Regulatory priorities
SafeWork NSW's regulatory approach and regulatory priorities for 2025-26.
This Annual Regulatory Statement outlines our key areas for attention over 2025-26. It describes our regulatory approach towards compliance and enforcement, as well as our regulatory priorities targeting harm prevention.
The priorities outlined in this Annual Regulatory Statement complement, align with, and sit alongside our core regulatory functions as the primary work health and safety regulator for NSW.
Regulatory approach
In 2025-26 SafeWork NSW will:
- strengthen enforcement of work health and safety laws, targeting large and high risk workplaces that are not providing safe systems of work
- continue to target larger and well-resourced organisations with swift and strong regulatory action until satisfactory work health and safety improvements are made and sustained
- maintain tight supervision of workplaces with dust exposure risks for workers
- enforce compliance, with the duty of a business to consult workers on physical and psychosocial risks and actions to manage them.
We recognise the need to support small and medium-sized businesses without dedicated WHS personnel, to build their capability to identify and manage work health and safety risks.
Regulatory priorities
We will take specific actions to prevent or reduce the risk of death, injury and illnesses in NSW workplaces. Using data, evidence and stakeholder and community insights we identified five priority areas for action:
- Falls from heights
- Harms to workers in the health care and social assistance sector
- Managing psychosocial risks at work – including sexual harassment
- Exposure to hazardous substances including asbestos, crystalline silica and welding fumes
- Injury from mobile plant, vehicles or fixed machinery.
About us
SafeWork NSW is the primary work health and safety regulator in New South Wales. It operates under the legislative mandate of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) and is responsible for engaging with the NSW community to prevent work-related fatalities, serious injuries, and illnesses and securing compliance with work health and safety laws. On 1 July 2025, it was formally established as an independent regulator under the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Standalone Regulator) Act 2025.
SafeWork NSW is led by the SafeWork Commissioner, who has clear legislative authority to enforce compliance, promote best practices, and engage meaningfully with workers, unions, and businesses across all industries in NSW.
Learn more about our regulatory priorities.