Work Health and Safety (WHS) in Australia: 2026 Guide

The Model WHS Laws

Safe Work Australia developed the national model WHS laws to support a more consistent approach across the country. The framework includes:

• the model WHS Act;

• the model WHS Regulations; and

• model Codes of Practice.

The key word is model.

These laws do not automatically become enforceable simply because Safe Work Australia publishes or amends them. A Commonwealth, state or territory jurisdiction must separately implement the relevant provisions as its own law. Jurisdictions can also make variations. 

Safe Work Australia’s model WHS laws overview explains how the Act, Regulations and Codes fit together.

WHS Laws By State And Territory

The broad position in 2026 is:

Safe Work Australia provides a central reference for WHS laws in each Australian jurisdiction. It confirms that Western Australia’s model-law-based regime became operational on 31 March 2022 and that Victoria remains the only jurisdiction that has not implemented the model WHS laws. 

Always check the current legislation and regulator guidance for the jurisdiction where the work is carried out.

Safe Work Australia Is Not Your Workplace Regulator

Safe Work Australia has an important national role, but it does not regulate individual workplaces.

It develops and evaluates national WHS policy and the model laws. Commonwealth, state and territory regulators enforce the laws operating in their jurisdictions. Safe Work Australia expressly states that it is not a regulator and directs workplace-specific enquiries to the relevant authority. 

If a business needs advice about a workplace incident, notification requirement or local WHS obligation, the appropriate jurisdictional regulator is usually the right starting point.

Act, Regulation, Code Or Standard: What Is The Difference?

These terms are often grouped together, but they do different jobs.

An Australian Standard is not automatically law simply because the Standard exists. Its legal relevance can change if legislation incorporates it, and it may also be relevant when considering what was reasonably practicable in the circumstances.

The legal status of Codes of Practice also requires jurisdiction-specific checking. A model Code does not itself have legal effect until approved in the relevant jurisdiction.

Who Has Duties Under WHS Laws?

WHS duties are broader than a simple employer-versus-employee relationship.

Under the model framework, key duty holders include PCBUs, officers, workers and other people at a workplace.

PCBUs

A person conducting a business or undertaking, usually shortened to PCBU, is a central concept in the model WHS laws.

A PCBU may include a company, sole trader, partnership, government body or another organisation conducting work. The concept is broader than the everyday term “employer”.

The primary duty requires a PCBU, so far as is reasonably practicable, to protect the health and safety of workers engaged or influenced by its work and other people who may be put at risk.

Safe Work Australia’s guidance on PCBU duties includes safe systems of work, safe plant and structures, adequate facilities, information, training, instruction, supervision and monitoring of workplace conditions. 

For the practical detail, employer and PCBU responsibilities should be considered in the context of the organisation’s actual work and risks.

If it is not clear whether a particular business arrangement falls within the definition, who counts as a PCBU under WHS law is a separate question worth checking carefully.

Officers

Officers can have their own WHS duty to exercise due diligence.

The term has a specific legal meaning. A person does not automatically become an “officer” under WHS law simply because their job title contains “manager”.

Due diligence can include keeping WHS knowledge current, understanding the organisation’s operations and hazards, ensuring suitable resources and processes are available, and checking those processes are actually used.

People leading teams may still have significant day-to-day safety responsibilities, so WHS duties for managers and supervisors should be understood separately from the legal officer test.

Workers And Other People At The Workplace

Workers also have WHS duties.

Under the model framework, workers must generally take reasonable care of their own health and safety, avoid adversely affecting others, follow reasonable safety instructions and cooperate with applicable workplace policies and procedures.

Visitors, customers and other people at a workplace can also have duties to take reasonable care.

Duties Can Overlap

WHS responsibility cannot always be assigned neatly to one party.

A principal contractor, subcontractor, labour hire provider, host organisation and other businesses may all influence the same work.

Under the model WHS Act principles, duties are not transferable, one person can hold more than one duty, and more than one person can concurrently hold the same duty. Where duties overlap, the parties must each meet their obligations to the extent they can influence or control the matter and may need to consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other. Safe Work Australia explains these overlapping-duty principles. 

Consultation And Worker Participation

Consultation is not just a polite way to tell workers what management has already decided.

Under the model framework, workers who are, or are likely to be, directly affected by a health and safety matter must be consulted.

Consultation can be required when identifying hazards, assessing risks, deciding on controls, proposing workplace changes or developing procedures relating to WHS matters.

Safe Work Australia says consultation involves sharing relevant information, giving workers a reasonable opportunity to express their views and contribute to decisions, taking those views into account, and advising workers of the outcome. If workers are represented by a Health and Safety Representative, or HSR, the HSR must be involved.Its guidance on consulting with workers and HSRs also says the process should be accessible and understandable to those involved.

Good consultation can improve the practical quality of controls because workers often see risks that may not be obvious from a policy document or office-based assessment.

