Workplace Safety & WHS Rights Australia 2026

A notifiable incident is the death of a person, a serious injury or illness (for example one requiring immediate hospital admission), or a dangerous incident such as an uncontrolled escape of a substance, a structure collapse, or an electrical hazard. The PCBU (employer) must notify the regulator immediately and preserve the incident site until told otherwise, unless preservation would risk further injury. Source: model Work Health and Safety Act 2011; Safe Work Australia.

Report notifiable incidents to your state or territory regulator immediately, by phone. The numbers are: SafeWork NSW 13 10 50; WorkSafe Victoria 13 23 60; Workplace Health and Safety Queensland 1300 362 128; SafeWork SA 1800 777 209; WorkSafe WA 1800 678 198; WorkSafe Tasmania 1300 366 322; WorkSafe ACT 13 22 81; NT WorkSafe 1800 019 115; Comcare 1300 366 979. The ACT uses a dedicated form for workplace sexual assault. Source: each regulator's website.

WHS enforcement follows a graduated pyramid, from lightest to heaviest. (1) Advice, education and a verbal direction from an inspector. (2) Written improvement notices (fix a contravention by a set date) and prohibition notices (stop an activity that poses an immediate or imminent serious risk). (3) Infringement (on-the-spot) notices and enforceable undertakings — a legally binding commitment a duty holder offers instead of prosecution. (4) Prosecution in the courts. The model WHS Act sets three prosecutable offence tiers: a Category 3 offence (failing to comply with a duty), a Category 2 offence (a failure exposing a person to a risk of death or serious injury or illness), and a Category 1 offence — the most serious — which requires reckless or, in some jurisdictions, negligent conduct exposing a person to a risk of death or serious injury. Penalty maximums for each category vary by state and territory and several are indexed annually, so check your regulator for current figures. The most serious workplace fatalities can also be charged as industrial manslaughter, a separate and heavier offence. Source: model Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (sections 31-33); Safe Work Australia; state WHS regulators.

A workplace death is a notifiable incident, so the PCBU must notify the WHS regulator immediately by phone and then preserve the incident site — leaving everything undisturbed until an inspector permits otherwise — unless disturbing it is needed to help an injured person, remove a deceased person, or make the site safe. Police and the regulator will investigate, and the death is reported to the coroner, who may hold a coronial inquest into the cause and circumstances. Where the death resulted from a duty holder's gross negligence or reckless conduct, it can be prosecuted as industrial manslaughter (now an offence in most Australian jurisdictions) carrying very large fines and lengthy imprisonment for individuals. Separately, the workers compensation scheme in the relevant state or territory provides a statutory death benefit (a lump sum) and, in most schemes, ongoing payments to dependants, plus funeral expenses. Exact death-benefit amounts and dependant entitlements differ by scheme, so check your state or territory authority. Source: model Work Health and Safety Act 2011; state WHS and workers compensation authorities; Safe Work Australia.

Maximum penalties for the most serious WHS offence (a Category 1 offence — reckless conduct exposing a person to a risk of death or serious injury) vary by state and territory and are not uniform. Most states set a fixed maximum of around $3 million for a body corporate — for example Queensland $3 million and Western Australia $3.5 million — with up to 5 years imprisonment for an individual. The Commonwealth (Comcare) and New South Wales set much higher, annually-indexed maximums, into the tens of millions for a body corporate. Lesser offences (Categories 2 and 3) carry lower maximums. Always check your state regulator for the exact current figure. Source: state WHS regulators; Safe Work Australia.

Mostly, but not exactly. Victoria operates under its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and OHS Regulations 2017 (it uses the terms 'employer' and 'self-employed person' rather than 'PCBU'), and Western Australia has its own Work Health and Safety Act 2020 and regulations. Both are broadly aligned with the harmonised model laws, but penalty levels, some duties, and document-retention rules differ. Always check the WorkSafe Victoria or WorkSafe WA position for your situation. Source: WorkSafe Victoria; WorkSafe WA.

PCBUs must manage psychosocial hazards — such as high job demands, low control, poor support, bullying, harassment and exposure to traumatic events — so far as is reasonably practicable, the same way they manage physical risks. Most jurisdictions have adopted the model psychosocial regulations (regs 55A to 55D). From 1 July 2026, section 26A of the WHS Act 2011 (NSW) requires a PCBU to comply with an applicable approved code of practice or manage the risk to an equivalent or higher standard — a 'comply-or-justify' benchmark. Source: Safe Work Australia model Code; legislation.nsw.gov.au s 26A.

A SWMS is required before high-risk construction work (HRCW) starts. The model regulations list 18 categories of HRCW — including work where there is a risk of a fall of more than 2 metres and work in or near a trench deeper than 1.5 metres. Victoria's OHS Regulations 2017 list 19 categories (the 19th covers diving). The SWMS must identify the hazards, the control measures, and how they will be implemented, monitored and reviewed. Use the 'Do I Need a SWMS?' tool to check your work. Source: model WHS Regulations reg 291 and 299; WorkSafe Victoria reg 322 and 327.