icare has teamed up with Paralympic gold medallist Scott Reardon to encourage greater awareness of workplace safety, inclusion, and mental resilience across Australian businesses.
The partnership aims to support safer work environments while highlighting the importance of mental health and disability inclusion.
As part of the campaign, Minister for Workplace Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis and icare group executive for workers’ compensation Tony Wessling visited IKEA to engage with staff about these themes.
Reardon, who lost his right leg in a farm accident at age 12, shared his personal story of recovery and resilience, emphasising the connection between mental well-being and workplace safety.
“What I am hoping to achieve with these talks at workplaces, with the support of icare, is to create a space where people can check in with themselves and each other, to ensure they are in the right headspace mentally to work safely, which in turn can enable a physically safer workplace,” he said.
The initiative forms part of the icare Paralympic Speakers Program, developed in partnership with Paralympics Australia. The program is available to icare’s business clients at no cost and is designed to help reduce workplace injuries and support injured workers in their recovery journeys.
Wessling underscored the program’s role in preventing serious workplace injuries, noting its additional benefits for employers.
“Prevention is critical to ensuring everyone gets home safely after work each day,” he said. “Providing safer workplaces also helps businesses stand out as employers of choice and can lead to lower workers compensation costs for employers in NSW.”
Cotsis used the event to emphasise the importance of disability inclusion in workplaces. She encouraged businesses to address barriers and adopt practices that support all employees, particularly those with disabilities.
“Learning more about people with disability can help us all reflect on our attitudes and beliefs, in turn creating opportunities for changes at workplaces as well as the broader community,” she said.
Safe Work Australia recently revealed that workplace safety remains a significant challenge. Its 2024 Key Work Health and Safety Statistics report recorded 200 worker fatalities in 2023, up from 195 in the previous year. Vehicle-related incidents were the leading cause, accounting for 42% of deaths.
Other key findings included a sharp increase in fatalities from falls, which rose from 17 in 2022 to 29 in 2023. These figures underscore the need for ongoing safety improvements.
Six sectors were identified as high-risk, accounting for 61% of all serious workers’ compensation claims:
The report also highlighted the growing impact of mental health issues on workers. Claims for mental health conditions rose to 10.5% of all serious claims in 2023, with affected workers losing more than five times the average time off compared to other injuries.
Over the past decade, mental health claims have nearly doubled, reflecting an urgent need for improved support systems.
