SafeWork NSW

Regulator

WHS Act 2011 (NSW)

Primary Legislation

WHS Regulation 2025

Current Regulation

$123.31

Penalty Unit Value

1 July 2026

Section 26A Commencement

1 December 2026

WEL Commencement

Yes

Harmonised Jurisdiction

SafeWork NSW is the primary WHS regulator for New South Wales, operating within the Department of Customer Service. It is responsible for workplace inspections, enforcement, education, and compliance campaigns across all industries except mining, which falls under the NSW Resources Regulator. SafeWork NSW employs the largest inspectorate of any Australian WHS regulator and conducts targeted compliance campaigns in high-risk industries including construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and retail. The regulator has adopted an increasingly proactive enforcement posture, issuing improvement and prohibition notices on the spot during inspections and pursuing prosecutions for serious breaches. SafeWork NSW also administers the workers compensation scheme through icare and coordinates with the State Insurance Regulatory Authority on premium and return-to-work matters.

The WHS Regulation 2025 replaces the WHS Regulation 2017 and introduces several significant changes for NSW businesses. The most impactful change is the adoption of Section 26A, which elevates approved codes of practice to compliance benchmarks from 1 July 2026. Under Section 26A a PCBU that follows an approved code is deemed to have complied with the relevant duty, while a PCBU that departs from a code must prove their alternative provides equivalent or better protection. The regulation also introduces mandatory psychosocial hazard management obligations under Regulations 55C and 55D, requiring PCBUs to identify and control psychosocial risks with the same rigour as physical hazards. The WEL transition requires all NSW businesses to comply with the new workplace exposure limits from 1 December 2026, replacing the existing workplace exposure standards with updated values that reflect current scientific evidence.

NSW applies a penalty unit system to WHS offences, with the current penalty unit value set at $123.31. This means the maximum penalty for a Category 1 offence by a body corporate, which involves reckless conduct exposing a person to a risk of death or serious injury, can exceed three million dollars. For individuals in the role of officer, the maximum Category 1 penalty includes five years imprisonment and a fine exceeding $600,000. Category 2 offences, involving a failure to comply with a health and safety duty that exposes a person to a risk of death or serious injury, carry maximum fines exceeding $1.5 million for a body corporate. SafeWork NSW has demonstrated a willingness to pursue the upper end of the penalty range in serious cases, with several record fines handed down in 2024 and 2025 for construction and manufacturing incidents. Enforceable undertakings remain available as an alternative to prosecution where the regulator determines that the proposed undertaking will deliver better safety outcomes than a fine.

NSW has the largest construction sector in Australia, driven by major infrastructure projects including the Sydney Metro, WestConnex, and Western Sydney Airport. SafeWork NSW conducts intensive compliance campaigns targeting construction sites, with a particular focus on fall prevention, silica management, and traffic management. The manufacturing sector in western Sydney and the Hunter region faces scrutiny around hazardous chemical management, machine guarding, and noise exposure. The agriculture sector in regional NSW remains a high-risk industry with compliance challenges around quad bike safety, silo entry, and seasonal worker management. The healthcare sector faces growing regulatory attention around psychosocial hazards, manual handling, and workplace violence. SafeWork NSW publishes an annual compliance and enforcement priorities statement that identifies the industries and hazards that will receive targeted attention in the coming year.