Keynote presentation: Just a Number
| Monday, August 18, 2025 |
| 10:45 AM - 11:30 AM |
| Ballroom |
| Sponsored By: |
Overview
Helen Fitzroy
Details
Helen’s passion for workplace safety commenced following the death of her husband, Steve, in an underground mining accident in WA in 1991. At the time of Steve’s death, mining fatalities were considered an inherent risk of the industry, and support for loved ones was virtually non-existent. One of Helen’s coping strategies was to write - she wrote to her husband, but also to herself and her children, leading to the publishing of her first book some years later, “Just a Number” which outlines her family’s journey in the five years following Steve’s death, as they traversed the quagmire of emotional, legal and bureaucratic processes that constitute life for a bereaved family following a workplace death.
For the past 25 years, Helen has been travelling extensively across Australia as well as internationally, sharing her story to others across industries and reiterating the importance of all stakeholders’ commitment to safety at work.
Helen’s commitment and passion culminated in the establishment of Miners’ Promise in 2010 - a not-for-profit organisation established to provide emotional and practical support to members and their families following a crisis event such as a death, illness or serious accident in the mining industry.
As a result, she was a recipient of a WA Local Hero of the Year Award, (2012) a category of the Australian of the Year awards. She was also awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2024.
Speaker
Helen Fitzroy
Workplace Safety Expert
Just a Number
Abstract
Biography
Helen Fitrzoy's passion for workplace safety commenced following the death of her husband in 1991, in an underground mining accident in Norseman, WA – leaving her a widow at the age of 33 years, with three
young children to raise alone. At the time of her husband Steve's death, mining fatalities in particular were largely 'normalised' – by not only companies, but also government agencies. Such tragedies were
considered part of the business and virtually no support was offered to families, to enable them to move forward with their lives.
One of the strategies that Helen used in coping with her circumstance, was to write – she wrote to her husband, but wrote largely for herself and small children and several years later, Just a Number was published. The book outlines the journey Helen and her children took for the five years after Steve's death, as they waded through the quagmire of emotional, legal and bureaucratic processes that make up the life of families bereaved by a workplace fatality.
Current experience:
Just a Number is now used largely throughout the resources industry around Australia, as a means of informing workers and their families of the dire consequences on loved ones, of the devastation of a workplace fatality. For the past decade, Helen has also travelled extensively throughout Australia, and internationally, delivering safety presentations to companies and their employees, to illustrate the importance of both parties' commitment to safety at work. This has also been accompanied by the production of a DVD of the same name in 2007.
Previous experience:
For the past two decades, much of Helen's time has been devoted to campaigning for, not just improved safety within the mining sector, but also for improved, on-going support for bereaved family members.
This has culminated in the establishment of the Western Australian Resource Workers Legacy Scheme Incorporated (known as The Miners Promise), of which she was the Deputy Chair, before taking on the role of Family Support Advisor, working directly with affected families for two years. This organisation ensures that no family of a resource worker is left in a position of poverty or isolation following a crisis event, including the death of a loved one, predominantly in WA and members receive a diverse range of on-going support.
Her goal is to see this initiative developed, not just Australia-wide, but internationally
