SafeWork NSW has released its 2026-27 Regulatory Statement, putting businesses on notice that meaningful safety improvements are expected across the state’s highest-risk workplace hazards. Drawing on data, evidence and stakeholder insights, the statement sets out the regulator’s compliance and enforcement approach for the year ahead, alongside its four key priority areas of falls from heights, psychosocial risks, hazardous substances and mobile plant, vehicles and fixed machinery.
These four categories have remained the leading contributors to serious injury and fatalities in NSW workplaces for the past two years, and the numbers behind them are stark. Over the past 12 months, more than 600 incidents, including five fatalities, were reported in relation to falls from height, while mobile plant incidents accounted for over 500 reports and eight fatalities. Psychosocial hazards generated more than 2200 requests for service and over 190 notified incidents, and hazardous substances remained a significant concern, with SafeWork NSW inspectors issuing more than 145 silica-related notices and recording over 45 silicosis case reports.
A consistent regulatory course
This marks the second regulatory statement released since SafeWork NSW became a stand-alone regulator on 1 July last year, and the consistency in priorities between the two years is deliberate rather than coincidental. SafeWork Commissioner Janet Schorer said in a statement that the lack of significant change in focus areas should prompt businesses in those categories to reassess what is and isn’t working in their own safety practices.
The statement also reaffirms the regulator’s commitment to worker consultation on WHS risks, employer compliance with WHS Codes of Practice and targeted support for higher-risk worker groups including young and migrant employees. It sits alongside a broader risk-based regulatory approach designed to concentrate resources on the harms most likely to cause fatalities, serious injury and illness.
Building on a year of reform
SafeWork NSW pointed to a run of achievements over the past 12 months underpinning the new statement. These include the establishment of the tripartite SafeWork Advisory Council, expansion of the psychosocial inspectorate backed by $127.7 million in NSW Government funding and the creation of the Tunnelling Dust Safety Taskforce in response to silica risks.
The Silica Worker Register, launched on 1 October 2025 to monitor exposed workers’ health, has already added more than 15,000 workers. SafeWork NSW has also introduced new six-monthly reporting requirements under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and implemented legislative reforms making Codes of Practice legally enforceable, alongside tougher compliance measures and expanded protections against bullying and harassment.
Consultation has also begun on Digital Work Systems Guidelines, extending protections to workers in digitally managed industries.
Schorer said the regulator’s focus remains firmly on prevention. “Our focus remains on prevention by helping workplaces understand their obligations, lifting capability and addressing risks early,” she said.
For cleaning and hygiene businesses operating across manual handling, chemical exposure and high-turnover workforces, the statement offers a clear signal of where SafeWork NSW’s attention and enforcement resources will land in the year ahead.
