Retail and wholesale ISSC communique: September 2025

The Retail and Wholesale Industry Sector Standing Committee (Committee) met on Tuesday, 9 September 2025.

Members welcomed the Chair of the Work Health and Safety Board (WHS Board), Mr Michael Hart. Mr Hart acknowledged the work of the Committee in providing grounded industry insights and feedback to support the WHS Board perform its advisory function and noted the Committee had a number of key issues of interest, in particular, employee safety in the retail industry.

The Chair of the Committee, Mr Matt Littleboy, informed members about the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) recently released report “Under Pressure”. The report resulted from a national workload survey in late 2023 which had more than 11,500 responses and highlighted almost 80 per cent of workers are at harm from psychosocial hazards. The SDA, in collaboration with the University of New South Wales academics, developed a report outlining the next steps for managing these hazards in retail. A second report was written in conjunction with The Insight Centre, which provides a five-point plan to reduce psychosocial risks and improve worker and business outcomes in the retail industry.

Members supported the work being undertaken by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland to investigate ways to make Health and Safety Representative (HSR) training more relevant to a HSR’s workplace with practical implementation and will seek to identify retail sector relevant case studies that could be developed and provided for HSR training.

Members considered reports by Office of Industrial Relations including:

• Deputy Director-General report
• Policy and legislative updates
• the reintroduction of audiometric testing requirements update
• Strategic Communications update.

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Monday, 24 November 2025.

ISSC secretariat | Email: oirboardsandcommittees@oir.qld.gov.au