Risk Assessment Document for NSW Workplaces

New South Wales adopted the national model Work Health and Safety laws in 2011, with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW) forming the primary legislative framework. NSW is the most populous state in Australia and has the largest and most diverse economy, with workplaces ranging from large construction projects and heavy manufacturing to retail, hospitality, healthcare, and professional services. SafeWork NSW — a division of the NSW Government's Department of Customer Service — is the primary WHS regulator for NSW workplaces.

The WHS Act 2011 (NSW) establishes the primary duty on PCBUs to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that workers and others are not exposed to health and safety risks. The WHS Regulation 2017 (NSW) amplifies this obligation with specific requirements for managing particular hazards — including hazardous chemicals, plant and equipment, confined spaces, falls, and high-risk construction work. SafeWork NSW publishes codes of practice, guides, and tools to assist NSW businesses in meeting these requirements.

A documented risk assessment is the primary mechanism through which NSW businesses demonstrate compliance with the WHS Act. It provides evidence that the PCBU identified the reasonably foreseeable hazards, assessed the risks, and implemented controls in accordance with the hierarchy. In SafeWork NSW investigations following incidents and fatalities, the absence of a written risk assessment — or the existence of a generic, non-site-specific assessment — is consistently identified as a compliance failure and cited in prosecution proceedings.

The WHS Regulation 2017 (NSW) includes specific provisions that differ from the national model regulation in some areas — most notably in relation to asbestos management (where NSW has its own detailed requirements under the Asbestos Management Code of Practice), silica dust from engineered stone (where SafeWork NSW has issued targeted guidance), and certain aspects of construction safety. A risk assessment designed for NSW use should incorporate these NSW-specific requirements.

SafeWork NSW has published a comprehensive suite of codes of practice and industry-specific guidance documents that provide practical compliance benchmarks for NSW workplaces. These documents are legally relevant: under the WHS Act, a code of practice can be used as evidence of what a court or tribunal would consider to be a reasonably practicable standard of care. A PCBU that follows an applicable code of practice will generally be taken to have complied with the relevant duty, though a PCBU may use an alternative method if it can demonstrate an equivalent or higher standard of safety.

Key SafeWork NSW codes of practice relevant to risk assessment include: - **How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks** — the general risk management code, applicable to all workplaces; - **Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces** — specific guidance for fall hazard management; - **Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace** — chemical risk assessment guidance; - **Hazardous Manual Tasks** — manual handling risk assessment guidance; - **Confined Spaces** — confined space entry and risk management; - **Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work** — noise exposure assessment; - **Work Health and Safety Consultation, Co-operation and Co-ordination** — consultation obligations; - **First Aid in the Workplace** — first aid risk assessment and provision requirements.

SafeWork NSW also publishes the **SafeWork NSW Construction Safety Action Plan**, which identifies the priority hazards for the NSW construction sector — working at heights, mobile plant, electricity, and manual handling — and specifies the expected standard of risk management for each. Construction businesses operating in NSW should align their risk assessments with this action plan.

For the residential construction sector, SafeWork NSW has published the **Home Building Handbook**, which provides risk management guidance specifically for small residential builders, owner-builders, and tradespersons in NSW. Our NSW risk assessment is structured to be accessible to this audience as well as to larger organisations.

Construction is one of the highest-risk industries in NSW, accounting for a disproportionate share of workplace fatalities and serious injuries. SafeWork NSW operates a dedicated construction safety team and conducts regular inspection blitzes targeting specific hazards — falls, mobile plant, silica dust, and electrical safety — across NSW construction sites.

Under the WHS Regulation 2017 (NSW), principal contractors for construction projects where the work is likely to cost $250,000 or more must prepare a written Work Health and Safety Management Plan (WHSMP) for the project. The WHSMP must include: the site-specific hazards and controls; the arrangements for induction, consultation, and incident reporting; and the arrangements for monitoring compliance with the plan.