How Workplace Hazards And Risks Should Be Managed

WHS risk management starts with a simple question: what could cause harm here, and what can we reasonably do about it?

Hazard Vs Risk

The terms are related but not interchangeable.

A hazard is something or a situation with the potential to cause harm.

A risk considers the possibility that the harm will occur and how serious the consequences could be.

A slippery floor is a hazard. The chance of someone slipping, together with the possible injury, forms part of the risk.

Australia’s Four-Step WHS Risk Management Process

You may see online searches asking for “five steps” in health and safety. Safe Work Australia’s current WHS risk-management process is built around four main steps:

1. Identify hazards

2. Assess risks

3. Control risks

4. Review control measures

Workers and their HSRs should be consulted at each step.

Safe Work Australia’s four-step WHS risk management process sets out this approach for both physical and psychological risks. 

Risk management should also be revisited when work changes, new hazards appear or existing controls stop working effectively.

The Hierarchy Of Controls

Where a risk cannot be eliminated, the next question is how effectively it can be reduced.

The hierarchy of control measures works from the highest level of protection and reliability to lower-level controls:

1. Eliminate the risk, where reasonably practicable.

2. If elimination is not reasonably practicable, minimise the risk through substitution, isolation and/or engineering controls.

3. Use administrative controls to minimise any remaining risk.

4. Use personal protective equipment (PPE) to minimise risk that still remains.

Substitution, isolation and engineering controls sit at the same level of the hierarchy rather than being three separate descending levels. Administrative controls and PPE are lower-level controls because they rely more heavily on human behaviour, procedures and supervision.

A combination of controls may be appropriate where one measure alone does not adequately minimise the risk.

What “Reasonably Practicable” Means

WHS duties often require action so far as is reasonably practicable.

That does not mean doing whatever is easiest or cheapest.

Relevant factors include:

• how likely the hazard or risk is to occur;

• how serious the possible harm could be;

• what the duty holder knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the hazard or risk and possible controls;

• whether suitable controls are available and suitable; and

• cost, after the risk and available controls have been considered, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk.

Suppose a warehouse regularly has forklifts and pedestrians using the same narrow route. A painted line may be inexpensive, but if physical separation is reasonably available and would provide much stronger protection, cost alone would not necessarily justify relying on the weaker control.

Physical And Psychosocial Hazards Are Both WHS Issues

Workplace hazards are not limited to broken equipment and wet floors.

Examples Of Physical Workplace Hazards

Depending on the workplace, hazards may include:

• unguarded or poorly maintained machinery;

• slippery or obstructed walkways;

• hazardous chemicals;

• unsafe manual tasks;

• excessive noise;

• falls from height;

• electrical risks; or

• vehicle and mobile plant interactions.

Different industries have different risk profiles, which is why generic safety lists cannot replace workplace-specific hazard identification.

Psychosocial Hazards

Psychological health is also part of WHS.

Psychosocial hazards can arise from the design or management of work and from workplace interactions. Examples include excessive job demands, poor support, bullying, aggression or violence, traumatic events and poor organisational change management.

Under the model WHS framework, PCBUs must manage risks to psychological health so far as is reasonably practicable. Safe Work Australia’s guidance treats psychosocial hazards as WHS risks requiring the same systematic approach to identification, control and review as other workplace risks. 

Victoria has also introduced specific psychological health regulations, discussed later in this guide.

WHS Training, Information And Supervision

Training matters, but WHS compliance is not achieved simply by sending every worker through the same online course once a year.

Under the model framework, PCBUs must provide the information, training, instruction and supervision necessary to protect people from workplace risks. What is adequate depends on the work, hazards, workers’ roles and experience, and applicable jurisdictional requirements. 

That may involve different forms of learning, such as:

• workplace induction;

• general WHS awareness;

• task-specific instruction;

• equipment training;

• emergency procedure training;

• site-specific induction; or

• licensed, accredited or competency-based training where particular laws require it.

There is no single universal refresher interval that applies to every type of WHS training. Employers deciding when WHS training is mandatory and when it should be refreshed should consider the applicable law, risks, changes to work, incidents, worker competence and regulator guidance.

Likewise, organisations should assess their actual needs before they choose WHS training for their workplace.

Where general WHS awareness training is appropriate, ACT’s online WHS training for Australian workplaces covers topics including WHS legislation, hazard identification, risk management, consultation, safe work practices, incident response and psychological health. The current course page states that the program is self-paced, includes assessments and is designed for completion in approximately two to four hours. 

A general online course can support workplace awareness, but it does not by itself discharge a PCBU’s WHS duties. It may also not replace workplace-specific instruction, supervision, licences, competency requirements or prescribed training.

Incidents, Serious Hazards, First Aid And Emergency Planning

A WHS system also needs a clear response when something goes wrong.

