How to spot and manage workplace fatigue under the new NSW Code

12.4% of Australian workers put in 50 or more hours a week. Fatigue is the second hazard in our series on the 17 psychosocial hazards, drawing on insights from our technical briefing with workplace lawyer James Mattson and psychologist Kelly Hunt.

Robert Migliore

Director, Actevate

November 2, 2026

Last Updated

Read Time

5 min

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What the Code of Practice means by fatigue

The Code of Practice describes fatigue as a state of physical, mental or emotional impairment. It is more than tiredness. Fatigue can be short term or long term, and it builds when demands stay high without recovery.

Note: In NSW, fatigue is addressed under role overload and workload management in the psychosocial framework. It now also has its own approved Code of Practice, covered below.

What the numbers show and what NSW now expects

12.4% of Australian workers work 50 or more hours a week, and some work more than 80
46% of workers in mining work more than 50 hours a week, the highest of any industry
Workers with long hours are more likely to face other psychosocial hazards, such as role overload and emotional demands

Source: Safe Work Australia, fatigue infographic, using ABS Census 2021 and People at Work survey data.

Fatigue is also a safety risk. It reduces alertness, slows reaction times and impairs judgement. The risk is highest for workers who drive, operate machinery or do safety-critical tasks, and it includes the drive home after a long shift.

In February 2026, NSW approved a dedicated Code of Practice, Managing the risk of fatigue at work, based on Safe Work Australia's national model Code. Under section 26A of the WHS Act, which took effect in NSW on 1 July 2026, a business must manage the risks covered by an approved code to a standard equal to or higher than the code.

In our recent technical briefing on the new NSW psychosocial risk laws (watch the replay here), workplace lawyer James Mattson said businesses now need to go through approved codes "with a fine tooth comb", and he named fatigue alongside psychosocial hazards.

Info: The right to disconnect now applies to all national system employees. It began in August 2024 for businesses with 15 or more employees and on 26 August 2025 for small businesses. Employees can refuse to monitor, read or respond to out-of-hours contact unless the refusal is unreasonable.

What fatigue looks like

Fatigued workers may be yawning, making mistakes, or appearing irritable or forgetful.

Signs and symptoms to look out for

Trouble concentrating or making decisions
Poor memory and slower reactions
Low motivation and less interest in work they used to enjoy
Headaches, dizziness, blurred vision and more frequent illness
Arriving late or more unplanned absences

Common causes

Long overtime hours, on-call duties and too few breaks
Poor sleep and ongoing work stress
Time pressure and a lack of resources to do the job
Blurred boundaries between work and home
Shift work without recovery time, including consecutive night shifts
Intense, sustained focus without a pause
High mental, physical or emotional demands, and other psychosocial hazards
Environmental conditions such as extreme temperatures, poor lighting and vibration

Who is most at risk

Shift and night workers
Emergency services and frontline health workers
Workers on long rosters, overtime or on-call duties
Workers with long commutes, especially after a shift

Fatigue, stress and burnout

Some pressure at work is normal. The risk comes from high demands without enough recovery time. Over time, this leads to fatigue and burnout.

Psychologist Kelly Hunt, who presented at our technical briefing, drew the link to workload directly: "It's the constant and excessive high workload that will then lead to fatigue, which is another one under this code."

Early warning signs of fatigue in your team

Kelly's case study showed how fatigue can build without anyone noticing. Kevin, a long-serving manager, "used to have a great work-life balance", but under sustained stress he couldn't sleep and would "work all through the night" to show his managers he was trying. The emails he sent at three or four o'clock in the morning were one of the clearest signs.

Behaviour change

Emails or messages sent late at night or very early in the morning
Mistakes, missed deadlines or disorganisation from someone who was previously reliable
Irritability, forgetfulness or withdrawal from the team

Organisational data

Overtime hours and timesheets that keep climbing
Leave balances building up because people aren't taking time off
Rising sick leave, absenteeism, near misses and incidents

Tip: Kelly's advice is to respond directly when you see after-hours emails. Ask, "What's going on? Why do you feel the need to send an email at 3 o'clock in the morning?" Then monitor whether it becomes an ongoing pattern.

