A decade of safety data. The market is resilient, regulated, and still under-supplied.

When The Safe Step launched Australia's first HSE Job Market Index in October 2015, the safety profession was largely invisible in market data; its regulatory drivers, sector concentrations, and relative independence from economic cycles were untracked and unmeasured. A decade and 236,000 job listings later, we have a complete picture.

This month we released the 10th anniversary edition of our HSE Job Market Report. The story it tells is one of structural, persistent demand shaped by legislation, risk, and the ongoing requirement to manage workplace safety in an increasingly regulated environment.

A market shaped by obligation

When COVID-19 contracted the broader HR job market by 52% in 90 days, the HSE index fell just 10% and recovered within months. HSE demand is driven primarily by regulatory obligation and incident risk. When organisations reduce costs, safety headcount is typically among the last to go because the legal and operational consequences are immediate. The HSE index has never fallen below 63 across the full decade, even during the mining sector contraction of 2017-2018, which was a sector-specific event entirely unrelated to the broader economy.

The index reached its all-time peak of 198.6 in March 2025, nearly two years after the HR market peaked. That lag reflects the fact that safety hiring responds to regulatory accumulation and compliance timelines, not business confidence. Demand builds as obligations bed in, and those obligations don't resolve on their own.

The regulatory engine

The decade's most consequential driver of HSE demand has been the expansion of psychosocial safety obligations across Australian jurisdictions. What began as an emerging area of regulatory interest has become a mainstream compliance requirement.

2023 was the busiest year in the index's history, with 30,744 HSE job listings nationally, driven largely by organisations building psychosocial safety capability in response to new legislative requirements. The Utilities sector grew 311% over the decade. The Public Sector grew 165%. Both are heavily regulated environments where the scope of safety obligations has expanded significantly.

Psychosocial safety frameworks, once legislated, create ongoing compliance requirements. Organisations hiring to meet those obligations are building permanent capability, not responding to a temporary surge. Permanent HSE roles now represent 84% of all listings, up from 82% at inception, and contract roles have declined 8% over the decade.

The supply gap

HSE Executive roles are up 48% over the decade, the fastest-growing category in the index. That growth reflects the profession's elevation within organisations and a genuine pipeline challenge. Building an experienced HSE Executive takes time. They need to develop regulatory knowledge, incident management experience, and the ability to present safety risk at board level. Supply hasn't kept pace with increasing demand.

The geographic data reinforces this. Western Australia is up 117% over the decade, driven by LNG, critical minerals, and major infrastructure investment. Queensland is up 41%, South Australia up 58%. In these markets, competition for experienced HSE professionals is consistent and the requirement for embedded safety capability is non-negotiable.

NSW and ACT have both declined over the decade (down 34% and 38% respectively) reflecting a shift toward outsourced safety functions and non-advertised consulting arrangements in larger organisations. That pattern indicates a structural change in how organisations are meeting that need, and in many cases a gap between the level of embedded HSE leadership organisations have and the level their regulatory obligations require.

The next ten years

Psychosocial safety obligations will continue to expand. Environmental and sustainability requirements are broadening the scope of HSE roles. Automation is changing the physical risk profile of workplaces in ways that regulation is beginning to address.



These are structural shifts, not cyclical ones. The HSE professionals best positioned for the next decade are those who can operate across that expanded scope — managing psychosocial risk, navigating a more complex regulatory environment, and communicating safety risk clearly at a senior level. The data over ten years suggests demand for that capability is durable and that supply remains the more pressing variable.

The full report is free to download here. If it raises questions about your hiring strategy or career direction, our team is happy to talk it through.