Responding To Serious Hazards And Incidents

If a worker raises an immediate hazard, the first priority is to prevent further exposure to harm. The response may involve stopping or isolating work, applying suitable controls, reporting the issue internally and deciding whether regulator notification requirements apply.

If a worker raises an urgent concern, employers should already know what to do when a serious hazard is reported rather than creating the process after an incident.

For reportable events, notification goes to the relevant state, territory or Commonwealth regulator—not Safe Work Australia.

The model WHS Act’s incident-notification provisions were amended in December 2025, but amendments to the model laws do not automatically apply in each jurisdiction. Businesses therefore need to check whether and how those changes have been implemented locally. 

Safe Work Australia’s incident reporting guidance can help identify the relevant regulator, but the applicable jurisdictional law remains the source for specific notification duties.

First Aid And Emergency Plans

Under the model WHS framework, PCBUs have duties relating to suitable first aid arrangements and emergency planning.

Safe Work Australia states that emergency planning should address matters such as effective emergency response, testing and maintaining the plan, worker training and consultation with workers and HSRs. Its emergency planning guidance refers to regulation 43 of the model WHS Regulations. 

The exact arrangements should reflect the workplace’s size, location, activities, hazards and workforce.

WHS Compliance And Enforcement

WHS compliance is not simply having a policy stored in a shared drive.

Regulators can inspect workplaces, issue notices, investigate incidents and bring prosecutions where the applicable jurisdictional law allows.

Safe Work Australia reported 308 WHS prosecutions in 2025. Of those prosecutions, 99% resulted in a financial penalty, although the offences, enforcement powers and penalties available vary between jurisdictions. 

Businesses should therefore use their state, territory or Commonwealth WHS regulator for local compliance questions rather than relying on a national summary for a specific legal issue.

The practical focus should remain on preventing harm: understanding duties, identifying risks, putting workable controls in place and checking that those controls remain effective.

Important WHS Developments For 2026

A guide labelled “2026” should reflect genuine current developments, not simply add the year to an old explanation.

NSW Code Of Practice Changes

New South Wales introduced an important change on 1 July 2026.

With the commencement of section 26A of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, SafeWork NSW states that approved Codes of Practice become minimum performance standards that PCBUs are expected to meet. A PCBU can use another method only where it provides an equivalent or higher standard of work health and safety. 

This is NSW-specific and should not be presented as the legal position throughout Australia.

Businesses operating in NSW should check the current NSW Codes of Practice requirements that apply to their activities.

Victoria’s Psychological Health Regulations

Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 commenced on 1 December 2025.

They introduced specific duties for Victorian employers to identify psychosocial hazards and control associated psychological health risks. WorkSafe Victoria’s current guidance explains that the regulations and associated compliance code have been in effect since that date. 

Organisations operating in Victoria should therefore include psychological health requirements in their current OHS reviews.

Workplace Exposure Limits From 1 December 2026

Another change is approaching.

From 1 December 2026, Australia will transition from workplace exposure standards for airborne contaminants, or WES, to workplace exposure limits, or WEL, following implementation through applicable Commonwealth, state and territory WHS laws.

Until the end of the transition period on 30 November 2026, PCBUs must continue to comply with the existing WES requirements. 

Businesses that use or generate airborne contaminants should check the new workplace exposure limits before the transition date and confirm how the change applies in their jurisdiction.

A Practical WHS Framework For Australian Workplaces

The legal framework can look complicated, but the day-to-day approach does not need to start with a hundred-page policy.

A useful starting sequence is:

1. Confirm your jurisdiction and regulator. Know which WHS or OHS laws apply to the work.

2. Identify your duty holders. Work out which PCBUs, officers, workers and other parties have responsibilities.

3. Identify physical and psychosocial hazards. Look at the work as it is actually performed.

4. Assess and control risks. Eliminate risks where reasonably practicable, then use suitable controls.

5. Consult workers and HSRs. Involve the people affected by safety decisions.

6. Provide suitable information, instruction, training and supervision. Match it to the work and the people doing it.

7. Review your controls. Incidents, new equipment, organisational change, new evidence or regulatory changes can all trigger the need for review.

Businesses wanting a more detailed implementation tool can use a practical WHS compliance checklist to review individual parts of their WHS system.

For jurisdiction-specific questions, Safe Work Australia can also help organisations find their WHS regulator.

Final Takeaway

Work health and safety in Australia is built around a simple principle: work should not expose people to avoidable physical or psychological harm.

Putting that principle into practice means knowing which laws apply, understanding who holds WHS duties, identifying and controlling risks, consulting workers, providing suitable information and training, and reviewing controls when work or regulations change.

Australia’s model WHS framework creates broad consistency, but jurisdictional differences still matter—particularly in Victoria and where states or territories introduce their own reforms.

For businesses, effective WHS is therefore not one policy, checklist or training course. It is an ongoing system that connects legal duties with the way work is actually planned, supervised and carried out.