All principal contractors for any construction project in NSW — regardless of value — must ensure that a SWMS is prepared for all high-risk construction work before that work commences. High-risk construction work is defined in Schedule 1 of the WHS Regulation and includes: work involving the risk of a person falling more than 3 metres; work near overhead electrical lines or energised electrical installations; demolition; asbestos removal; structural alterations requiring temporary support; work in an excavation or trench more than 1.5 metres deep; work in a confined space; and work involving explosives.

For silica dust management in NSW — a SafeWork NSW priority hazard following the engineered stone silicosis epidemic — all construction PCBUs whose workers may be exposed to respirable crystalline silica (from concrete cutting, grinding, or drilling; from engineered stone work; or from dry sweeping of siliceous materials) must conduct a silica dust risk assessment, implement engineering controls (water suppression, on-tool extraction), provide appropriate respiratory protective equipment, and enrol workers in health surveillance if their exposure exceeds 50% of the WES.

Our NSW risk assessment includes a specific silica dust assessment section aligned with the SafeWork NSW Management of Silica Dust Exposure in Construction guidance.

New South Wales has strengthened its WHS enforcement framework in recent years, with amendments to the WHS Act 2011 (NSW) that are important for officers — directors, partners, and senior managers — of businesses operating in NSW.

**Officer due diligence obligations.** Under Section 27 of the WHS Act, officers of a PCBU must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its WHS duties. Due diligence requires officers to acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of WHS matters; understand the nature of the PCBU's operations and the associated hazards and risks; ensure the PCBU has and uses appropriate resources, processes, and procedures to manage risks; and verify that the PCBU has and uses processes for receiving and reviewing information about incidents, hazards, risks, and compliance. A documented risk assessment programme is direct evidence of the PCBU's processes for managing risks — one of the key elements of officer due diligence.

**Industrial manslaughter.** The Work Health and Safety Amendment (Review) Act 2020 (NSW) introduced a new offence of industrial manslaughter into the WHS Act. Under this provision, a PCBU or an officer of a PCBU who, by gross negligence, causes the death of a worker faces a maximum penalty of $10 million (for a body corporate) or 25 years' imprisonment (for an individual). NSW was one of the later states to enact this provision (after Queensland, Victoria, ACT, and Northern Territory). The industrial manslaughter provision significantly increases the personal liability of directors and senior managers for worker deaths and reinforces the importance of a systematic, documented approach to hazard identification and risk management.

**SafeWork NSW enforcement trends.** SafeWork NSW has increased its enforcement activity in the post-COVID period, with a particular focus on industries with persistently high injury and fatality rates: construction, agriculture, transport, and manufacturing. The regulator has adopted a more aggressive prosecution posture for Category 1 and Category 2 offences, and has pursued prosecutions of individual officers as well as corporate PCBUs where the evidence supports personal liability.

The risk assessment process for NSW workplaces follows the five-step model code of practice methodology, with NSW-specific considerations for the applicable codes, standards, and guidance documents.

**Step 1 — Identify the hazards.** Use the SafeWork NSW industry guides for your sector as a primary hazard identification tool, supplemented by workplace inspection, incident record review, and worker consultation. For construction, the SafeWork NSW Construction Safety Action Plan provides a priority hazard list specific to NSW construction sites. For healthcare and aged care, the NSW Health Safe Work Procedures provide guidance on clinical and occupational hazards specific to the NSW health system.

**Step 2 — Assess the risk.** Rate each hazard for likelihood and consequence using a 5×5 risk matrix. SafeWork NSW's How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice provides guidance on risk rating criteria. For hazards with a WES — airborne chemical and dust contaminants — the risk rating must reflect whether workers' exposures are above, at, or below the WES, which requires either air sampling data or a defensible qualitative exposure estimate.

**Step 3 — Select controls.** Apply the hierarchy of controls specified in the WHS Act and SafeWork NSW codes of practice. For each control selected, document the specific action to be taken, the person responsible, and the implementation date. Where the selected control is an engineered control (ventilation, guarding, interlocking), document the specification and performance requirements so that the control can be verified and maintained.

**Step 4 — Implement, communicate, and consult.** Implement the controls and communicate the risk assessment findings to all affected workers, including contractors. SafeWork NSW emphasises the role of health and safety representatives (HSRs) in the risk assessment process — HSRs have the right to be consulted before risk assessments affecting their work group are finalised.

