The SafeWork NSW priorities 2026-27 are now confirmed. If you run a business in NSW, though, simply knowing the four areas on SafeWork’s list does not tell you what to do on Monday morning.
The useful question is much more practical: which of these risks exist in your operation, where could they cause the most serious harm, and can you demonstrate that your controls are actually working?
SafeWork NSW has identified four regulatory priorities for the 2026–27 financial year: falls from heights, psychosocial risks, hazardous substances, and mobile plant, vehicles and fixed machinery. SafeWork says these priorities have been identified using data, evidence and stakeholder insights, and will guide where it focuses regulatory attention during the year.
For an SME, that does not mean trying to create four new safety programs at once. A better starting point is to identify which of the four areas are relevant to your work, then prioritise the risks with the highest potential consequence, most frequent exposure and weakest verified controls.
What the SafeWork NSW Priorities 2026-27 Actually Mean
The four priorities are:
- Falls from heights
- Psychosocial risks
- Hazardous substances
- Mobile plant, vehicles and fixed machinery
These are regulatory priorities, not four new WHS duties. SafeWork describes them as areas for specific regulatory action that sit alongside its core functions as the NSW work health and safety regulator. Your existing obligations under NSW WHS legislation still apply across the risks created by your work.
There is, however, a separate legislative change that commenced on 1 July 2026 and is worth understanding.
Section 26A of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 commenced on that date, introducing a duty relating to approved Codes of Practice. PCBUs must comply with an applicable approved Code of Practice or use another method that provides an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety.
That change should not be confused with SafeWork’s four priorities, but together they provide a good reason to look closely at whether your safety arrangements still match the work actually being done.
Falls From Heights: Check the Work, Not Just the Procedure
Falls remain a significant focus. SafeWork reported that more than 600 fall-from-height incidents were notified in the preceding 12 months, including five fatalities.
For a business owner or operations manager, the first step should not be opening the working-at-heights procedure.
Start by looking at the work.
Where are people actually exposed to a fall from one level to another?
That might include roof work, scaffolds, elevated platforms, ladders, loading areas, vehicle access, maintenance tasks, mezzanines, excavations or occasional jobs that are easy to overlook because they do not happen every day. NSW requirements for managing falls apply where there is a risk of a person falling from one level to another, and SafeWork provides specific guidance and Codes of Practice for managing those risks.
Then look at how the control works in practice.
Is the required fall-prevention equipment actually available when the task begins? Are workers using it correctly? Has anyone checked the work area before the job starts? Does the documented method still make sense when conditions change?
This is where a business can have a reasonable procedure on paper but a much weaker position in the field.
For example, a procedure may require a particular access system, yet workers routinely use a ladder because it is faster. A SWMS may identify edge protection, but nobody checks whether it has been installed before the crew starts. A maintenance task may be treated as routine even though it places someone at height several times each month.
Those are the gaps worth finding before an incident or an inspector finds them for you.
Mobile Plant and Machinery: Look at the Interaction Points
SafeWork reported more than 500 incidents involving mobile plant in the preceding 12 months, including eight fatalities. Mobile plant, vehicles and fixed machinery therefore remain firmly within its regulatory focus.
For businesses operating forklifts, trucks, earthmoving equipment, production machinery, conveyors or other plant, it is tempting to begin the review with maintenance records.
Maintenance matters, but the more revealing question is often:
Where can a person and dangerous plant come together?
Walk through a normal shift and look for those interaction points.
Where do pedestrians cross forklift routes? Where do trucks reverse? Can someone approach an operating machine? What happens when material jams? How does someone clean, adjust or maintain equipment? Who enters the area while equipment is operating?
SafeWork’s plant guidance places emphasis on controls including physical guarding, separation from dangerous moving parts and safe isolation during activities such as cleaning, repair and maintenance. For mobile plant, SafeWork also identifies pedestrian separation, collision prevention, maintenance, inspection and appropriate training as key risk areas.
Fixed machinery deserves the same practical scrutiny.
A guard that has been removed because it slows production is not an effective control. Neither is an isolation procedure workers find so difficult that they routinely work around it.
Look particularly closely at non-routine activities. Clearing blockages, changing tooling, fault-finding, cleaning and maintenance can place people closer to dangerous energy or moving parts than normal operation does.
Your documentation should reflect those realities.
Hazardous Substances: Go Beyond the Chemical Register
When someone says “hazardous substances”, it is easy to think first about the chemical register and safety data sheets.
Those records matter, but they are only part of the picture.
SafeWork’s 2026–27 priority covers hazardous substances more broadly. In announcing the priorities, SafeWork reported that inspectors had issued more than 145 silica-related notices during the preceding 12 months and had received more than 45 reports of silicosis cases.
A useful review therefore starts with exposure, not paperwork.
Ask:
What could our workers actually be breathing, absorbing or coming into contact with while doing the job?
Depending on your operation, that could include silica dust, asbestos, welding fumes, solvents, gases, vapours or hazardous substances generated by a work process rather than simply poured from a labelled container.
