News

The New South Wales State Government has announced that SafeWork NSW will become an independent entity, which up until now has been a part of the NSW Government Department of Customer Service.

The Minns Labor Government was prompted to spin the regulator off into its own office after a 2023 independent review by The Hon. Robert McDougall KC found that there were several concerns about the regulator’s ability to carry out its core functions.

The Government says that it would give more power to the regulator and enforce health and safety laws more stringently, fitting in with its promises to preventing workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.

Proposed legislation will establish SafeWork NSW as a standalone agency and along with it a new advisory council comprised of representatives from employer organisations, unions, WHS experts, and advocates for injured workers. This council will advise and support the relevant Minister, and SafeWork NSW to deal with employees and employers by airing views from all stakeholders tasked with ensuring workplace health and safety.

It will also create a role for a SafeWork Commissioner with powers to enforce WHS law and regulatory compliance, promote best practices, and engage with business, injured workers, their families, and unions.

The government says this will ensure businesses receive better guidance on meeting their WHS obligations and aims to drive a culture of excellence in workplace safety practices.

“Every worker has the right to go home safely at the end of the day,” Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Costis said in a media statement. “By creating SafeWork NSW as a standalone agency, the NSW Government is strengthening our ability to enforce WHS laws, support businesses to meet their obligations and drive cultural change to prevent workplace harm.

“The NSW Government is committed to establishing SafeWork NSW as a strong, robust, and responsive WHS regulator. Through the establishment of the SafeWork Advisory Council and the SafeWork Commissioner, we will ensure SafeWork NSW can secure safer and healthier workplaces for all workers in NSW.”

The McDougall Report’s executive summary highlighted SafeWork’s failures in compliance and enforcement functions, role as an educator in WHS matters, and inappropriate nature of how the body is organised. According to McDougall, this often limited the involvement of injured workers, their families, and families of deceased workers in its investigations and operations.

The report also showed an inadequacy in the handling of internal workplace complaints of harassment and bullying. Other recommendations included training more inspectors in dealing with mental health issues such as extreme workloads and workplace bullying, reviewing complaints handling processes, and formalising data collection and analysis to empower better compliance and enforcement decisions.

He found that if the government implemented and adequately funded his recommendations, the new SafeWork NSW could become a “best practice” workplace health and safety regulator.

SafeWork NSW’s Trent Curtin said, “The recommendations set out by the Hon. Robert McDougall KC will assist SafeWork to become a strong and responsive work health and safety regulator for NSW.

“With work already underway, SafeWork NSW will take all steps necessary to analyse our regulatory approaches and support systems to ensure best-practise work health and safety regulation for NSW workers.”

This represents the biggest shakeup to WHS regulation in NSW since 2015, when WorkCover NSW was replaced by Insurance and Care NSW, the State Insurance Regulatory Authority, and SafeWork NSW.

This move further grants independence to SafeWork NSW. On 1 December 2023, SafeWork NSW was reorganised to operate as a standalone regulator within the NSW Department of Customer Service.

You can download and view the McDougall Report here.

To view the NSW Government press release, click here.