Resilience in the Workplace

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.

Behaviour change

• Late-night or very early emails from someone who used to keep regular hours
• Missed deadlines from a worker who was previously reliable
• Cameras off, withdrawal from team conversations or growing disorganisation

Organisational data

• Rising sick leave and unplanned absence in one team
• Overtime and annual leave balances that keep climbing
• Heavier EAP use concentrated in one area of the business

Tip: Pull overtime hours and leave balances by team once a quarter. A team where nobody takes leave and overtime keeps rising is showing you a job demands risk long before anyone lodges a claim.

Practical ways to manage job demands

Balance workload with resources

Reprioritise non-urgent work, reassign or bring in extra staff for peak periods, and set deadlines people can sustain without working in constant crisis mode.

Note: An Employee Assistance Program is one control, not a substitute for managing workload. If the work itself stays unsustainable, support services can only treat the effects.

Review and redesign the work

Streamline processes and remove low-value tasks. Where roles are monotonous, rotate tasks or add variety so people stay engaged. Kelly's suggestion is to check in directly and ask whether the work feels a bit dull, and whether they would like to take on a new task.

Protect rest and boundaries

Make breaks, reasonable hours and no after-hours email expectations the norm, and have leaders model the right to disconnect so staff feel able to follow it.

Consult and close the loop

Ask workers where the pressure sits and what would ease it, then tell them what you have changed. Kelly told our technical briefing that failing to close the loop is something she sees a lot, and that it leads to ongoing insecurity and fear.

Tip: Ask your team one question at your next meeting: what one word describes your workload right now? The answers will show you where to look first.

A five-minute workload check for managers

Run through these questions for each person in your team:

• Could they finish their core work within normal hours over the past month?
• Have their overtime, leave balance or after-hours activity changed noticeably?
• Are they spending long stretches on work well below their skills?
• When their workload last spiked, did anything come off their plate?

An uncomfortable answer to any of these is a reason to assess that role properly and talk with the person, not a reason to wait for the next quiet period.

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 job demands or other psychosocial risks in your workplace, request a callback and our team will be in touch to book a time to meet.

Sources

• Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026
• Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice (February 2026)
• Actevate, New NSW Psychosocial Risk Laws technical briefing

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.

The national picture at a glance

Safe Work Australia released Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026 on 12 October 2026, with national data on worker deaths in 2025 and serious workers compensation claims in 2024-25.

• 222 workers died from traumatic injuries at work in 2025
• 147,200 serious workers compensation claims in 2024-25
• 1.5 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2025
• More than 400 serious claims made every day

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026. Claims data for 2024-25 is preliminary.

The 222 deaths recorded in 2025 are the highest annual number since 2012 and well above the five-year average of 197.

The fatality rate rose to 1.5 deaths per 100,000 workers, above the 2021 to 2025 average of 1.4. It has fallen 15% since 2015, but has sat between 1.3 and 1.6 every year since 2019.

Trend: Worker fatality rate per 100,000 workers, 2015 to 2025

• 2015: 1.8
• 2016: 1.6
• 2017: 1.6
• 2018: 1.1
• 2019: 1.5
• 2020: 1.6
• 2021: 1.3
• 2022: 1.4
• 2023: 1.4
• 2024: 1.3
• 2025: 1.5

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026, trends in worker fatalities. Safe Work Australia updates historical figures as coroners' reports, WHS investigations and claims are finalised. Percentage changes on the chart are Actevate's calculation from the rounded rates, so they can differ slightly from Safe Work Australia's own figures.

Note: A serious claim is a workers compensation claim involving at least one working week off work. The 2024-25 claims data is preliminary, so time lost and compensation figures in this article come from 2023-24, the most recent finalised year.

Fatalities by state and territory

Chart: Worker fatalities by state or territory, 2025

• New South Wales: 77
• Queensland: 45
• Victoria: 40
• Western Australia: 28
• South Australia: 21
• Tasmania: 7
• Northern Territory: 4
• Australian Capital Territory: 0

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026, worker fatalities by state and territory.

New South Wales recorded the most worker deaths in 2025, followed by Queensland. Counts largely reflect workforce size, so the rate per 100,000 workers is the better measure of relative risk.

Chart: Fatality rate per 100,000 workers by state or territory, 2025

• Northern Territory: 2.7
• Tasmania: 2.5
• South Australia: 2.1
• New South Wales: 1.7
• Western Australia: 1.7
• Queensland: 1.5
• Victoria: 1.1

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026, worker fatalities by state and territory. The ACT recorded no worker fatalities in 2025.

