Distinguished Professor Helen Lingard

Helen Lingard is Professor of Construction Work Health and Safety in the School of Property, Construction and Project Management and RMIT Distinguished Professor. She is Director of the Construction Work Health and Safety @ RMIT Research Group. Helen has published and presented in a wide variety of academic and industry outlets. She has led policy reviews and investigations (on behalf of numerous government and industry organisations) in the areas of construction work health, safety, wellbeing, work hours and work-family interaction. Helen’s work has been funded by SafeWork Australia, SafeWork New South Wales, WorkSafe Victoria, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, WorkSafe ACT, The Major Transport Infrastructure Authority (Victoria), Sydney Metro, the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (USA), the Australian Constructors Association, Lendlease, the John Holland Group, and CodeSafe Solutions.

In 2017 Helen was appointed to the Research Foundation of the New South Wales Government Centre for Work Health and Safety Director. She is a member of the editorial board of Construction Management and Economics.

Helen is currently a member of a Construction Industry Culture Taskforce (CICT). The CICT is a collaboration between the NSW and Victorian public sectors and leaders from industry and academia. Its purpose is to create the impetus to make fundamental changes to the culture of Australian construction and infrastructure sectors.

Helen’s research interests focus on the health, safety and wellness of workers in the construction industry. This work focuses on work design, organisational and industry level challenges. For example, Helen has undertaken extensive work examining the role played by clients in the construction industry in the procurement of safe and healthy construction work.

Helen has been the lead Chief Investigator in four Australian Research Council Linkage Projects and one Discovery Project. She has also been co-Chief Investigator in two other Linkage Projects. These projects have focused on:

• the frontline supervisors’ role in work health and safety in construction projects,
• how to implement safety in design in complex construction projects,
• clients’ ability to influence work health and safety in their commercial relationships with contractors and suppliers, and
• work hours, work-family interaction and health in project-based construction work.

Helen’s work, funded by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship grant, culminated in the publication of a book titled ‘Integrating Work Health and Safety into Construction Project Management.’

Other recent projects have included:

• A review of crane safety incident causation (SafeWork NSW)
• A work health and safety benchmarking survey and industry culture analysis (SafeWork ACT)
• A study of work-related musculoskeletal injury prevention in high risk construction tasks (​WorkSafe Victoria and the ​Major Transport Infrastructure Program, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, Victorian State Government)
• An evaluation of the impact of health promotion interventions in the Queensland construction industry (Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and Lendlease Foundation).

Helen is also collaborating with colleagues from The University of Melbourne, The University of New South Wales, Newcastle University and Deakin University in a National Health and Medical Research Council funded project titled ‘MatesMonitor: Evaluating suicide prevention in the construction industry.’

• Doctor of Philosophy in construction health and safety, The University of Hong Kong, 1995

• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in politics, The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, 1990

Employment experience

• Distinguished Professor, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University. (2016–2015)
• Professor, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University (2009–present)
• Associate Professor, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University (2005–2008)
• Principal OHS Consultant, ARK Consulting Group Pty Ltd. Occupational health and safety and risk management consulting (2003–2005)
• Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne (2003)
• Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne (1999–2002)
• Lecturer, Department of Building and Construction Economics, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. (1996–1998)
• Senior OHS Consultant, Zeal Consulting Pty Ltd. (1997–1998)
• Area Occupational Health and Safety Advisor, Costain Building and Civil Engineering Ltd, Hong Kong (1995–1996)
• Researcher/Senior Researcher, Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Surveying, The University of Hong Kong (1990–1994)
• Consultant to the Hong Kong Government Housing Authority and Public Works Branch (1992–1995)

Professional interests

• Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia
• Australasian Coordinator of the International Council for Building (CIB) W099 Working Commission on Construction Occupational Safety and Health.