Is It Notifiable? When You Must Call the WHS Regulator — Every State, 2026

Three categories trigger the duty in every Australian jurisdiction: a death, a serious injury or illness (think in-patient hospital treatment, amputation, serious head or eye injury, serious burns, spinal injury, loss of bodily function, serious lacerations, or medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to a substance), and a dangerous incident — a near miss that could have killed or seriously injured someone, like a structural collapse, an uncontrolled electrical contact, a fall of plant, or an uncontrolled escape of gas, steam or a pressurised substance.

The dangerous-incident limb is the one employers miss: nobody has to be hurt. A scaffold collapse at 6am before workers arrive is still notifiable.

Not sure about a specific event? Run it through our Notifiable Incident Checker — it applies your state's exact item lists and gives you the regulator's number for a call-to-confirm.

1. Notify immediately. The obligation is to notify the regulator immediately after becoming aware — phone is the standard channel, and written follow-up within 48 hours where the regulator requires it. “We'll mention it to the inspector next visit” is a breach.

2. Preserve the site. The incident site must not be disturbed until an inspector arrives or the regulator releases it — except to help an injured person, remove a deceased person, make the site safe, or under a police or inspector direction.

3. Keep the record for 5 years. Every notifiable incident record must be kept for at least five years from notification.

Build these into an incident response sequence people can follow under stress — make safe, first aid, notify, preserve, record, support, review — before you need it.

Save your state's number where supervisors will find it (verified 20 June 2026):

Working from home counts too: if a WFH worker suffers a notifiable injury while working, the same duty applies — check your remote arrangements with the WFH WHS Obligations Checker.

Most notifications do not lead to prosecution — the regulator may take no action, request information, or send an inspector. But everything you do in the first 24 hours is potential evidence: preserve honestly, don't coach witnesses, record what happened factually, and get legal advice before a formal interview if a fatality or very serious injury is involved.

In the public prosecutions record, matters clustered in construction and manufacturing, and around half of prosecuted matters involved a serious injury — the fact patterns are repetitive and preventable. Benchmark your own sector with the WHS Industry Risk Benchmark.

General information, not legal advice. Regulator details verified 20 June 2026; positions verified 22 July 2026.