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Associate Professor Trajce Cvetkovski

Associate Professor
Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Management (OHSEM)

Areas of expertise: Work health and safety (WHS/OHS) law and regulation; serious industrial crimes and manslaughter enforcement; psychosocial risk and workplace wellbeing; risk trivialisation in popular culture and media

Location: ACU Brisbane Campus

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Provisional

Phone: +61 7 3861 6153

Email: [email protected]

Scopus Author ID: 56083794800

ORCID: 0000-0003-3269-4476

Associate Professor Trajce Cvetkovski is the Discipline Leader in Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Management (OHSEM) in the Peter Faber Business School at the Australian Catholic University. As an academic and Australian legal practitioner admitted to practice in Queensland, the Federal Court, and the High Court of Australia, Trajce’s applied research focuses on law, policy, and safety science.

Prior to commencing this role in 2018, Dr Cvetkovski served 13 years as a WHS Prosecutor for Queensland's Office of Industrial Relations, as well as Acting Director of Workers' Compensation Policy. He has prosecuted complex regulatory breaches and high-profile statutory crimes including Category 1 reckless conduct, industrial fatalities, electrical safety offences, and emerging disease outbreaks.

Trajce has examined structural inconsistencies across harmonised Australian WHS regimes, mining safety legislation, and the expanding statutory thresholds of industrial manslaughter and reckless endangerment. In parallel, his interdisciplinary research explores the intersection of work design, psychosocial hazards, the application of investigation tools, the misuse of safe work method statements, and the socio-legal trivialisation of workplace safety in media and popular culture.

Beyond conventional research outputs, Dr Cvetkovski actively translates legal and organisational safety research through industry engagement and digital media. He co-hosts and produces the internationally popular WhyWork® Podcast (with Alan Girle and Dr Sara Pazell), blending case law analysis, work design, and workplace culture. Trajce also co-hosts and produces The Safety Verdict (with Neville Weston and Andrew Ross, supported by Longton Blackwell), a forum analysing industrial crimes, regulatory developments, and national WHS compliance. Dr Cvetkovski is a contributor to the Core Body of Knowledge for the Generalist OHS Professional (AIHS) and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Recent Publications

• Peace, C., & Cvetkovski, T. (In press). Overview of WSH legislative frameworks. In Handbook of Workplace Safety and Health. Springer Nature.
• Cvetkovski, T., & Weston, N. (2026). Inconsistencies in Industrial Manslaughter Laws and Category 1 Reckless Offences in Australia: Same, Same — But Different? Australian Journal of Labour Law.
• Cvetkovski, T. (2026). The Therapeutic Benefits of Victim Impact Statements: A Human-Centred Design Process in the Court Room and Beyond? In E. G. C. Crawford & S. Pazell (Eds.), Good Work Design: Conceptualisation and Practice for Sustainable Futures. Taylor & Francis / CRC Press.
• Cvetkovski, T., & Weston, N. (2025). Mining Work Health, Safety Laws and Serious Industrial Crimes in Australia: Down the Shaft of Jurisdictional Inconsistency. Laws, 14(4), 49.
• Cvetkovski, T. (2024). Reality Television and the Art of Trivialising Work Health, Safety and Wellbeing. Palgrave Macmillan / Springer Nature.
• Cvetkovski, T. (2021). Harmonisation First — Sentencing Inconsistency Afterwards: Down the Federal Rabbit Hole of the Model Work Health and Safety Act 2011. Australian Journal of Labour Law, 34(3), 200–235.

Selected Grants & Industry Research Projects

• National Safety Council (US) – Research to Practice (R2P) Grant (2026–2027)

Project: AI-enabled framework integrating ergonomic, psychosocial, organizational, and individual risk data to prioritize musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) prevention strategies for healthcare workers.

Collaborators: ViVA health at work (ViVID Design Labs), Australian Catholic University, and Queensland University of Technology (Total Program Funding: USD $300,000).

Status: In progress

• Incident Investigations and Accident Causation Analysis Project (2023–2025)

https://vivahealthgroup.com.au/case_studies/incident-investigations-and-accident-causation-analysis/ (In-kind contribution)

Status: Research article accepted subject to minor corrections (currently under review)

Public Engagement & Digital Media

• Host & Producer, WhyWork® Podcast: Co-hosted with Alan Girle and Dr Sara Pazell, critically dissecting workplace relations, emerging case law, and modern work design strategy.
• Co-Host, The Safety Verdict: Co-hosted with Neville Weston and Andrew Ross (supported by Longton Blackwell), providing legal insight and statutory analysis on industrial crimes and Australian safety governance.

Professional Appointments & Affiliations

• Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• Barrister-at-Law, Bar Association of Queensland (Class A Member)
• Member, Australian Institute of Health and Safety (AIHS)
• Academic Panellist, Occupational Health and Safety Education Accreditation Board (OHSEAB)
• Member, Queensland Safety Innovation and Technology Laboratory
• Academic Representative, ACU Staff Work Health and Safety Committee