Practical ways to manage fatigue

Review rosters and hours

Ensure adequate rest between shifts, limit excessive overtime, and rotate demanding tasks to give recovery time. SafeWork NSW also recommends reviewing rosters, timesheets, near misses and incident reports with your workers, and avoiding pay or other incentives that reward excessive hours.

Design safer schedules

Avoid back-to-back night shifts or very long shifts, and use job rotation so the same person isn't always doing the most tiring tasks. Where night work is needed, use forward-rotating shifts, keep complex and safety-critical tasks away from likely fatigue periods, and allow recovery time after a run of night shifts.

Note: The NSW fatigue Code says caffeine and other stimulants should not be relied on as a control. Workplace napping can support other controls, but it should not be the only one.

Promote recovery

Encourage micro-breaks (brief pauses to rest eyes or stretch), and make sure team members take their leave and time off to recharge. When leaders model the right to disconnect, staff feel able to follow it.

Workers can support their own recovery too. A consistent sleep routine, time away from screens before bed and regular movement during the day all help.

Consult and write it down

Talk with workers about the hazards that lead to fatigue before rosters are finalised. A fatigue policy is not mandatory, but SafeWork NSW recommends developing one with your workers. It should cover responsibilities, excessive hours, fitness for work and how to report fatigue.

Tip: Ask your managers one question this week: on average, how many extra hours are people in your teams working each week?

A five-minute fatigue check for managers

Run through these questions for your team:

Has anyone worked long or back-to-back shifts this month without a proper recovery break?
Are the same people always covering nights, call-outs or the most demanding tasks?
Is anyone sending emails or messages well outside their normal hours?
When did each person last take annual leave?

An uncomfortable answer to any of these is a reason to review that roster and talk with the person, not a reason to wait for the next incident.

How Actevate can help

Our mental health training helps managers recognise early warning signs and handle the conversations that follow, and our Employee Assistance Program gives your people access to qualified clinicians who understand your business.

If you would like to talk through fatigue or other psychosocial risks in your workplace, request a callback and our team will be in touch to book a time to meet.

Sources

Disclaimer

This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Obtain independent advice specific to your organisation before acting on any information presented.

★Key takeaways

Fatigue is more than tiredness. The Code defines it as a state of physical, mental or emotional impairment.
12.4% of Australian workers work 50 or more hours a week, and long hours bring other psychosocial hazards with them.
NSW approved a dedicated fatigue Code of Practice in February 2026, and section 26A means businesses must now meet it.
The warning signs show up early, in after-hours emails, mistakes, overtime and untaken leave.

?Frequently asked questions

Is fatigue the same as being tired?

❯

No. The Code of Practice describes fatigue as a state of physical, mental or emotional impairment. Tiredness usually passes with a good night's sleep. Fatigue builds when demands stay high without enough recovery, and it affects how safely and effectively a person can work.

Does NSW have a Code of Practice for fatigue?

❯

Yes. NSW approved the Code of Practice Managing the risk of fatigue at work in February 2026, based on Safe Work Australia's national model Code. Under section 26A of the WHS Act, businesses must manage fatigue risks to a standard equal to or higher than the Code.

Does fatigue only affect shift workers?

❯

No. Shift and night workers are at higher risk, but long hours, heavy workloads, tight deadlines and emotionally demanding work can cause fatigue in any role. Office-based teams should be part of your fatigue risk assessment too.

Do we need a fatigue policy?

❯

A fatigue policy is not mandatory, but SafeWork NSW recommends developing one in consultation with your workers. It should cover roles and responsibilities, managing excessive hours, fitness for work and how to report fatigue.

How does the right to disconnect relate to fatigue?