The Northern Territory had the highest fatality rate, followed by Tasmania and South Australia. New South Wales recorded both the most deaths and a rate above the national figure.

Info: Fatalities are counted in the state or territory where the death occurred, which is not always the jurisdiction whose WHS laws applied to the work.

Distance changes the risk

Chart: Relative proxy fatality rate by remoteness of incident, three-year average 2019 to 2021

• Very remote Australia: 8.3
• Remote Australia: 6.0
• Outer regional Australia: 3.9
• Inner regional Australia: 1.9
• Major cities: 0.3

Source: Safe Work Australia, calculated from Traumatic Injury Fatalities data (2019-2021), National Coronial Information System data (2019-2021) and ABS Census worker counts (2021), as published in Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026. These proxy rates support relative comparisons only.

Workers in very remote Australia face a fatality risk around eight times the national average, and the risk rises with each step away from the major cities. Safe Work Australia points to industry mix and distance from emergency medical care as contributing factors.

Tip: For remote crews, build the travel time to emergency care into the risk assessment and plan first aid and communications around it.

The industries carrying the most risk

Chart: Worker fatalities by industry, 2025

• Transport, postal and warehousing: 61
• Construction: 41
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 38

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026, worker fatalities by industry.

Transport, postal and warehousing recorded the most deaths in 2025. Construction followed with 41, almost one in five worker deaths nationally. Agriculture, forestry and fishing again recorded the highest fatality rate of any industry, at 13.0 deaths per 100,000 workers.

Six industries accounted for 74% of worker deaths and 61% of serious claims: agriculture, forestry and fishing; public administration and safety; transport, postal and warehousing; manufacturing; health care and social assistance; and construction.

Two smaller industries moved well above their five-year averages. Administrative and support services recorded 10 deaths, 72% above its average, and electricity, gas, water and waste services recorded 7, which is 35% above.

How fatal incidents occurred

Chart: Worker fatalities by mechanism of incident, 2025

• Vehicle incident: 41%
• Falls from a height: 13%
• Being hit by falling objects: 9%
• All other mechanisms (calculated): 37%

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026, worker fatalities by mechanism of incident. The falls and falling objects shares, and the "all other mechanisms" share, are Actevate's calculations from the reported counts.

Vehicle incidents remain the leading cause of worker deaths, accounting for 92 lives in 2025. Falls from a height (28 deaths) and being hit by falling objects (21) followed, so almost two in three deaths came from hazards with well-established controls.

Note: Safe Work Australia's vehicle category covers tractors, loaders, quad bikes, boats and aircraft as well as cars and trucks.

Age and sex

Men accounted for 93% of worker deaths in 2025, or 206 of the 222. Workers aged 65 and over had a fatality rate of 5.5 deaths per 100,000 workers, more than three times the national rate.

Where serious injuries and illnesses happen

About 147,200 serious workers compensation claims were lodged in 2024-25, more than 400 every day. Men made 57.5% of serious claims and lodge 6.9 serious claims per million hours worked, compared with 6.4 for women.

Claims by women involve more time away, with a median of 9.0 working weeks compared with 8.0 for men. Workers aged 35 to 44 had the lowest serious claim frequency rate, at 5.7 claims per million hours worked.

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026, serious claims by sex and age.

Note: Claims data understates the problem. The ABS work-related injuries survey found that only 31% of people who experienced a work-related injury or illness received workers compensation, most often because they felt the injury was minor or compensation wasn't needed.

Mental health claims dip, but remain the costliest

• 17,900 serious claims for mental health conditions in 2024-25
• 169% increase in these claims since 2014-15
• 34.8 weeks median time lost
• $68,600 median compensation paid

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

Mental health conditions made up 12.2% of serious claims in 2024-25. The number fell by 580 claims (3.2%) over the year, but remains 169% higher than in 2014-15, the largest change of any type of injury or disease over that decade.

A mental health claim involves a median of 34.8 weeks off work, almost five times the 7.0 weeks across all other serious claims. Median compensation is $68,600, more than four times the $16,100 paid on other serious claims.

Mental stress caused 17,000 serious claims in 2024-25. Harassment or workplace bullying (around 5,400 claims) and work pressure (around 4,500) were the leading causes. Mental health conditions make up 17.5% of serious claims by women, compared with 8.2% for men.

