WhyWork Podcast

In this special WhyM’scal Mash re-mix episode with Alan, Trajce, and Sara, we dive into the unpredictable world of psychosocial exposures at work, blending excerpts from jaw-dropping, thought-provoking stories from past episodes. From the festive chaos of a Christmas party gone awry (S01 E01: Bubbles of Trouble) to a tourism industry tale featuring unexpected and unwelcome behaviour in shared accommodations (hint: it was more than a piss up, [S02 E07: 4 Men and Women 2]), this mash-up explores the complex and sometimes bizarre challenges that arise when work intersects with human behaviour.

It doesn’t stop there. We tackle the broader idea of “work from anywhere,” with shocking stories like a wildlife encounter on a mine site where dingoes turned a lunch break into a harrowing ordeal, and a tragic case of a surveyor stung by a bee with devastating consequences. Whether it’s working from home, navigating shared spaces, or surviving the unexpected, this episode sheds light on the psychosocial risks workers face across industries and environments.

Join us as we connect the dots between these extraordinary tales, offering insights, reflections, and a touch of humour as we ask: What does it really mean to design workplaces to suit such unpredictable times

Season 07 Bonus o1 - Re-Release Episode - a little frivolty to start the new year. What is your Spirit Animal?. The river otter, the wise owl, and the transformation of a deer to a stag and back again. When ‘fuzzy science’ can be meaningful in terms of personality profiles, values, and our behaviours. Why not have fun and reflect on who we are, how we are, and why? This episode reveals more intimate details about the mugs from backwater Brissie: Trajce, Alan, and Sara.

Season 07 Trailer 03: We're back to unpack - Botox, s3x offences, Bollywood dancing, and work from home topics are on their way to your listening ear.

Season 07 Trailer 02: A teaser on the exploration of the entertainment industry and issues of principal contractors managing subcontractors - it all blows up when there is a fatality.

Season 07 Trailer 01: Botox and Bollywood, a teaser on more to follow in WhyWork Season 07.

Season 06 Episode 15: Turbulence on the ground

WARNING: we discuss a passenger fatality - listener discretion advised.

Thank you to subscriber, Grace Kennedy, for suggesting this topic. Grace described her experience in the airport arrivals lounge when passengers headed down an escalator to collect their luggage. The passenger congestion was significant, causing a pile up so severe that this led to people back pedalling on the escalator, attempting to walk backward to return to the floor above.

“Airports are busy, and this would not be the first time to consider cranky travellers,” remarks Alan. Trajce talks about the themes of crowd control, egress, and the escalator pile on. Sara reflects on the human behavioural aspects of rushing because of a need to compete and win, fulfilling the need for status, and the complex chain of responsibilities in airport management. Trajce asks, “Who owns the problem?” while Sara continues to discuss airport design. Trajce references a story of a death of a passenger who died from natural causes but challenged the work activities.

Season 06 Episode 14: From the club to the courtroom

WARNING: This episode includes refences to both sex and suicide - listener discretion advised.

Trajce presents a judgement from the United Kingdom involving a lawyer hiring a law student as his legal secretary. The confronting aspect of this scenario? They first met in a strip club where she worked as a stripper to fund her studies.

“This reeks of people and power. In this scenario,” probes Sara, “does this lawyer think that he can ask anything of his personal assistant?” Trajce shares more details: in the interview, the lawyer refers to himself as a "God" and the woman as his "obedient slave creature."

“Oh, you can’t do that,” deplores Alan, “even if it is intended as a joke.” Sara references this to the episode S04 E08: The archaic adage of deserving a good spanking. The team discuss work culture and impact, including the news of an Australian worker who committed suicide allegedly based on work demands.

Season 06 Epsiode 13: From underwear to underworld: Criminal ties

WARNING: This episode includes sexual references - listener discretion is advised.

Trajce jokes about purchasing a pair of Tradie’s underwear, a discussion thread continuing from Season 05 Episode 04. Trajce wonders if ads like this offend peoples' sensibilities.

Alan responds, “There will not be many situations in a workplace when you would contemplate showing a video of people in their underwear.” Sara asserts that context matters, arguing “You can’t judge an event for infinity – the spirit of the times matters, the ‘zeitgeist’.” Alan reassures her, “You’re exactly right – context matters.”

Alan probes Sara’s crime connection and she shares a few stories…. Including past generation Mafioso bootlegging connections, FBI shoot-outs, and current family friends.

Season 06 Episode 12: It's going SWM'ingly

The podcasters, Trajce, Alan, and Sara, discuss the conventions of establishing Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS). Alan likens SWMS to mythology, rigorously enforced from powers that be, though he believes that the legal doctrine supporting them is unclear. Alan asks, “Do they really work?”

Trajce shares his research on breaches of work health and safety law, including fatal events. “In these cases,” he reveals, “90% of the defendants presented a SWMS – 517 cases, in fact.” In these cases, the SWMS were either not followed, not well considered or constructed, or work simply changed and the workers were confronted by unexpected events. “These ‘unexpected events’ are customary,” remarks Sara, “not unusual.” “To sink or swim?” she asks. Trajce uses the phrase, “The Holy Grail of SWMS.” They continue this thread of debate, wondering if a document is well prepared, have organisations helped transfer that embedded knowledge into the minds and operations of people who do the work, while establishing systems to continue to learn from the many work variations that arise in daily routines.

Sara leverages this debate to bolster support for the WhyWork Workshop build-your-own sponsored podcast and interactive workshops. These workshops are designed for industry and organisations wishing to dive into resilience engineering, reliability thinking, and contingency planning, using case law and work re-design strategies.

Seaon 06 Episode 11: The collective sighs - let's talk about s-X, baby

Let’s talk about…. sex as a primal survival urge. The WhyWork Podcast reflect on their debate about the Australian Tradie’s underwear ads discussed in Season 05 Episode 04. Sara makes a joke about performance drivers much to the chagrin of the boys, when Trajce quotes a Talking Heads lyric, “We’re on the road to nowhere…”

Sara explains primal inner-mammal neurobehavioural drivers of human activity, philosophies advanced by researcher Dr Loretta Breuning , and the ways in which these ideas are used in gaming technology, could improve road safety compliance, and can advance work design strategies.

Alan loves the linguistics with words like ‘ontological framework’ and ‘salutogenesis’ and Trajce expounds on these ideas because of his interests in social science. “Your mind works like a prism,” Trajce remarks, “while my mind is like a kaleidoscope.”