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Focus on electrical safety during Safe Work Month – wrap up!

Safe Work Month in October this year kicked off with a series of events held across the state, highlighting the importance of health, safety and wellbeing.

This year, the message was even more powerful as Queensland Mental Health Week also took place in October, reinforcing the vital link between physical safety and mental health at work.

At the start of the month, Safety Advocate Bill Martin attended the Queensland Mental Health breakfast held in Brisbane, to engage with over 260 attendees about the importance of safety leadership, looking after your mental health and reflecting on his role as an advocate.

Bill’s son, Tim, was fatality injured at 17 years old after he received an electric shock at work. Bill shared his determination to educate people who train electrical apprentices about the importance of proper guidance.

“My son was only 17 years old, and being supervised by a 19-year-old,” Bill said.

“Tim's supervisor was too inexperienced to have had someone's life in their hands - supervisors need training and experience to become good supervisors.

“I’ve had to work on my mental health for the past 20 years since it happened – it never leaves you. But there are some excellent supports out there and I encourage you to reach out if you need to.

“The Safety Advocates are all so passionate about spreading our messages about what can happen, and how workplaces and employers can prevent it.

Bill Martin

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland Advocate Bill Martin lost his son Tim, who was an electrical apprentice, to a workplace incident

More than 400 people joined online on 8 October for the Mental Health in the Agriculture industry webinar, to hear practical advice from Dr Tim Driscoll from the Royal Flying Doctors Service. Watch the Mental Health in the Agriculture industry webinar - [Running time = 1h 02m 47s].

Dr Tim was also joined by Ruth Thompson from AgForce, and Jasmin Smith from the Queensland Farmers Federation, who participated in a panel discussion to answer questions directed from members of the online audience.

The key takeaways from the webinar were that even though so many people work remotely throughout Queensland, there is help available thanks to services such as the Royal Flying Doctors Service, and the availability of telehealth services.

The panel acknowledged the unique factors that people within the agriculture industry face such as long hours, seasonal stressors such as flood, drought and fire as well as often not being able to switch easily between home and work life as the two are often combined.

The Work Well Conference kicked off on October 23 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. More than 800 attendees spent the day hearing from an impressive lineup of industry leaders and experts, including Theo Venter who survived a near-catastrophic electrical workplace incident.

Theo detailed how one small decision to remove his safety gloves during his job as an electrician working on live power lines, cost him nearly everything, and how it’s his mission in life to spread the word about following rules and precautions.

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Last updated 28 November 2025