15 May 2026
8 min read
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Australian employers will soon be required to report a broader range of workplace incidents under new notification laws. These requirements will come into effect once states and territories across Australia update their uniform safety legislation to reflect the amendments made by Safe Work Australia to the model Work Health and Safety laws in December last year.
With an increased focus on psychosocial harm, the new laws expand the scope of reportable incidents to include extended work absences, work-related self-harm, a broader category of ‘dangerous incidents’ and ‘serious injury or illness’, as well as a new category of ‘violent incidents’.
In this article, we unpack the new notification requirements and outline key steps a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) should take to prepare for the new laws being adopted in each jurisdiction. Notably, these changes may not necessarily be adopted in Victoria as it has not implemented the model Work Health and Safety laws.
What’s changing?
Under the new laws, PCBUs will be required to notify the regulator, within 14 days after becoming aware of a worker that has been absent for 15 or more consecutive days, or anticipates that period of absence where the absence is “reasonably attributable to a physical or psychological injury or illness arising from the conduct of the business or undertaking” (a notifiable extended absence).
How can PCBUs prepare?
PCBUs need to consider how the business can track employee absences approaching 15 consecutive days away from work, including weekends, public holidays and non-working days.
As a worker nears the 15-day mark, businesses must have a process in place to evaluate whether the injury or illness is linked to work, based on the information available at the time. The absence only needs to be ‘reasonably attributable’ to work and not directly caused by work.
For example, if a worker is subject to bullying in the workplace and their employer is on notice of these harmful behaviours, the worker’s subsequent 15-day absence would likely be ‘reasonably attributable’ to work and therefore notifiable.
What’s changing?
When adopted, the new laws will require PCBUs to notify the regulator of a worker’s death by suicide or suspected suicide where there is a potential link to work or the workplace. Importantly, this obligation will also extend to an attempted or suspected attempted suicide.
An identifiable link to work could exist in a broad range of circumstances, such as if the location where the incident occurred was at the PCBU’s workplace, including work accommodation, if they used workplace tools or equipment in the incident, if they had an existing psychological injury or illness arising from the conduct of the PCBU or were exposed to frequent, prolonged or severe psychological hazards because of work (a notifiable suicide).
Additionally, PCBUs must notify the regulator of the death by suicide or suspected suicide (or an attempted or suspected attempted suicide) of a person other than a worker which occurs at the workplace in circumstances where the suicide event is a reasonably foreseeable risk due to the nature of the workplace and the presence of one or more physical hazards that could be used in a suicide.
How can PCBUs prepare?
PCBUs need to consider whether a notifiable suicide is foreseeable at their workplace, particularly in respect of other workers. This can be assessed by conducting a risk assessment of their workplaces to identify physical features and hazards (e.g. access to heights or chemicals). An explanatory handbook published by Safe Work Australia also suggests that an assessment of the mental pre-disposition of persons may be relevant (for example, patients in a medical facility).
PCBUs should also consider how they obtain and assess information in a way that will not overstep privacy concerns, but be able to satisfy them as to whether a link to work exists (in the case of a worker) or the incident was reasonably foreseeable (in the case of a non-worker).
What’s changing?
Once adopted, the new laws will require PCBUs to notify the regulator immediately after becoming aware of an incident in the workplace that exposed a person to a serious risk of psychological harm, including physical and sexual assaults, suspected assaults, and unlawful deprivation of a person’s liberty. Threats will also be caught by these provisions (a violent incident).
Critically, for an incident to be notifiable as a violent incident, it must arise from the conduct of the business or undertaking. This link to work will likely be present where a PCBU has an element of control or influence over the events leading to the incident or where there is a clear connection to the work environment or activities of the PCBU. For example, if a person accessed a weapon in the workplace to carry out a physical assault in that location or somewhere with a work connection.
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 – rather, it is the exposure to psychological harm that is relevant. The physical harm caused by a violent incident may be captured by other notification obligations, for example the requirement to notify the regulator of serious injuries and illnesses. Importantly, a PCBU is only required to notify the regulator once in relation to an incident, even where the incident may trigger multiple notification obligations.
How can PCBUs prepare?
PCBUs should review their existing policies and incident reporting processes to ensure that violent incidents are captured and escalated appropriately. All workers should be trained on how to identify and report a violent incident in the workplace. There will need to be close examination as to the level and nature of information that a PCBU can obtain and rely on to consider that there has been a ‘suspected’ assault.
What’s changing?
Serious injuries and illnesses arising from the conduct of a business or undertaking have always been notifiable. However, the new laws seek to expand on the definition and clarify that PCBUs are to apply an objective test in determining when an injury or illness is notifiable.
The new definition of ‘serious injury or illness’ includes:
How can PCBUs prepare?
The precise definition will be finalised in each jurisdiction when the laws commence. For now, PCBUs should review their existing incident reporting processes and prepare draft guidelines.
Preparations should also include updated training for managers to ensure they understand when and how serious injuries or illnesses should be reported. PCBUs are also encouraged to develop a simple checklist to assist in determining objectively whether the injury or illness should be reported.
What’s changing?
Once adopted, the new laws will expand the definition of ‘dangerous incident’ to include mobile plant incidents and serious falls:
This change aligns with the obligation under the WHS Regulation regarding the risk of falls from height. Equally, when a mobile plant, such as a forklift tips over, it does not matter that no one was hurt. The relevant question for PCBUs remains the same: did the incident immediately or imminently expose a person to a ‘serious risk’ to the person’s health or safety?
How can PCBUs prepare?
PCBUs need to update their incident reporting processes to ensure that mobile plant incidents and serious falls are captured. PCBUs should also develop a simple checklist which will assist in determining objectively if an incident meets the threshold of a ‘dangerous incident’ and notification to the regulator is required.
What’s changing?
The previous model WHS laws required a person with management or control of a workplace to ensure so far as reasonably practicable that the incident site was not disturbed until a Safe Work inspector arrived on site (or any earlier time that the inspector directed).
To ensure that the site remains undisturbed, the new laws will require a person with management or control of the workplace to ensure so far as reasonably practicable that:
How can PCBUs prepare?
Persons with management or control of a workplace should determine who within the business is responsible for making the decision about which areas of the site will be shut down and what evidence needs to be preserved. Such persons should also consider how these decisions will be communicated to other PCBUs on site. There will be challenges in how this new requirement will apply to notifiable suicides and dangerous incidents. For example, it may not be immediately apparent from an attempted self-harm what evidence relates to the incident and so relevant evidence may be unintentionally disturbed or not preserved.
We will continue to provide updates as information on when the new laws will come into effect becomes available. In the meantime, if you have any questions on how your workplace can prepare for these changes, 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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