Emerging Trends in Workplace Health and Safety Research

This research alert is a report that outlines recent areas of interest in Work Health Safety (WHS) and workers’ compensation, derived from a 6-month review of grey literature, including national WHS conference topics and peer-reviewed publications from Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) journals. Four emerging themes are identified: creating a more inclusive workplace for neurodivergent workers, the role of safety leadership, measuring safety performance, and the impact of gender and bullying on mental health in the workplace. The report details the need for accommodations for neurodivergent individuals, emphasizing a shift from the medical model to a social model of understanding neurodiversity. It also discusses the importance of effective safety leadership in driving safety performance and the potential of new technologies to measure safety performance. Additionally, the report highlights the significant threat of workplace bullying to mental health, particularly regarding gender differences in the experience of bullying.