Recognising Excellence
in Safer Workplaces

On Friday 12 September, 2025 at the Murrook Culture Centre, we celebrated the organisations, leaders and teams driving real change in mental health, wellbeing and psychosocial safety at work.

Excellence deserves more than a certificate

For too long, workplace safety awards have meant a trophy on a shelf and a press release no one reads. We're changing that.

The Psychosocial Safety and Leadership Institute doesn't just recognise excellence - we document it, share it and amplify it. Because when organisations get psychosocial safety right, everyone needs to see how they did it.

These aren't feel-good stories. These are evidence-based case studies of Australian organisations reducing psychosocial risks, driving measurable business outcomes and proving that psychological safety isn't soft - it's strategic.

2025 Award Winners

5 organisations across 3 categories showed us what happens when psychosocial safety moves from compliance exercise to cultural transformation. They reduced harm, increased performance and built workplaces where people actually want to work.

This is what good looks like.

Celebrating the 2025 Winners

We’re proud to announce the winners of the inaugural Psychosocial Safety and Leadership Awards. Across leadership, teamwork and innovation, these outstanding individuals and teams have set a new benchmark for creating safer, healthier and more inclusive workplaces.

Their achievements highlight the courage, collaboration and creativity driving real change in psychosocial safety today.

Outstanding Leadership in Psychosocial Safety

Jeremy Brett

Morgan Engineering NSW

When Jeremy Brett joined Morgan Engineering as General Manager in 2019, he didn't just maintain the family business - he transformed it. Revenue tripled from $10 million to $30 million while absenteeism dropped 30% and retention increased 25%.

How? By making psychosocial safety a core business driver, not a compliance exercise.

Jeremy embedded Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) into every decision. He created the Culture Commitment Charter signed by every employee, launched the ARD (Attract, Retain, Develop) strategy and built a Centre of Excellence that supports everyone from school-leavers to neurodiverse candidates. He models radical candour - the confidence to challenge directly while caring personally.

The judges were clear: "Exceptional submission demonstrating how PSC leadership results in improved business outcomes."

Lainie Cassidy

KPMG Australia

When most organisations treat psychosocial safety as individual responsibility, Lainie Cassidy made it a shared organisational obligation at KPMG.

As Director of Inclusion, Wellbeing and Safety, Lainie didn't create awareness campaigns - she embedded psychosocial safety into KPMG's DNA. She led the Sustainable Working Group to tackle job demands (KPMG's top psychosocial risk), launched firmwide dashboards flagging high work hours and equipped leaders with frameworks to manage workload and conduct job design reviews.

The results? 90% of employees report feeling supported by their leader. Partners now speak openly about burnout - a cultural shift from the psychologically safe environment Lainie built and role-modelled.

The judges recognised it: "Exceptionally strong nomination reflective of vulnerable leadership driving strategic change at scale across a challenging industry."

Outstanding Teamwork and Collaboration

ELT/Safety/P&C

Port of Newcastle

When an entire organisation commits to psychosocial safety from the Executive Leadership Team down, risk doesn't just get managed - it gets eliminated.

Port of Newcastle's ELT, Safety and People & Culture teams didn't treat psychosocial safety as an HR problem or a compliance box to tick. They embedded it into their formal WHS and P&C strategies with quarterly reporting to the Executive Leadership Team and Board.

Between 2023 and 2025, they reduced identified psychosocial risk areas by 75% across departments.

Their approach? Risk and evidence-based, prevention-focused, human-centred and collaborative. They invested in Real Conversations training with Mitch Wallis for all leaders. They implemented FlourishDX to assess psychosocial risk across the entire workforce twice per year. They built action plans to address every identified risk.

The judges recognised it immediately: "Demonstrated understanding of systematic Psychosocial Safety Risk Management. This program has a strong backbone because it has the full hierarchy involved and engaged."

Ben Musgrove &

Fabrication Team

What happens when a frontline supervisor takes psychosocial safety into his own hands and transforms it from theory into daily practice?

Ben Musgrove didn't wait for a corporate strategy. As Heavy Fabrication Supervisor at Morgan Engineering, he renovated crib rooms into judgment-free conversation zones, installed visual reminders of core values and broke down walls of silence in a predominantly male industry by sharing his own struggles.

He organised a BBQ where his crew invited General Manager Jeremy Brett to address long-standing disconnects. He implemented reward and recognition at toolbox talks. He made psychological safety visible, practical and part of everyday work.

The judges were clear: "Ben shines a light on how practical solutions can be effective, manageable, doable, not over-engineered."

