NSW Workplace Safety Laws: WHS Duties for Construction Work
NSW workplace safety laws allocate duties across businesses, officers, workers and other people who influence work. For construction projects, compliance starts before site mobilisation and continues through planning, consultation, risk control, supervision, incident response and close-out.
Fresh search evidence confirms this page as SCE’s legal-obligations guide. For day-to-day site behaviours and practical controls, read the separate workplace safety practices guide.
General information only: this guide does not replace the current legislation, SafeWork NSW directions or project-specific legal and WHS advice. Duty holders should verify the requirements that apply to their work, workplace and contractual role.
The NSW WHS framework
The principal legislation is the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW). It is supported by the current Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW), approved codes of practice and guidance issued by SafeWork NSW.
The framework is preventative. A duty holder must identify how work can harm people, eliminate risks where reasonably practicable and otherwise minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable. Paperwork is not the objective by itself: the controls must suit the real work, be communicated, implemented and reviewed.
Construction projects often involve overlapping duties. A client, principal contractor, subcontractor, designer, supplier, plant owner and workplace controller may each hold duties at the same time. Contract clauses can allocate tasks, but they do not automatically transfer or remove a statutory duty.
Who holds WHS duties?
PCBUs
A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) has a primary duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers it engages, causes to be engaged or influences or directs. The duty also extends to other people who may be put at risk by the work.
Officers
Officers must exercise due diligence. In practical terms, this means understanding the organisation’s hazards, making sure suitable resources and processes exist, receiving reliable WHS information and checking that controls are actually used.
Workers
Workers must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others, comply with reasonable instructions, and cooperate with reasonable WHS policies and procedures. Workers can include employees, contractors, subcontractors, labour-hire workers, apprentices and volunteers.
Other duty holders
Designers, manufacturers, importers, suppliers, installers and people with management or control of workplaces, fixtures, fittings or plant can hold additional duties. The relevant role must be confirmed for the specific project.
SafeWork NSW also requires PCBUs to consult workers on WHS matters that are likely to affect them. Where several duty holders share responsibility, they must consult, cooperate and coordinate their activities so gaps are not left between scopes.
Managing construction risk
A defensible construction safety process connects the planned scope with the conditions actually present on site. It should address people, plant, temporary works, access, adjoining occupants, public interfaces, services, hazardous materials and environmental conditions.
Core steps include:
- Identify hazards: inspect the site, review designs and reports, consult workers and consider how the work will change as the project progresses.
- Assess the risk: consider the likelihood and possible consequence of harm, including foreseeable interactions between trades and work areas.
- Eliminate or minimise: apply the hierarchy of controls and prefer higher-order controls where reasonably practicable.
- Communicate and implement: make responsibilities, hold points, exclusion zones, permits, emergency arrangements and supervision requirements clear.
- Review: check controls after changes, incidents, near misses, design revisions, new information or evidence that a control is not effective.
Training and induction should match the person’s work and exposure. Generic induction alone is not enough where a task, plant item, temporary condition or project interface creates a specific risk. SCE’s documented induction process shows how onboarding can be connected to project requirements.
SWMS and high-risk construction work
A safe work method statement (SWMS) is required for high-risk construction work. It must identify the high-risk work, the hazards and risks arising from it, the controls to be implemented, and how those controls will be implemented, monitored and reviewed.
Examples of high-risk construction work include work involving a risk of a person falling more than two metres, demolition of a load-bearing structure, temporary load-bearing support for structural alterations or repairs, work in or near a trench deeper than 1.5 metres, work near energised electrical installations, work on or adjacent to an active road or rail corridor, and work in an area with movement of powered mobile plant.
A SWMS should remain connected to the actual task. If the work, sequencing, people, plant or site conditions change, the SWMS and associated controls must be reviewed before the affected work continues. Supervisors also need to verify that the work is being performed in accordance with the SWMS.
Incident response and notification
Every project needs a clear emergency and incident pathway before work starts. People should know how to raise an alarm, obtain first aid, isolate hazards, account for workers and visitors, contact emergency services and escalate the incident within the project team.
SafeWork NSW states that a death, serious injury or illness, or dangerous incident must be notified immediately by calling 13 10 50. The incident site may also need to be preserved, subject to the lawful exceptions for assisting an injured person, removing a deceased person, making the site safe or following police or inspector directions.
Not every injury or near miss is notifiable, but all should be recorded and assessed through the project’s reporting process. Early investigation should focus on facts, immediate risk controls, affected people and the improvements required to prevent recurrence.
Turning duties into project controls
Good WHS governance makes responsibility visible. Before mobilisation, the project team should confirm the scope, workplace controller, principal contractor arrangements, relevant duty holders, design information, site access, services, hazardous materials, permits, high-risk work, emergency arrangements and evidence required at handover.
Practical pre-start questions: Who controls the workplace? Which work is high risk? What information is missing? Which designs or temporary-work inputs are required? How will workers and other PCBUs be consulted? What must stop if conditions differ from the plan?
During delivery, pre-start meetings, toolbox talks, inspections, permits, SWMS reviews, change control and close-out records should form one connected system. The SCE System explains SCE’s broader approach to controlled project delivery, while the certifications and credentials page provides current verification of relevant management-system credentials.
How SCE supports safe delivery
SCE is a highly qualified, skilled and experienced construction team capable of coordinating building and civil work within the agreed project scope. Its delivery approach can include site establishment, access and staging planning, worker and subcontractor induction, task coordination, SWMS integration, hold points, inspection records and structured handover evidence.
SCE does not replace the legal duties of a client, PCBU, officer, worker, principal contractor, designer or other statutory duty holder. It also does not provide legal advice. The applicable roles, design responsibilities and project-specific WHS requirements should be confirmed before work proceeds.
Frequently asked questions
1. What are the main workplace safety laws in NSW?
The principal law is the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), supported by the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW), approved codes of practice and SafeWork NSW guidance.
2. Who has the primary duty of care?
A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) has the primary duty to ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable for workers it engages, causes to be engaged or influences or directs, and for other people who may be put at risk by the work.
3. Can a construction contract transfer a WHS duty?
A contract can allocate tasks and responsibilities, but it does not automatically transfer or remove a statutory WHS duty. Multiple parties can hold overlapping duties and must consult, cooperate and coordinate where their duties overlap.
4. When is a SWMS required in NSW?
A SWMS is required for high-risk construction work. It must identify the high-risk work, hazards and risks, the controls to be used, and how those controls will be implemented, monitored and reviewed.
5. What incidents must be reported to SafeWork NSW?
A death, serious injury or illness, or dangerous incident must be notified immediately to SafeWork NSW. Duty holders should check the current statutory definitions and preserve the incident site where required.
6. How can SCE assist with WHS-sensitive construction work?
SCE can assist within its contracted scope through site establishment, access and staging planning, induction, task coordination, SWMS integration, hold points, inspections and handover evidence. SCE does not replace another party’s legal duties or provide legal advice.