Safe Work Australia's Best Practice Review of Model WHS Act & Regulations

Safe Work Australia's Best Practice Review of Model WHS Act & Regulations

Author: Richard Robinson & Gaye Francis October 12, 2025 Duration: 12:15
In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss Safe Work Australia's review of the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act & Regulations, and R2A’s submission response. Key points include: Contradictions between the WHS legislation, regulations, and common law requirements, particularly for designers and engineers. Concerns around the hierarchy of controls and how they are interpreted by regulators.Inconsist...

Ever found yourself wondering why safety and risk management in engineering feels so tangled, expensive, and disconnected from actual results? That’s the exact territory explored in Risk! Engineers Talk Governance. Hosted by Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis, both seasoned due diligence and risk engineers who co-direct the consultancy R2A, this podcast cuts through the complexity that’s grown around the industry. They’ve watched, with a practical engineer’s eye, as fields like OHS and WHS have ballooned into a costly business in themselves, often leaving organisations out of pocket without seeing meaningful improvements. What sets their conversations apart is a foundation in real engineering practice-they come from the tools-and-dirt side of things, not just a policy manual. Each episode digs into governance frameworks, decision-making, and compliance, but always through the lens of applied engineering logic and on-the-ground experience. It’s for professionals in technology, business, and management who are tired of checkbox exercises and want to hear frank discussions about making risk management sensible, effective, and value-adding again. You’ll get their direct, no-nonsense perspectives on bridging the gap between boardroom obligations and operational reality, making this podcast a unique resource for anyone tasked with building safer, more resilient organisations without the pointless overhead.
Author: Language: en-au Episodes: 70

Risk! Engineers Talk Governance
Podcast Episodes
Formal Safety Assessments [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:55
In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss Formal Safety Assessments. Key highlights include: A Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) is meant to provid…
Safety Culture (Revisited) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:52
In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis revisit the topic of Safety Culture. They review the work of Professor Patrick Hudson, who identified five lev…
Could vs Should in Workplace Safety [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:03
In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss Could vs Should in Workplace Safety. (Thanks Nick for your email, case reference and questions.) They…
Safety & Planning Law Complications [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:43
In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the complications of Safety Legislation & Planning Law. Drawing on their extensive experience across m…
Rail Safety National Law Pressures & the SFAIRP Approach [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:18
In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis answer a listener’s question on the Pressures of Rail Safety National Law and the SFAIRP Approach. They explai…
SFAIRP Complexity & Pressures for Stakeholders [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:57
In this first episode of Season 6 of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss the pressures and complexities different stakeholders are having with SFAIRP They fo…