16th September 2025

Two Key Principles that Hold the Key to Psychosocial Health at Work

The Workplace Health & Safety Show (WHSS) has marked itself as one of the premier opportunities for manufacturers and their safety teams to keep abreast with the latest in the OHS industry.

The Show has a huge range of exhibitors in both safety products and services, but perhaps the most valuable part of the show for staff is the speaker programme.

It brings together the best and brightest from across the safety sector to share ideas, report best practice and discuss the future in a knowledgeable, welcoming atmosphere.

The next edition of WHSS will be held in Sydney at The Dome, Olympic Park, from 22-23 October, and will feature a stellar panel of speakers covering topics across the industry.

One such expert is Katharine Davies, Associate Director, Safety Health & Environment, Aust/NZ at AstraZeneca, who is set to speak on the When Safety Frameworks Meet Wellbeing panel on the first day of the Show.

“One of the reasons I wanted to talk about this is that psychosocial health is a real passion topic for me,” she told Industry Update ahead of the Show.

“At AstraZeneca, we are focussed on human performance and apply HOP (Human and Organisational Performance) principles.

“It’s not about blaming people for errors. It’s about understanding how systems are set up in a way that may lead people to fail.

“I’m passionate about creating workplaces where it’s okay to be human, where there’s room for authenticity, creativity and innovation – without fear of failure.”

Davies brings a deep understanding of safety practice from AstraZeneca, and while she was quick to point out that they were also still improving, she could offer insights that manufacturers and other business leaders could adopt.

“Firstly, I’ll say we’re not perfect. We’re still learning and applying these principles. We’re on the same journey as everyone else,” she said.

“Secondly, while senior leadership can commit to these concepts and frontline workers can be passionate about them, I think the key group to focus on is

middle management.

“These are the people making daily decisions. They bear the brunt responsibility to fix issues when things go wrong.

“It’s crucial to coach, mentor and equip middle managers with the right tools.

“But middle managers are the ones who can often influence whether a frontline worker has a good day or a bad one. The more we invest in them, the better the outcomes for everyone.”

In particular, there were two key organisational principles that could assist middle management to assess psychosocial issues.

One of which is a concept called Gemba, a Japanese term meaning ‘the real place’, which encourages managers to interact with the factory floor or job site to see how work is actually done.

This helps leaders connect with people to better understand challenges and ensure standards are being met. real problems as they are rather than hearing a secondary report.

“It means senior leaders go to the frontlines to observe how people are working and understand their roles,” said Davies.

“When leaders enact Gemba, it’s important that they don’t just talk about KPIs or numbers. They should ask human-centred questions: what’s working for you, what’s not, how can we support you?

The second concept is ‘blue line vs black line’, as Davies explained.

“The black line is how work is expected or planned to be done, while the blue line is how work is actually done or experienced by the worker, and these are not always the same,” she said.

“So when leaders observe frontline work, rather than jumping to non-compliance, they should seek to understand: Is there a barrier? Have they found a more efficient way?

“That way we can adapt the system to suit the worker, rather than forcing the worker to suit the system.”

See full agenda https://whsshow.com.au/sydney-agenda/

Don’t miss out Katherine’s When Safety Frameworks Meet Wellbeing: Building practical systems without losing the human elements session on Wed, Oct 22nd.

🎟️ Workplace Health & Safety Show Sydney 🗓️ 22–23 October 2025 📍 Sydney Showground