8:20 Delegate Registration & Coffee

Chair’s opening remarks

MAKA KAMA
Chief Purpose Officer, Alliance Community Group

It Pays to Care is an evidence-based policy promoting national
discussion on fair, efficient compensation schemes. This
presentation highlights how collaboration across the workers
compensation sector can embed compassion and shared
responsibility into system design - strengthening frameworks,
advancing social capital, and ensuring sustainable, data-informed policies which drive powerful return to work outcomes.

RHEA MERCADO
Creative Production Lead, It Pays to Care

In this panel, industry leaders unpack the crucial role of early intervention in workers’ compensation—and why its success hinges not only on process, but on people. As organisations grow and evolve, so do the complexities in how injuries are managed. This discussion explores how clarity in roles and responsibilities, combined with a proactive leadership culture, ensures early
intervention is not just a policy, but a lived practice. From the frontline to C-suite, we’ll explore how expectations are
communicated, how responsibility is shared, and how governed processes are built to reflect real-world dynamics.

Q. In your experience, what does successful early intervention look like in the first 60 minutes or 24 hours, and who exactly should own that responsibility?
Purpose: To Unpack where the process begins, and clarifies who leads the charge at each point.

Q. How do you define and communicate the roles of regional managers, site leaders, and the central claims team in the early stages of an injury—and where do you see the gaps most commonly arise?
Purpose: To target clarity of responsibilities and challenges in communication and execution.

Q. What role should senior leadership play in setting the tone for a culture of early intervention? Can top-down leadership tangibly impact outcomes for injured workers?
Purpose: Ties leadership accountability directly to cultural and performance outcomes.

Q. How can organisations ensure their formal policies and governed processes reflect the actual lived experience of injured workers and managers? What’s the feedback loop between process owners and the people using those processes?
Purpose: To bridges policy and practice, highlighting governance with adaptability and feedback.

Q. What does AI in workplace rehab look like?

• Adopting a risk triage tool
• Using GenAI paired with ML to create recommendations in rehab

MODERATOR:

MAKA KAMA
Chief Purpose Officer, Alliance Community Group

PANEL MEMBERS:

JASON PERIN
Safety, Wellbeing & Injury Management, Keyton

JOANNE BARTLEY
Injury Prevent Manager, iCare NSW

SARAH ELLIS
National Portfolio Manager, Workers Compensation,
Guild Insurance

10:50 MORNING TEA & NETWORKING

The rationale behind risk stratification through psychosocial
screening and delivering matched care is well-established. However,
many organizations have struggled with its execution.
In this session, participants will explore a real-life case study of how Queensland Rail successfully implemented a matched care program within just two months and scaled it for operational delivery.
This presentation offers practical insights into overcoming
implementation barriers and showcased a scalable model that can
be adapted across industries.

HELEN CREAGH
Self-Insurance Team Leader, Queensland Rail

DR DAVID BRENTNALL
Managing Director, Axis

Psychological injury claims are on the rise and this session will assess the impact of psychosocial factors on claims and recovery
and what strategies can be adopted for early intervention in workplace mental health issues and the legal implications and evolving responsibilities of employers. Dave Burrough has over 17 years’ experience in psycho safety and how work influences
psychological outcomes. This session will delve deep into:

• Understanding how workplace mental health issues translate into compensation claims.
• Learn early intervention strategies to mitigate psychological injury claims.
• Gain insights into your responsibilities and best practices as employers.

DAVE BURROUGHS
Founder, Australian Psychological Services and Chief Mental Health Officer, Westpac

12.30 Networking Lunch

• Leverage technology and relationships to support workers
regardless of location
• Identify and support biopsychosocial needs to overcome barriers
and support return work needs
• Limiting liability with more favourable outcomes and positive
rehabilitation journey by innovating healthcare practices in an
insurance setting

OLIVIA DOWLING
Workers Compensation Specialist at Rio Tinto

MEAGAN MORAVCOVA
Customer Advisor at WorkCover Queensland

With a stronger regulatory focus on psychosocial risks, businesses must adapt to new standards that recognise the impact of workplace stress, bullying, and mental health on workers’ compensation claims. This session will explore recent legislative shifts, strategies for managing psychosocial risks, and best practices for fostering a mentally healthy workplace that minimises compensation claims and supports long-term workforce wellbeing.

• What proactive steps can be taken to better understand the business, legal, and cultural imperatives driving the shift toward proactive psychosocial risk management?
• What practical strategies would you give for identifying and mitigating psychosocial risks in the workplace?
• Do you have any real-world evidence or case study examples you could give where organisations have successfully integrated mental health and wellbeing into their workers’ compensation strategies?

MODERATOR:

MAKA KAMA
Chief Purpose Officer, Alliance Community Group

PANELLISTS:

KARLI EDGERTON
Manager, Health & Wellbeing, Eagers Automotive

CRYSTAL HORNSEY
Workers Compensation Claims Specialist, UBT
Australia and New Zealand

TESSA BAILEY
CEO and Principal Psychologist, OPUS Centre for Psychosocial Risk

14.50 AFTERNOON TEA

INNOVATION - REVOLUTIONISING CLAIMS
PROCESSING

This session will touch on how to apply data to optimise care navigation for individual workers. We will assess claims patterns and
the correlation and the impact of data to better stratify risk.
• Explore data’s role in personalised recovery.
• Understand how data can improve injury support outcomes.
• Gain insights from real-world data-driven strategies to support the customisation of care models

RYAN GALLAGHER
Head of Data, AI & Research, Honeysuckle Health

LEADERSHIP IN ACTION

This insight session will focus on how leaders can embed safety and well-being into workplace culture to engage employees in injury prevention initiatives and discuss the role of proactive leadership in reducing compensation claims.

• Define leadership's role in injury prevention
• From Safety-I to Safety-II: Why the shift from reactive to proactive safety models is critical for psychosocial risk management.
• Pre-empting Harm, Not Just Managing It: Strategies for early identification and prevention of psychological injuries in the
workplace.
• Building holistic, cross-functional approaches that embed mental health into safety and injury processes.
• Leveraging both qualitative and quantitative data to assess emerging psychosocial risks.
• A review of psychosocial safety regulations and what organisations must do to move beyond baseline compliance.
• Failing forward: Why many organisations miss the early warning signs of mental health claims—and how to fix it.
• Practical steps for leaders to create psychologically safe environments that support wellbeing and performance. What are
your best practices for fostering a safety-first culture

NIRU TYAGI
WHS Consultant, Kaizen Safety Practitioner,
Queensland Police Service

• Dealing with injured workers
• How long before an employer can take steps to reevaluate an
injured employee’s future employment?
• What is the process to terminate a long-term injured worker?

WARWICK RYAN
Employment Law Partner, Hicksons Lawyers

Chair’s closing remarks

17.00-18:00 Networking drinks reception