BL Management Consultants Pty Ltd

If you completed your initial HSR training more than 12 months ago, refresher training is an opportunity to bring your knowledge back up to date and strengthen the skills you use in the workplace.

Our upcoming Health and Safety Representative Refresher Training (HSRR) is a SafeWork NSW approved, one-day course designed for HSRs who want to refresh their understanding of current WHS requirements and continue representing their workgroup with confidence.

The refresher covers:

• Work Health and Safety legislation
• Consultation, representation and participation
• The role of the HSR, issue resolution and support
• Monitoring, risk management and notifiable incidents
• Provisional Improvement Notices and ceasing unsafe work

It also gives you the opportunity to revisit practical skills around risk management, investigations and effective communication, while staying across legislative updates and emerging safety practices.

If your refresher is due, now is a good time to secure your place and make sure your knowledge stays current, as this is the last time we are running this training this year.

Upcoming HSR Refresher Training: 8 September

Book your place here: https://blmc.com.au/hsrr

Workplace Mental Health First Aid accredited training led by a qualified Counsellor and WHS professional on the 21st and 22nd October 2026.
If you have wanted to be more effective and confident in approaching and helping someone who is struggling, or in crisis, with their mental health, this is the course for you.
Last course for 2026 so email [email protected] or visit the training tab of our website blmc.com.au

Over the past few weeks I have been making calls to check in on people in my networks. It has left me really concerned and asking "Who is supporting the people who support everyone else?".

Mental Health professionals have structured professional supervision to maintain safe and effective practice due to what we are exposed to, why don't others in the workplace with similar exposures have access to this?

What began as simple check ins, on a few occasions, became something very different requiring me to utilise both my coaching and counselling skills. Of concern were the number of conversations with low mood and motivation due to overwhelm to notable distress including crying all due to psychosocial work stressors.

These people are not unfamiliar with mental health and wellbeing systems and skills. These are leaders in the WHS and People space supporting others and doing some really tough stuff, and they are struggling.

Holding such important roles in a business exposes them to all sorts of stressors and difficult people. And, what happens when the behaviours or leadership practices come from their own Leader or Board?

How do these people cope? What options do they have?

Apparently they don't, nor should they, but by providing free, spur of the moment support as I did, nothing changes in the environment or to the people who are the source of the stress!

These unplanned but essential interventions, may never be reported, even though they should be. None will be lodged as an incident and no one inside the organisation will know the extent of the harm.

These people and interventions do not show up in the statistics nor is there accountability to the people causing the psychosocial hazard and unsafe environment.

This is widespread and is not about one WHS / P&C /HR Coordinator, Manager or Executive in one business. It is not about small, medium or large business or an industry. This is common to all of those who support others in a business and have to be vulnerable in making the hard decisions, and they do, regularly. Often being the bearer of bad news, or doing the tough stuff on behalf of the business.

Speaking to someone on the phone whose voice is shaking, who is sobbing with distress, or so flat they can hardly speak due to work pressures and lack of support is not OK in our workplaces in 2026.

These professionals spend their careers looking after organisations and the people within them. They deserve somewhere safe to turn. Mental Health professionals require supervision as part of our accreditation. Where is this for our WHS, People and Culture or HR professionals?

A place with no judgement, to talk, reflect, challenge thinking, regain perspective, be heard, recover and work constructively through difficult situations.

If you are working in the WHS, People and Culture, HR or an other role where you carry responsibility for others, and want to have somewhere safe to take some of the weight, please reach out.

CEO's, Directors, Officers, Executives and Business Owners -
You rely on these people leaders, perhaps a question to ask is, have you considered if they feel safe and are supported in a genuine, evidence based way?

Coaching /Supervision works for mental health professionals, I am hearing it is time for our people leaders as well.

Please message or email me if you need immediate assistance or would like to be part of the BLMC community supporting each other in a safe, confidential and constructive space.

I'm here for you - [email protected] or visit blmc.com.au see our coaching or membership options, or contact us option.

After more than 30 years working alongside businesses and their people, I still love seeing the moment something clicks in a training room.

Someone leaves with a little more confidence to have a conversation, support a colleague, speak up about safety or step into their role.

That's why I'm looking forward to our next round of public training:

20 - 21 August
Resilience First Aid

3 September
Resilience First Aid Starter Training

8 September
Health & Safety Representative Refresher Training

I'm particularly looking forward to welcoming HSRs back for their refresher. It's an opportunity to update your knowledge, explore what's changed and strengthen the skills you use to represent your workgroup.

I only offer the public HSR Refresher twice each year, so if you're eligible to refresh your training, this is your opportunity for 2026.

View the upcoming courses and secure your place via the BLMC website.

One of the things I love seeing in workplaces is what happens when people are given practical skills to support themselves and each other.

Conversations happen earlier, people recognise when a colleague might need support, leaders feel more confident knowing what to say and teams become better equipped to navigate pressure and change together.

That's what building resilience can look like.

Resilience First Aid takes mental health beyond awareness and gives people practical skills they can use every day.

You learn how to:
• Recognise changes in resilience early
• Have supportive conversations
• Strengthen resilience in yourself and others
• Build stronger connections
• Know when and how to guide someone towards further support

I've seen how powerful it can be when these skills become part of the way people work together.

Our next two-day Resilience First Aid course is on 20 - 21 August.

If you'd like to learn more, comment RESILIENCE and I'll send you the details.
LIMITED TIME LEFT BEFORE BOOKINGS CLOSE!

Small business ownership is hard and then this. Technology 1: Me: 0

“She’ll be right.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

Sometimes we know someone is not okay, but we do not go any deeper. It may be because we are unsure what to say, worried we will make things worse, or concerned that we will not know how to help if they do open up.

Mental health conversations can feel uncomfortable, especially when we are not trained for them. Support begins when we learn how to notice, ask better questions and respond safely. It also begins when we build the confidence to have constructive, evidence-based conversations with care.

Mental Health First Aid, Resilience First Aid, High Adversity Resilience Training and Personal Resilience Essentials all help build practical skills for recognising signs, responding with confidence and supporting people before they are left carrying things alone.

Our workplaces, families and communities need us to begin.

Explore BLMC’s mental health training options - https://blmc.com.au/mental-health-training

A quick fix can become a personal WHS liability.

Two workers in Queensland were fined a total of $21,000 after a cantilever racking system collapsed while they were trying to reposition it using an elevated work platform and a tow strap.

The original issue appeared simple. The racking had been installed around 100-150mm out of position.

Rather than dismantling and reinstalling it, the company director and supervising worker chose to move the fully assembled structure.

During the manoeuvre, the racking collapsed towards the elevated work platform, crushed the basket and trapped the supervisor inside.

The Brisbane Magistrates Court found that both individuals breached their duties under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

This case is a strong reminder that WHS duties do not only sit with the business.

Individual workers, supervisors and directors can also face prosecution when their actions create serious safety risks.

The key lesson is simple.

When the work changes, the risk assessment must change too.

A task that looks like a quick fix can become high risk when the original work method changes, engineering controls are ignored, exclusion zones are not established, or specialist advice is not sought.

Before changing the plan, stop and ask:

Has the risk assessment been reviewed?
Have new hazards been introduced?
What happens if this goes wrong?
Is anyone in the line of fire?
Do we need engineering or specialist advice?
Is there a safer method?

Shortcuts taken to save time can create far greater cost, risk and liability.

This case shows why risk assessment is not just paperwork.

It is a decision-making tool that protects people before something goes wrong.

I’ve unpacked the full case, the court findings and the key WHS lessons in the latest BLMC blog.

Read the full blog - https://blmc.com.au/post/personal-liability