**Step 5 — Review.** Review the risk assessment at the intervals specified in the assessment and whenever changes occur. SafeWork NSW expects that assessments for high-risk activities are reviewed at least annually, and that organisations maintain a register of their risk assessments with review status records.

NSW has one of the highest concentrations of asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in the world, a legacy of decades of widespread use of asbestos in building construction before the 1987 ban on new uses. SafeWork NSW has extensive published guidance on asbestos risk management and enforces a specific Code of Practice — the How to Safely Remove Asbestos Code of Practice — for licensed asbestos removal work.

For non-friable (bonded) asbestos in buildings constructed before 1987, PCBUs have the following obligations under the NSW WHS Regulation: - Maintain an asbestos register identifying all known or suspected ACM at the workplace; - Prepare an asbestos management plan specifying how ACM will be managed to prevent disturbance; - Provide information about the location of ACM to workers, contractors, and emergency services; - Manage the condition of ACM and conduct an annual review of the asbestos register.

Any risk assessment for maintenance, renovation, or demolition work in buildings constructed before 1987 in NSW must include an asbestos hazard assessment — a check of the asbestos register, a visual inspection for suspect ACM in the work area, and a determination of whether licensed asbestos removal is required before the work proceeds.

Class A licensed asbestos removal (for friable asbestos — sprayed-on, loosely packed, or asbestos insulation) and Class B licensed asbestos removal (for non-friable ACM in a quantity exceeding 10 square metres) are subject to specific notification, air monitoring, and clearance inspection requirements under the NSW WHS Regulation. Our NSW risk assessment includes an asbestos hazard screening section for maintenance and construction work.

**How does NSW WHS law differ from other states?** NSW adopted the national model WHS laws and its WHS Act 2011 and WHS Regulation 2017 are substantially consistent with the national model. Key NSW-specific features include: the industrial manslaughter offence in the WHS Act 2011; the specific asbestos register and management plan requirements for workplaces with ACM; the SafeWork NSW silica dust guidance for construction; and the SafeWork NSW Construction Safety Action Plan, which sets specific expectations for construction sector risk management. A risk assessment designed for NSW use should incorporate these requirements.

**Is a risk assessment required for every task in NSW?** Not every task requires a formal written risk assessment. Routine tasks with well-understood, well-controlled hazards may be adequately managed by existing safe work procedures. However, any non-routine, high-hazard, or first-time task requires a risk assessment before commencing. For construction sites, a written SWMS is required for all high-risk construction work regardless of whether it is routine or novel.

**What are the record-keeping requirements for risk assessments in NSW?** The WHS Regulation 2017 (NSW) does not specify a universal retention period for all risk assessment records. Specific retention periods apply for certain categories: health surveillance records must be retained for 30 years; asbestos records must be retained for 40 years; other WHS records generally for 5 years. Risk assessments should be retained for at least the period specified in the PCBU's document control procedure, and in any event for a minimum of 5 years from the date of the assessment or the date of the last review.

**Does SafeWork NSW inspect construction sites?** Yes. SafeWork NSW conducts regular planned and reactive inspections of NSW construction sites. Planned inspections are risk-based, targeting sites with identified hazard profiles or sectors with high injury rates. Reactive inspections are triggered by incident notifications, worker complaints, or referrals from other agencies. During a SafeWork NSW inspection, the inspector may ask to see risk assessments, SWMS documents, site induction records, and workers' compensation records. A well-maintained risk assessment register is a key indicator of a compliant safety management system.

**Are there free 'risk assessment templates' available from SafeWork NSW?** SafeWork NSW publishes free guidance documents, codes of practice, and some basic checklists on its website. However, these generic tools require significant customisation to address the specific hazards of a particular workplace, and they do not carry the professional credibility of a CIH-reviewed assessment in the event of a regulatory investigation or workers' compensation claim. A professionally prepared, consultant-drafted risk assessment reviewed by a qualified occupational hygienist provides a substantially stronger compliance baseline.