❯

The right to disconnect lets employees refuse to monitor, read or respond to out-of-hours contact unless the refusal is unreasonable. It supports recovery time, but it does not replace your WHS duty to identify and manage fatigue risks.

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News

Workers in hard hats and high-visibility vests in a warehouse

November 2, 2026

•

5 min

Safe Work Australia releases its first national review of the model WHS laws since 2018

The review at a glance

Safe Work Australia released the final report of its Best Practice Review of the model WHS laws in October 2026, with 21 recommendations to strengthen and modernise them. It is the first national review of the model laws since 2018, and it examined how states and territories have varied the laws as well as the findings of recent government reviews and inquiries.

Source: Safe Work Australia, Best Practice Review of the model WHS laws, final report, October 2026.

Note: Each recommendation takes effect only if WHS ministers agree and each state and territory then amends its own legislation. Victoria sits outside the model framework, so the changes would not flow directly into Victorian law.

Even so, the report is the clearest signal in years of where regulators expect employers to be heading, particularly on psychosocial risk.

The big picture

The review found broad support for keeping the laws harmonised across industry, unions and regulators, so that workers have the same protections and businesses the same obligations wherever the work is done. It also records growing frustration that the states have drifted further apart, with more differences between jurisdictions every year. Its overarching recommendations are:

A renewed national commitment to harmonisation, with a clearer and more transparent process for managing future state variations
A National Compliance and Enforcement Policy to make enforcement more consistent and predictable, backed by an annual scorecard of how each jurisdiction varies from the model laws
National strategies for artificial intelligence, climate change and harmful workplace behaviours, including work-related violence and harassment
A more modern framework where current protections are falling short, including in high-risk industries, in worker consultation and through practical, industry-based Codes of Practice

Info: An annual scorecard would make differences between jurisdictions far more visible. For employers working across several states, that points towards a more consistent standard everywhere they operate.

Psychosocial risk moves into the core of WHS duty

For the employers we work with, this is the part of the review that matters most. Mental health conditions made up 12.2% of serious workers compensation claims in 2024-25, with a median of 34.8 weeks off work, and the review proposes treating the hazards behind those claims the same way as any physical risk. Our breakdown of Safe Work Australia's 2026 claims data has the full picture.

Harmful behaviour would become an express safety duty

The review recommends naming harmful workplace behaviours in the primary duty of care. In practice, bullying, harassment and violence would stop being only an HR matter. They would need to be identified, assessed and controlled through your WHS system, with the same records you keep for a physical hazard.

The hierarchy of controls would apply to psychosocial risk

The structured approach used for physical risks would apply to psychological ones, and the risk management process would be written into the model WHS Act so it clearly covers all work. Some jurisdictions already take this approach.

For most employers, this is the biggest shift. A policy, an EAP and a training session sit low on the hierarchy, so you would need to show you first looked at changing the work itself, such as workloads, rostering, role clarity and how customer aggression is handled.

Tip: Map each psychosocial hazard on your register to the control you rely on for it. If most of them point to training or the EAP, that is where a regulator is likely to push first.

New rules on violence, harassment and facilities

New model regulations are proposed on preventing work-related violence and harassment, including gender-related violence, and on access to facilities, including female-designated toilets. Customer-facing and frontline workforces, from health care to retail and transport, should expect specific, enforceable obligations rather than general guidance.

Limits on non-disclosure agreements

The model WHS Act would be amended to limit NDAs that stop a worker from raising a WHS concern, making a complaint to a regulator or taking part in a WHS investigation. The change follows Victoria's Restricting Non-disclosure Agreements (Sexual Harassment at Work) Act 2025. Settlement and confidentiality templates may need rewording so they can't be read as silencing a worker on safety.

Consultation and representation

Stronger roles for HSRs and committees

Changes are proposed to health and safety representative elections, powers, functions and training, to health and safety committees and consultation processes, to the right to cease unsafe work and to union right of entry. Consultation would become much harder to treat as a formality.

