30 October 2026
5 min read
#New South Wales Government, #Workplace Relations & Safety
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NSW Government agencies should prepare for greater scrutiny by SafeWork NSW if proposed changes to work health and safety (WHS) notification requirements are introduced, particularly those concerning workplace violent incidents and extended absences associated with work-related psychological injury or illness.
For agencies delivering frontline and public-facing services, the reforms would significantly broaden the circumstances in which workplace violence must be reported, even without a diagnosed psychological injury. Agencies would also need to notify SafeWork NSW of absences of 15 or more consecutive calendar days reasonably attributable to work-related injury or illness, including psychological injury or illness.
Safe Work Australia published amendments to the model WHS laws late last year, which are currently being considered in NSW. While these new notification rules are not currently law, agencies can prepare for the implementation by reviewing their existing incident management and absence reporting systems to assess whether they are able to identify the proposed new notification triggers. This will be important as the expanded notification laws will likely result in greater regulatory involvement, particularly with respect to psychosocial incidents.
Under the amended model laws, an agency would need to notify the regulator within 14 days of becoming aware that a worker has been, or will be, absent from work for 15 or more consecutive days because of an injury or illness reasonably attributable to the conduct of its undertaking (a notifiable extended absence). The threshold is based on calendar days, not working days, and includes weekends, public holidays and other non-working days.
Although the provision covers both physical and psychological injury or illness, a key issue for agencies is identifying absences associated with psychosocial harm.
Agencies should review how managers, human resources, WHS and injury management teams share information about absences. Their systems should flag both absences approaching 15 consecutive calendar days and any earlier information indicating that an absence will reach that period. The process should clarify who assesses whether the notification threshold is met and who is responsible for notifying SafeWork NSW, if the model requirements are adopted.
The assessment should consider the information available about whether an injury or illness is reasonably attributable to work, rather than treating every extended absence as notifiable. Relevant information may be held in incident reports, workplace complaints and injury management records. Agencies should establish appropriate information-sharing and confidentiality arrangements so that a potential work connection can be assessed without unnecessarily circulating sensitive health information.
For example, an agency may receive information that a worker’s psychological injury following workplace bullying or a violent incident will prevent them from working for at least 15 consecutive calendar days. This should prompt an assessment of whether the absence is reasonably attributable to the agency’s undertaking and whether the notification threshold is met.
Under the amended model laws, an agency would need to notify SafeWork NSW immediately after becoming aware of a violent incident arising from the conduct of its undertaking that exposes a person to a serious risk of psychological harm. Relevant conduct includes physical assault, including assault involving bodily fluids, threats of physical assault and deliberate deprivation of a person’s liberty without lawful authority.
An incident will only meet the definition of a violent incident where a person has been exposed to serious psychological harm. A person need not have suffered diagnosable psychological harm for an incident to be notifiable – it is the exposure to psychological harm that is relevant.
For NSW Government agencies, this would be particularly relevant to incidents involving patients, students, service users or members of the public in frontline and public-facing settings. For example, a physical assault or threat during service delivery may require assessment even if medical treatment is not needed. To be notifiable, the incident must arise from the conduct of the agency’s undertaking (in this case, threats to staff that occur in the workplace) and expose a person to a serious risk of psychological harm.
On the other hand, physical harm caused by a violent incident may be captured by other notification obligations, such as those relating to serious injuries and illnesses. An agency would only need to notify the regulator once in relation to an incident, even if it triggers multiple notification obligations.
In addition to the changes above, it is anticipated that NSW will introduce more expansive definitions and clarification to determine when a serious injury or illness is notifiable.
Subject to the final legislation, the definition of ‘serious injury or illness’ could broaden to include:
There will also be a broadening and clarification of the ‘dangerous incidents’ that will require notification, and a corresponding duty to ensure that the workplace remains undisturbed, so far as reasonably practicable, for any of these notifiable incidents, including preservation of electronic and digital records and witness details.
The net result of these changes, once introduced, will not only be a compliance issue, but also increased interventions and investigations by SafeWork NSW, as well as unions, into any apparent breaches of workplace safety laws.
If you have any questions about the proposed notification requirements, please contact us here.
Disclaimer
The information in this article is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavour to provide accurate and timely information, we do not guarantee that the information in this article is accurate at the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future.
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