Innovation in Psychosocial Risk Management

Workplace Mental Health Coaching Program - Transitioning Well

Small and medium businesses face the same psychosocial risks as large organisations but rarely have access to expert support. Transitioning Well changed that.

Launched in 2021 in partnership with NSW Government, the Workplace Mental Health Coaching program offers up to four no-cost, one-on-one coaching sessions with registered psychologists to leaders across NSW.

Since 2021, WMHC has supported over 2,570 businesses and delivered more than 6,526 hours of coaching. The impact is measurable: 94% satisfaction rate, 87% implemented changes post-coaching and a Net Promoter Score of 74.

As one business leader stated: "Mental health is now discussed as part of our job planning and risk assessment - it's just how we work."

The judges were clear: "I have not seen a better example of implementation and scalability in action. My hat is off to everyone involved in this great, demonstrably sustainable program in NSW - making a difference where it truly counts."

Recognising the 2025 Finalists

Every finalist demonstrated exceptional commitment to psychosocial safety. Their detailed case studies (coming soon) showcase practical strategies, measurable outcomes and innovations that organisations across Australia can learn from and adapt.

Outstanding Leadership

Angela Martin, General Manager, Lifeline North Coast

Angela Martin, General Manager, Lifeline North Coast

Emma Meldrum, Injury Management Advisor, Pacific National

Jeremy Brett, General Manager, Morgan Engineering NSW

Kerrie Sellen, Director, Restorative Journeys

Lainie Cassidy, Director - Inclusion, Wellbeing & Safety, KPMG Australia

Tazmyn Jewell, CEO, Health Voyage Ltd

Team Collaboration

Oceania HSW Team, Fonterra Oceania

KPMG Sustainable Working Group, KPMG Australia

Ben Musgrove & his Fabrication Team, Morgan Engineering NSW

Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG)

Peer Connect Champions, Pacific National

PON ELT/Safety/P&C team, Port of Newcastle

Denise Richards and Mitchell Kem, TrendPac

Tweed Shire Council Executive Leadership Team

Innovation

Asplundh Tree Expert (Australia) Pty Ltd

Felix Hall, Co-Founder / CEO MindMuse

Omikami Bailey, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Manager, NAB Limited

Transitioning Well and NSW Government's WMHC Team, Workplace Mental Health Coaching program

Nicola Knobel, Head of Safety, Risk and Assurance, Whānau Āwhina Plunket

Alanna Ball, Founder, Women in Safety

Why We Do Awards Differently

Most Awards events follow the same tired formula: sit-down dinner, long speeches, drawn-out suspense. We flipped the script.

We held our inaugural Awards as an afternoon cocktail celebration - standing up, during work hours, designed for connection.

Why? Because psychosocial safety is about connection. We wanted to create a space where people could mingle freely, meet new faces and learn from each other - not just celebrate with their own teams.

What made it work:

Finalist sashes

Finalist sashes so everyone knew who to congratulate and connect with

No drawn our suspense

Each category had its moment, winners were announced, photos snapped, then onto the next

Prizes - yes prizes!

Finalists received $2,000 worth of resources, Winners received almost $10,000 in practical tools and training

**The feedback was clear: "This was truly inclusive. We loved how you shared what the finalists did. It created conversation and connection and made us feel part of it."**

But here's what really mattered: we didn't just celebrate excellence on the day. We documented it and turned it into case studies that organisations across Australia can actually learn from.

Because excellence deserves more than applause. It deserves to be studied, replicated and built upon.

Read the full 2025 Awards wrap-up on LinkedIn

Awards Timeline

Entries Open

Monday 30 June

Entries Close

Friday 25 July

Finalists Announced

Monday 11 August

Event Details

Where

Murrook Culture Centre

When

12 September
2:30pm–5:30pm

Dress Code

Semi-formal

Ticket Pricing

$77

For Institute Community & workshop attendees

$115

General admission

You can also add a workshop ticket when registering

Want to Be Part of the 2026 Awards?

Nominations are now open

Tickets are on sale now.

Show us how you're reducing psychosocial risk. Show us your results. Show us what happens when leadership gets serious about psychological safety.

Find out more about the 2026 awards

Meet the Judges

Meet the esteemed panel of judges for the 2025 Psychosocial Safety and Leadership Awards. These leading experts bring a wealth of experience across WHS, law, wellbeing and strategic program delivery. Their diverse insights and unwavering commitment to creating mentally healthy and safe workplaces ensure a rigorous and insightful recognition of excellence in this vital field.