Info: Harassment, bullying and work pressure are psychosocial hazards under WHS law, so employers are expected to control them at the source rather than respond once a claim is lodged.

How quickly injured workers get back to work

The 2025 National Return to Work Survey found that 88.9% of injured workers returned to work at some point after their injury or illness. Claims data in the 2026 report shows how quickly that happens.

Chart: Claimants back at work in some capacity, by time since injury

• Within 4 weeks: 44.2%
• Within 13 weeks: 66.9%
• Within 26 weeks: 78.3%
• Within 52 weeks: 87.0%
• Within 104 weeks: 93.1%

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026, return to work insights from workers compensation data, as at the 30 June 2024 reporting reference point. The 88.9% figure is from the 2025 National Return to Work Survey.

Fewer than half of claimants are back at work in some capacity within the first month, and around one in five is still away after six months. Research cited by Safe Work Australia links longer periods away from work with poorer physical and mental health and weaker prospects of future employment.

The share of injured workers back at work within 52 weeks has fallen from 92.8% in 2014 to 87.0% in 2024.

Tip: After the first month, the biggest gains come between week 4 and week 13, when another 22.7% of claimants return. Early contact, suitable duties and a clear return to work plan in that window keep a claim from becoming a long one.

Turning national data into your own benchmark

Safe Work Australia's incidence rate counts serious claims for every 1,000 jobs covered by workers compensation, and the same sum works on your own numbers.

Tip: Divide your serious claims last year by your headcount and multiply by 1,000, then compare the result with your industry's incidence rate in the Safe Work Australia report.

Long claims set your costs. At the national medians, a single mental health claim attracts more compensation than four other serious claims combined. The first few weeks of any claim are where an employer has the most influence, and absence patterns are often the earliest sign of a psychological hazard, well before a claim is lodged.

How Actevate can help

Actevate supports employers across the whole employee lifecycle. Our pre-employment health assessments match workers to the demands of their role, our return to work services help injured workers recover and return sooner, and our mental health training and Employee Assistance Program help you manage psychosocial risk before it becomes a claim. To talk through what the data means for your workplace, call 1300 663 155 or get in touch.

Sources

• Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026 (latest release)
• Safe Work Australia, New work health and safety data demands stronger action to prevent harm, 12 October 2026
• Safe Work Australia, National Return to Work Survey 2025, as reported in Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026
• Safe Work Australia Traumatic Injury Fatalities data, National Coronial Information System data and ABS Census worker counts, as published by Safe Work Australia
• Australian Bureau of Statistics, Work-related injuries, 2021-22 financial year

Disclaimer

This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or health and safety advice. Figures are drawn from Safe Work Australia's Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026, the latest release as at 19 October 2026. Claims data for 2024-25 is preliminary and may be revised. Percentages and figures marked as calculated, and the charts, are Actevate's own analysis and presentation of that data. Safe Work Australia has not reviewed or endorsed this article.

2025 at a glance

Safe Work Australia updates its WHS prosecutions dashboard each year, drawing on public reports of criminal prosecutions under WHS laws across every Australian jurisdiction since 1 January 2020. The 2025 figures were released in September 2026, and the three headline numbers below are the ones Safe Work Australia announced.

• 308 WHS prosecutions in 2025, down from 321 in 2024.
• $147,985 average financial penalty per prosecution, up 33% on 2024 and the highest annual average recorded.
• 99% of prosecutions resulted in a financial penalty.

The fall in prosecutions is the first after four consecutive years of increases, which on its own reads as good news. The penalty figures tell a different story, because the average financial penalty is now the highest annual average recorded.

Chart: Most common industry divisions among defendants in 2025

• Construction: 43%
• Manufacturing: 20%
• Mining: 6%
• All other industries (calculated): 31%

The mix has shifted since last year. In the 2024 data the top three industries were construction, manufacturing, and transport, postal and warehousing. In 2025, mining has taken third place.

Note: Each defendant is recorded separately in the data, so a single incident can appear more than once. Safe Work Australia compiles the figures from publicly available information on regulators' websites.

Year-by-year trends

A small drop in case numbers says very little about your own exposure. The year-by-year figures on Safe Work Australia's dashboard show where enforcement has been heading since 2020. Unless stated otherwise, figures in this section and the next are read from the dashboard as at 6 October 2026.