Welding is a good example. SafeWork notes that welding processes can produce particles and gases that create both short- and long-term health risks. Its guidance also makes clear that personal protective equipment and respiratory protection should not be relied on as the sole protection where higher-order controls such as local exhaust ventilation can be used.
Look at the tasks with potentially serious consequences first.
Is extraction working as intended? Is respiratory protection suitable and managed correctly where it is required? Could exposure monitoring be necessary? Does health monitoring apply to the substances workers may be exposed to?
A well-maintained chemical register cannot answer those questions on its own.
Psychosocial Risks: Review How the Work Is Organised
Psychosocial risk is another area where a narrow approach can create blind spots.
SafeWork reported more than 2,200 requests for service and notifications of more than 190 workplace incidents involving psychosocial hazards in the preceding 12 months.
For business owners and managers, this should not simply translate into another wellbeing initiative.
Psychosocial hazards are WHS risks, and many arise from how work is designed, organised and managed. SafeWork identifies factors including role overload, lack of role clarity, poor support, poor change consultation and harmful workplace behaviours among the psychosocial hazards businesses may need to manage.
Look at what is happening operationally.
Are workloads regularly exceeding what the team can reasonably manage?
Are supervisors giving conflicting priorities?
Do people know who is responsible for critical decisions?
Are staffing levels creating sustained pressure?
Are workers being exposed to aggression, harassment or traumatic events?
Are significant changes being implemented without enough consultation, information or training?
These are management and work-design questions, not simply questions about how individual workers cope.
SafeWork’s work-design guidance specifically points to matters such as resourcing, work tasks, organisational systems, workplace design and significant change as potential sources of psychosocial risk.
An Employee Assistance Program can be useful support, but it should not become a substitute for addressing a preventable hazard in the way work itself is organised.
How to Decide What Your Business Should Review First
Most SMEs cannot review every WHS issue in equal depth at the same time.
Nor should the SafeWork priorities lead to four rushed audits that produce another pile of actions nobody has capacity to close.
A more useful method is to test each relevant risk against three questions.
1. How serious could the outcome be?
Start with consequence.
Could failure of the control reasonably result in a fatality, permanent injury, serious occupational illness or significant psychological harm?
High-consequence hazards deserve attention even when the task is not performed every day.
2. How often are people exposed?
Next, consider frequency.
A hazard someone faces every shift deserves a different level of attention from an unusual activity performed once every few years.
Look beyond scheduled work too. Breakdowns, cleaning, maintenance, loading, contractor activities and last-minute jobs can create exposures that do not appear clearly in standard operating procedures.
3. How confident are you that the control works?
This is where many reviews become useful.
Do not ask only whether a control exists. Ask how you know it works.
| Ask | What to look for |
|---|---|
| How serious could the outcome be? | Potential for fatality, serious injury, illness or significant harm |
| How often are people exposed? | Daily, weekly, periodic or unusual tasks |
| How strong is the verified control? | Current inspections, observations, maintenance, consultation and corrective actions |
A risk with potentially severe consequences, frequent exposure and a control nobody has checked recently should move towards the top of your list.
Using that approach, most businesses should be able to identify two or three areas that deserve immediate attention rather than spreading effort thinly across every possible issue.
What Evidence Should an Owner or Manager Expect to See?
Once you identify your priorities, ask a final question:
What evidence would give me confidence that this is being managed today?
The answer will vary depending on the risk, but useful evidence could include recent workplace inspections, maintenance and guarding checks, worker consultation records, risk assessments that still reflect current tasks, supervisor observations, corrective-action records, competency records, exposure monitoring or health monitoring where required.
The important point is that evidence should show more than the existence of a document.
It should help demonstrate that the control identified by the business has actually been implemented, maintained and reviewed.
If a risk assessment says pedestrians and forklifts are separated, go and look at the separation.
If an isolation procedure says plant must be locked out before cleaning, check what operators actually do.
If a psychosocial risk assessment identifies excessive workload, look for evidence that the workload or work design has been addressed.
If an approved Code of Practice applies to the work, the changes commencing on 1 July 2026 also mean businesses need to understand the standard set by that Code and ensure their approach complies with it or provides an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety.
That is a much stronger position than assuming a policy, procedure or register is enough simply because it exists.
Start With the Risk That Matters Most in Your Operation
SafeWork’s four priorities are broad because NSW workplaces are broad.
What deserves attention first will look different from one business to another.
A transport or warehousing operation may identify vehicle and pedestrian interaction as its most serious exposure. A fabrication workshop may need to look first at machinery guarding, isolation and welding fumes. A civil or trade business may find working at heights remains its most significant risk.
The aim is not to chase the regulator’s list.
It is to use the SafeWork NSW priorities 2026-27 as a prompt to look critically at your own operation and identify where serious harm could occur.
Start with the priority that creates the greatest potential consequence in your operation. Then check how often people are exposed and whether you can demonstrate that the controls are working in practice.
If keeping those reviews, records and actions current is difficult alongside day-to-day operations, The Safety Dept. can provide ongoing WHS management support to help keep your systems, controls and responsibilities aligned with the work being done.