Comcare honours outstanding achievements in WHS

Comcare honours outstanding achievements in WHS every year, and the 2025 recipients were announced in Canberra. Winning entries covered psychosocial risk management, vehicle safety improvements and early injury intervention.

Comcare's National Work Health and Safety Awards celebrate prevention alongside recovery, spotlighting programs that speed rehabilitation and restore capacity for injured staff.

Who won the 2025 Comcare National Work Health and Safety Awards?

A comprehensive Australian Public Service Commission strategy for addressing psychosocial hazards, a program to reduce vehicle dangers for Inland Rail employees, and a proactive intervention program for injured Australia Post personnel are among this year's award recipients.

• Public Service Commission: a whole-of-service strategy lifting psychosocial risk assessment and control maturity.
• Inland Rail: a targeted program cutting vehicle-related risk for field teams.
• Australia Post: early, proactive support returning hurt personnel to suitable duties sooner.

The winners were revealed at a recent event in Canberra that was graced by Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth.

Acting CEO Michael Duke said the awards recognised exemplary efforts by both organisations and individuals to enhance safety in their workplaces.

“It’s essential that we recognise significant efforts to make our workplaces safer and healthier, highlighting best practice and innovation that creates positive impact,” Mr Duke said.

“Importantly, the awards are not only about preventing harm. Initiatives that help workers recover from injury and illness, and achieve safe, fast and durable return to work outcomes, have always been a significant feature.

“Congratulations to the winners and finalists, and the record number of organisations, teams and individuals who provided entries this year. These efforts shine a light on the importance of work health and safety, rehabilitation and return to work.”

Comcare awards recognise WHS innovation

Public recognition of outstanding achievement matters because judged case studies convert isolated pilots into shared practice across the scheme. Safety leaders gain evidence-based models they can adapt, spanning psychological hazard controls, fatigue management and vehicle exposure reduction.

Earlier programs also offer useful benchmarks. Compare the 2023 WHS award winners, understand the nomination process for national WHS awards, and read Comcare's WHS Year in Review report for insight into longer-term scheme trends.

How safety teams can apply these lessons

• Map hazards, then rank every identified risk through structured consultation with frontline crews.
• Document controls inside current procedures, reviewing each one after incidents or operational change.
• Track worker wellbeing indicators rather than relying on lost-time injury figures alone.
• Build early intervention pathways so recovery support starts before claims escalate.

SafetyDocs by SafetyCulture supplies ready-to-edit templates that close documentation gaps quickly — explore our WHS document finder or browse the policies and procedures library.

Additional information is available via the Comcare website.