Prosecution volumes

Trend: Number of prosecutions per year

• 2020: 203
• 2021: 273
• 2022: 285
• 2023: 309
• 2024: 321
• 2025: 308

Prosecutions rose for four consecutive years, from 203 in 2020 to 321 in 2024, an increase of 58%. The 2025 figure of 308 is the first fall in the data. It is 4% lower than the peak and still the third highest year.

Financial penalty rate

Trend: Share of prosecutions that resulted in a financial penalty

• 2023: 97%
• 2024: 98%
• 2025: 99%

Despite the drop in cases, almost every prosecution recorded results in a financial penalty, and the share has edged up each year. These three figures are the ones Safe Work Australia reported in its September 2026 announcement. The dashboard only records prosecutions that resulted in a finding of guilt, so the figures show that a guilty outcome almost always comes with a financial penalty.

Total penalties

Trend: Total financial penalty per year

• 2020: $26.67M
• 2021: $27.77M
• 2022: $32.29M
• 2023: $40.34M
• 2024: $34.95M
• 2025: $44.99M

The total financial penalty for 2025 was $44.99 million. That is the highest annual total in the data and 29% more than in 2024, from 13 fewer prosecutions.

Average penalty

Trend: Average financial penalty per year

• 2020: $136.76K
• 2021: $104.02K
• 2022: $117.86K
• 2023: $134.9K
• 2024: $111.65K
• 2025: $146.54K

Note: The dashboard currently shows a 2025 average of $146.54K, slightly below the $147,985 that Safe Work Australia announced in September 2026 and that is quoted at the top of this article. On the dashboard figures, the 2025 average is about 31% higher than in 2024.

The average has moved up and down from year to year, with dips in 2021 and 2024. The 2025 figure is the first to pass the previous high set in 2020.

Fatal injury level

Trend: Number of prosecutions where the highest injury level was fatal

• 2020: 42
• 2021: 50
• 2022: 46
• 2023: 46
• 2024: 50
• 2025: 53

In 2025, 53 prosecutions were recorded with a highest injury level of fatal, the most in any year of the data. Prosecutions with a highest injury level of none have also grown, from 17% of the total in 2020 to 26% in 2025, after reaching about 30% in 2023 and 2024.

Note: These figures count prosecutions, not deaths. Each defendant is recorded separately, so one incident can appear more than once, and Safe Work Australia says the data should not be relied on to count the worker deaths or injuries prosecuted each year.

Info: Construction and manufacturing have remained the most common industry divisions among defendants since data collection began in 2020. If you operate in either sector, regulators already know where to look.

Six-year view

Combined, the six years of data say a lot about who is prosecuted and why.

• 1,699 prosecutions recorded from 2020 to 2025.
• $207M total financial penalty.
• $125K average financial penalty from 2020 to 2025.

Highest injury level

Chart: Number of prosecutions by highest injury level, 2020 to 2025

• Serious: 856
• None: 426
• Fatal: 287
• Unknown: 76
• Minor: 54

One in four of these prosecutions recorded a highest injury level of none. Safe Work Australia uses that label where there was no injury or other direct impact on a worker, for example where an inspection identified a failure but no injury was caused. A further 287 prosecutions, about 17% of the total, recorded a highest injury level of fatal.

Info: As a guide, Safe Work Australia treats an injury as serious where, for example, it requires hospitalisation for more than a day or results in a fracture of a major bone. Half of all recorded prosecutions had a highest injury level of serious.

Plea

Chart: Number of prosecutions by plea, 2020 to 2025

• Guilty: 80.8%
• Unknown: 17.2%
• Not guilty (calculated): 2.1%

Four in five defendants pleaded guilty. The recorded share of guilty pleas has fallen from 93% in 2020 to 72% in 2025, but that mostly reflects more pleas being recorded as unknown, which rose from 4% to 27% over the same period. Not guilty pleas have stayed in single figures every year.

Category of main offence

Chart: Number of prosecutions by category of main offence, 2020 to 2025

• Category 1: recklessly expose a person to risk of death or serious injury/illness: 39
• Category 2: fail to comply exposes a person to risk of death or serious injury/illness: 730
• Category 3: fail to comply: 52
• Not applicable: 871
• Unknown: 7

Very few offences sat at the most serious level. Only 39 prosecutions were Category 1 offences, where a duty holder recklessly or with gross negligence exposes a person to a risk of death or serious injury or illness. Ten of those were in 2025, the most in any year and double the number in 2024.