Tip: Check your HSRs are elected, trained and involved in decisions about psychosocial risk, not just physical hazards. Their input is often the earliest sign that work pressure is building in a team.

A WHS Information Statement for every worker

Employers would give workers a statement setting out the fundamentals of WHS, modelled on the Fair Work Information Statement, with a separate version for small business owners. Expect it to become part of standard onboarding, alongside your pre-employment and induction processes.

New and emerging hazards

Climate-related regulations

New model regulations are proposed for extreme heat, air quality and vector-borne diseases. Employers with outdoor, remote or non-air-conditioned workforces would need documented controls for each, and matching workers to the physical demands of hot environments becomes a bigger part of hiring and return to work planning.

A national approach to AI and digital technology

The review notes that the current WHS laws already apply to AI-powered systems. It stops short of adding the digital work system duty that NSW introduced into its WHS Act in February 2026. Instead, Safe Work Australia would develop a broader strategy on AI and emerging technology, with new regulations or Codes of Practice wherever it finds gaps.

For employers, that means AI tools are already inside your WHS duty today. Digital rostering, performance monitoring and workload tools can create work pressure of their own, so they belong in your psychosocial risk assessment now, and NSW employers have a specific duty to meet.

Codes of Practice and compliance

Codes of Practice as a safe harbour

An employer that complies with a Code of Practice would be taken to have met its duty on the matters the Code covers. New industry Codes are planned, starting with retail, education and training, agriculture and construction, alongside more support and guidance for small business, including dedicated toolkits. Model Codes could also become national Codes that apply automatically once WHS ministers agree to them.

That makes the Codes your clearest defence. Closing the gaps between your procedures and the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code is the most practical place to start.

Changes to reviews and infringement notices

The time to seek an internal review of a regulator's decision would be extended from 14 to 21 calendar days, with further extension by agreement with the regulator. Workers, HSRs and unions involved in a matter would gain standing in external reviews, and failing to pay a WHS infringement notice would become an offence. A nationally consistent infringement notice scheme would also be developed.

Officers, boards and prosecutions

WHS prosecutions already end in a financial penalty almost every time, and the average penalty reached a record $147,985 in 2025, as our analysis of the prosecutions data shows. Three changes would raise the stakes for leaders further.

No insurance for prosecution legal fees

Insurance contracts and indemnities could no longer cover the legal fees of anyone prosecuted for a WHS offence. This could be one of the most significant changes for leaders, because officers would carry their own defence costs. Boards should review their insurance and indemnity arrangements and make sure every officer understands what the change would mean personally.

Anyone could bring a prosecution

General standing would allow any person or organisation, such as a union, to bring a WHS prosecution where the regulator has decided not to, informed by the NSW and New Zealand approaches. A regulator's decision not to act would no longer be the end of the matter.

Penalties scaled to the size of the business

Safe Work Australia is also reviewing how the current penalty scheme applies to corporations, drawing on recent updates to Commonwealth civil penalty regimes. The aim is to give courts more flexibility to set penalties according to the size of the business, so that WHS risk carries the same weight in the boardroom as other business priorities.

Tip: Officers have a personal duty to exercise due diligence. Ask for evidence that the controls for your critical risks work on the ground, not only a report that they exist.

Other changes still in train

Amendments to the model WHS Act announced last year, including significant changes to incident notification requirements, are yet to be enacted. Separately, the Australian Government announced in May 2026 that all mandatory Australian Standards, including WHS standards, will be made free to access. Between those changes and this review, WHS law is set to keep moving for some time.

What happens next

The recommendations will now go through Safe Work Australia's tripartite Member process, where representatives of governments, employers and workers assess and consult on them. Any changes that are agreed would then be considered and implemented by the Commonwealth, states and territories in their own laws. We will update this article as that process moves forward.

Our take

Read alongside this year's claims and prosecutions data, the review confirms what we are already seeing with clients. Psychosocial risk is moving out of HR policy and into the core of WHS duty, the hierarchy of controls will be the test, and leaders will be held more personally accountable for whether controls work.

