Minns Labor Government introduces flagship legislation to prevent psychological and physical workplace injuries

The proposed changes are aimed at stopping workplace injuries before they occur – prevention of injuries is better than treatment. 

The NSW Government is striving to make prevention of injuries central to the system, complementing the proposed reforms to workers compensation. 

Key reforms to the WHS Act include:

• Gender Equality and Safety: Enshrining gender equality and the elimination of workplace bullying and sexual harassment as explicit objectives of the IR Act.
• New Jurisdictions for Workplace Bullying and Sexual Harassment: Establishing a ‘one-stop shop’ through the NSW Industrial Relations Commission for complaints from NSW Government and local government employees. The commission can issue stop-bullying orders. Remedies would range from enforcing a public apology, ordering an employer take specified actions to stop unlawful conduct, or ordering damages of up to $100,000.
• Enhanced Powers of the IRC: Clarifying and strengthening the Commission’s powers in resolving industrial disputes and facilitating return to work for injured employees in the public sector and local government.
• Prosecutions: Expanding the ability of unions to prosecute work, health and safety breaches. Currently, unions can prosecute serious WHS offences. The amendments will clarify the procedure of how these prosecutions will work.
• Increased transparency and dispute resolution which will allow employers, unions and workers to have unresolved WHS disputes heard independently by the Industrial Relations Commission. For example, an employer can appeal a provisional improvement notice (PIN), or a union can challenge a decision of SafeWork NSW to not take action.
• New powers for SafeWork NSW to enforce compliance, share information across jurisdictions, and communicate more effectively with victims and families.
• Greater accountability on worksites, including requirements for employers issued improvement notices by health and safety representatives to report them to SafeWork NSW and expanded rights for entry permit holders to collect evidence.
• Codes of practice: Make it mandatory to comply with a code of practice, where workplace must provide health and safety equal to or better than the standard in the code of practice.
• Expanding the rights of entry permit holders to take measurements, conduct testing, take photos and videos while at the workplace such as testing for silica exceedances in tunnelling.
• Underpayments: Increasing the IRC’s small claims cap from $20,000 to $100,000 to ensure fairer compensation. The small claims jurisdiction increase is in line with the Fair Work Act provisions. 

Many of the measures draw on successful elements of laws in Queensland and South Australia, which have been adapted to the NSW context.

These changes to the WHS Act are contained in a separate bill to the Government’s proposed Workers Compensation reform and are not contingent on Workers Compensation reform passing the Parliament.  

These proposed reforms to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) come as the Government pledges the biggest investment in workplace mental health prevention in the state’s history, through a $344 million Workplace Mental Health package, which includes:  

• SafeWork funding for injury prevention, with more than 50 new inspector positions, many specialising in psychosocial injury
• wraparound psychological support services for people navigating the claims process
• WH&S compliance and enforcement to strengthen psychosocial hazard prevention
• eight weeks’ income and medical/vocational support to access immediate support.

The WHS Act changes build on the first wave of reforms passed in 2023 and aims to modernise workplace protections, improve gender equality outcomes, and strengthen the jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) in addressing critical issues such as bullying and sexual harassment.

Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis said:

“I welcome changes to the Industrial Relations Act to further strength the Industrial Relations Commission’s ability to resolve disputes and to now resolve issues arising from Work Health and Safety legislation.

“It proposes major reform particularly around gender equality. The elimination of workplace bullying and sexual harassment are new key objectives of the IR Act. 

“Workplace bullying causes serious harm to worker health and organisations. According to the Productivity Commission, bullying is estimated to cost up to $36 billion annually in Australia.

“The amendments establish a ‘one-stop shop’ for handling complaints through the IRC and enhance its powers to resolve disputes and support injured workers' return to work.

“This legislation follows the passing of laws in 2023 which restored the independent industrial umpire, creating the structure needed to deliver meaningful improvements to the working lives of hundreds and thousands of workers in the state.”