The beleaguered regulator for workplace safety in New South Wales is set to be established as a standalone body.

The Work Health and Safety Amendment (Standalone Regulator) Bill 2025 was introduced into the NSW Parliament on Tuesday.

If passed into law, the Bill will:

  • establish SafeWork NSW as a standalone regulator; and
  • establish a new advisory council to advise the Minister for Work, Health and Safety and SafeWork NSW on ways to better support employers and workers to deliver safe outcomes.

The Bill’s introduction comes amid growing concern about the performance of SafeWork NSW as a regulator.

Established in 2015 following the abolition of WorkCover NSW, SafeWork NSW sits within the Department of Customer Service and reports to the Minister for Work, Health and Safety.

Its responsibilities include monitoring and enforcing compliance with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 as well as providing advice and education on important matters relating to work, health and safety.

However, a final report prepared by the NSW Audit Office released last year found that the organisation was not able to demonstrate that it was effective as a regulator.

In particular, that report highlighted that there was a lack of transparency about SafeWork’s effectiveness as a regulator or its funding or spending.

With the organisation currently sitting within the Department of Customer Service, the audit found that there was limited public information about the regulator’s performance.

That reporting which was available was subsumed within either the Department or other sources and was largely focused on activity rather than outcomes. As such, this reporting was of limited value in evaluating the regulator’s effectiveness in driving outcomes.

Other problems which the audit uncovered included the lack of an effective approach to respond to emerging WHS risks, being slow to respond to risks associated with engineered stone products, a failure to follow up on administrative letters sent to employers, an old and outdated information management system, a lack of a comprehensive approach to quality assurance, and significant concerns about its engagement of a commercial partner to develop a real-time silica monitoring device.

(image: screenshot from supplied video)

If passed into law, the new legislation will move SafeWork NSW out from the Department of Customer Service and establish the regulator as a standalone agency.

The new agency will have its own powers, objectives, dedicated resources and accountability.

It will be led by a new Safe Work Commissioner, who will be appointed in due course.

The Bill will also establish a new Advisory Council to provide advice to the Minister for Work Health and Safety and SafeWork NSW on how it can support both workers and businesses in improving safety in workplaces.

The Council will be made up of representatives from employer organisations, unions, a WHS expert and a member representing the interests of injured workers and their families.

The legislation will require the SafeWork Commissioner to consider the Council’s advice when exercising certain functions.

Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis welcomed the introduction of the legislation.

As things stand, Cotsis said that the regulator had become buried within the Department of Customer Service and many of its functions had been excised and shared among other agencies.

As a result, SafeWork NSW had become ‘disempowered, irrelevant and ignored’ and had become to be treated as a form of red tape.

“Every worker has the right to go home safely at the end of the day,” Cotsis said.

“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.”

 

Enjoying Sourceable articles? Subscribe for Free and receive daily updates of all articles which are published on our site

 

Want to grow your sales, reach more new clients and expand your client base across Australia’s design and construction sector?

Advertise on Sourceable and have your business seen by the thousands of architects, engineers, builders/construction contractors, subcontractors/trade contractors, property developers and building industry suppliers who read our stories across the civil, commercial and residential construction sector