Australia Wins Bid to Host 2023 World Congress for Safety and Health

After a three-year long bidding process led by the Safety Institute of Australia, Sydney has been announced as the host city for the 2023 World Congress for Safety and Health at Work.

It will be the first time Australia has hosted the World Congress, which will attract up to 4000 professionals from 120 countries, and inject $10 million directly into the state economy.

These professionals will include safety experts, regulators, government and private authorities who will collaborate and discuss different approaches to workplace health and safety.

Business Events Sydney (BESydney) initially approached the Safety Institute of Australia who agreed to create and pitch Australia’s case for the bid, with backing at the time from SafeWork NSW and the ACTU.

SIA Chairman Patrick Murphy said “Our task as a wider community is to constantly strive for better health and safety outcomes in workplaces. This means both learning from others, and sharing our own knowledge. We work in a global marketplace, and a component of the Institute’s work is in that marketplace.”

“We sought to have this Congress in Australia because gives us a tremendous opportunity for a genuine exchange of ideas and knowledge. We want to showcase Australian health and safety practice to the world, and at the same time, in the knowledge that we are always learning, we want to explore what is being achieved in other countries and learn from that. I’m very proud of the hard work done at the Institute to create the opportunity for this to occur.”

Australian Minister for Small and Family Business, Skills and Vocational Education, Senator Michaelia Cash, said it was a great opportunity for Australian businesses to showcase their world-class approaches to workplace health and safety.

“Our nation’s small businesses are responsible for the workplace health and safety of over 44 per cent of Australia’s private workforce and we are delighted to be able to showcase their leading occupational practices.”

The World Congress on Safety and Health at Work is run every three years. Singapore hosted the event in 2017, and Toronto are set to host in 2020.