of people believe workplace safety doesn't impact them and that accidents at work happen to other people. We hope this campaign drives home the message that workplace safety affects everyone.
"Workplace safety is everyone's responsibility because ultimately, we are all irreplaceable to the ones we love.
"This campaign will no doubt help SafeWork NSW continue its important role in addressing persistent issues, by working with workers, industry and unions to secure compliance with our work health and safety laws.
"We are continuing to reform and reshape SafeWork NSW into the strong and robust regulator needed to secure safe and healthy workplace in NSW."