The recommendations still have a long way to go, but employers who start now won't be scrambling once their state adopts them. Where we would start:

Map every psychosocial hazard on your register to the control you rely on, and move any that rest on training alone higher up the hierarchy
Compare your procedures with the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code and close the gaps
Review settlement and confidentiality templates so none could stop someone raising a safety concern
Brief your board on the proposed insurance change and what evidence of due diligence it would expect to see

How Actevate can help

Actevate helps employers identify and control psychosocial risk across the whole employee lifecycle. Our mental health training builds managers' confidence to act early, our Employee Assistance Program supports your people, and our pre-employment health assessments match workers to the demands of their role. To talk through what the review means for your workplace, call 1300 663 155 or get in touch.

Sources

Disclaimer

This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or health and safety advice. The Best Practice Review recommendations described are proposals and are not yet law, and they may change as they are assessed and consulted on. Safe Work Australia has not reviewed or endorsed this article. Please refer to the original report and seek advice on your specific situation before acting.

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Blog

Two workers in hi-vis talking in a factory

November 3, 2026

•

5 min

Why high and low job demands put your team's mental health at risk

What the Code of Practice means by job demands

The Code of Practice describes job demands as intense or sustained high mental, physical or emotional effort required to do the job. The hazard also covers the other end of the scale, where work is monotonous, repetitive or under-stimulating.

The word that matters is sustained. A busy end of month or a late night before a deadline is part of most jobs. The hazard is a workload that stays too high, or too low, for weeks or months without relief.

Note: In NSW, job demands sit within the role overload and underload category of the Code of Practice. Fatigue is listed as a separate hazard in the 17, but it often follows directly from sustained high demands.

Why job demands matter now

Around 4,500 serious claims for mental stress were caused by work pressure in 2024-25
34.8 weeks is the median time off work for a mental health claim, compared with 7.0 weeks for other serious claims
$68,600 is the median compensation paid on a mental health claim

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026. Time lost and compensation figures are for 2023-24.

Work pressure sits alongside harassment and bullying as one of the two leading causes of mental stress claims in Australia. Unlike many hazards, it is built into how work is planned, which means it is also within an employer's power to change.

In NSW, the stakes rose on 1 July 2026. Under section 26A of the WHS Act, where the Minister approves a code of practice, a business must manage the hazard to a standard equal to or higher than the code. In our recent technical briefing on the new NSW psychosocial risk laws (watch the replay here), workplace lawyer James Mattson explained that codes were always material a prosecutor could rely on, but they now carry far greater weight.

The NSW psychological injury reforms James covered in the same briefing name excessive work demands as one of four relevant events for a psychological injury claim, alongside bullying, sexual harassment and racial harassment.

Info: Reasonable management action remains a defence to a compensation claim. As James noted, a finding that no compensation is payable does not remove an employer's WHS duty to provide a safe workplace from that point on.

What high and low demands look like

High demands

Constant tight deadlines and long hours that never ease
People rushing, skipping breaks or regularly working late
Emotionally heavy work with no recovery time between cases, clients or customers
Peak periods that have quietly become the normal workload

Low demands

Monotonous, repetitive tasks with little variety
Skilled workers left with too little to do for long periods
Roles stripped back to tasks well below a person's capability

Psychologist Kelly Hunt, who also presented at our technical briefing, described the pattern behind high demands. It is not the occasional late night or early start, but the constant, excessive workload that leads to fatigue, then anxiety, and can end in depression and disengagement.

The flip side is just as real. As Kelly put it, "We all have toys for our dogs at home because it keeps them stimulated throughout the day. We don't want our dogs to get bored. It's the same with our workers. We need them to be engaged and involved."

The warning signs appear before the claim

In our technical briefing, psychologist Kelly Hunt said she rarely sees psychological hazards present as one neat issue. It is usually a cluster of problems, and the common thread is that nobody identified or addressed them early enough. Two kinds of evidence help you see job demands building.