Where a category is recorded, about 95% of prosecutions were Category 2 or Category 3 offences, which involve a failure to comply with a health and safety duty, and Category 1 offences made up about 5%. Another 871 prosecutions are recorded as not applicable, which Safe Work Australia uses for jurisdictions that had not implemented the model WHS laws in the year of prosecution.

Industry of defendant

Construction has recorded the most prosecutions in every year of the data, with manufacturing second each time. Across the full six years, the dashboard lists transport, postal and warehousing third, ahead of electricity, gas, water and waste services and then agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Note: The dashboard only records prosecutions that resulted in a finding of guilt, and it relies on what each regulator publishes. Safe Work Australia cautions that the data is limited by what is publicly available and should not be relied on for research or other purposes.

Limits of the data

The figures in this article are totals across all WHS offences, and they are not split by the type of hazard involved. The industries that dominate the 2025 numbers are also the traditional settings for physical injury, so it would be a mistake to read the data as proof that psychosocial enforcement is either surging or absent.

What the numbers do show is the direction of enforcement, with a financial penalty in almost every case and a record average in 2025.

Psychosocial risk outlook

The link to psychosocial risk comes from timing. Codes of practice have been legally binding in NSW since 1 July 2026, including the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, so employers are now expected to show how they identify, assess, control and review psychosocial hazards on an ongoing basis.

At the same time, a tool many organisations leaned on has been switched off. People at Work, the free psychosocial risk assessment survey funded by Australian WHS regulators and used by more than 160,000 workers since 2020, closed to users on 2 October 2026.

Note: An organisation-wide survey score was never the whole picture. Psychosocial pressure tends to build in particular teams and under particular leaders, so the evidence that counts shows where a hazard sits and what was done about it.

Implications for officers and boards

Under WHS laws, officers have a personal duty to exercise due diligence. That duty is about more than receiving reports. It asks officers to understand the risks in their business and to verify that the controls for those risks are being used.

That distinction is important in a prosecution. A documented procedure shows what was meant to happen, while the evidence a court looks for is what happened on the day.

An average penalty of $147,985 that grew by about a third in a single year is also an enterprise risk. That puts WHS in front of the board and the audit committee, and it can no longer sit only with the people and culture team.

Questions worth asking at your next leadership meeting include:

• Which of our risks could kill or seriously injure someone, and who owns each one?
• When did we last check that the controls for those risks were working on site, and not only written down?
• Do our board or executive reports show control effectiveness, or only incident counts?
• How do concerns raised by workers and contractors reach the people who can act on them?
• Can we name our psychosocial hazards in the terms the Code uses, such as high job demands and low job control?
• Do we know which teams those hazards are concentrated in, beyond the organisation-wide average?
• Could we show a regulator a record of identifying, controlling and reviewing each one?

Tip: SafeWork NSW has published a free officer due diligence self-assessment tool. It is a quick way to see which records a regulator would expect your leadership team to produce.

Recommended next step

October is National Safe Work Month, which makes it a natural time to put this data in front of your leadership team. Pick one critical risk, trace it from the risk register to the worksite, and see whether the control you rely on is in place and understood by the people doing the work.

That single exercise will tell you more about your due diligence position than a year of lagging indicators.

How Actevate can help

Actevate helps organisations manage risk across the entire employee lifecycle, from pre-employment through to injury management and return to work. If the data has raised questions about your own systems, call 1300 663 155 or get in touch.

Sources

• Safe Work Australia, WHS prosecutions dashboard, viewed 6 October 2026
• Safe Work Australia, Work health and safety prosecutions: new data now available
• Safe Work Australia, National Work Health and Safety Prosecutions Repository Data Dictionary, June 2025
• NSW Government, Minns Labor Government launches Psychosocial Advisory Service, 22 September 2026 (codes of practice legally binding from 1 July 2026)
• SafeWork NSW, officer due diligence self-assessment tool
• SafeWork SA, People at Work survey decommissioned
• HRD Australia, Psychosocial risk tool axed

Disclaimer

This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or health and safety advice. The data is sourced from Safe Work Australia's WHS prosecutions dashboard and related publications, as available on 6 October 2026. Safe Work Australia revises the data each year, so figures may change after publication. Percentages marked as calculated, year-on-year comparisons and the charts are Actevate's own analysis and presentation of that data. Safe Work Australia has not reviewed or endorsed this article. Please refer to the original sources before relying on any figure.