The Minns Labor Government is continuing its commitment to creating safer workplaces with the inaugural Construction Safety Roundtable held in Parramatta.
The roundtable brings together construction industry leaders to discuss ways to improve safety and reduce the number of workplace injuries across the sector which employs 400,000 people in NSW.
Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis and SafeWork Commissioner Janet Schorer were joined by leaders from construction firms, key industry associations, unions and community organisations.
The roundtable discussed the sector’s safety performance, key risks and opportunities for collaborative improvement.
While recent SafeWork NSW compliance activities have shown most construction businesses are doing the right thing, there are still too many employers putting workers at risk by not having adequate systems to manage work health and safety.
With 13 deaths in the construction industry in NSW alone since July 2025, construction is on the most dangerous industries to work in.
Falls from height remains the top cause of traumatic fatalities in the State’s building and construction industry, as well as a significant cause of injuries in the sector.
Over the past year SafeWork has recorded:
- 5 x more Requests for Service in the construction industry than in any other industry (6,698 in 2024/2025) (4,872 this financial year – to March 2026)
- 3 x more incidents than any other industry (2,087 in 2024/2025) (1,609 so far this financial year – to March 2026)
- Between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2025, there were 401 serious injuries from falls from heights in NSW
The Minns Labor Government is committed to creating safer workplaces.
In 2025 the NSW Government established SafeWork as a stand-alone regulator to increase accountability and transparency.
The NSW Government has also increased penalties for non-compliance and in one of the toughest measures in NSW history, the Minns Government introduced industrial manslaughter laws with 20-year jail terms.
There is also an increasing focus on psychosocial hazards in construction workplaces, with the number of mental health claims on the rise.
With request for services for psychosocial issues increasing, the Minns Labor Government has invested $127.7M into SafeWork which has included the largest expansion of its inspectorate. An additional 52 inspectors, including 20 specialised psychosocial inspectors and five psychosocial investigators have been appointed.
Workers who have concerns about workplace health and safety can anonymously contact SafeWork on 13 10 50 or through the Speak Up Save Lives platform at https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/advice-and-resources/speak-up-app.
For more information on how to manage the risks of working at heights, mobile plant safety and how to how to manage psychosocial risks in construction, visit the SafeWork NSW website at https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/your-industry/construction.
Minister for Industrial Relations and Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis said:
“Since July last year, there have been 13 lives lost in the construction industry alone in NSW – one life lost at work is one too many.
“This inaugural Round Table is an opportunity for the Government and Safework to hear from leaders in the industry, workers, unions and the families of construction workers who have tragically lost their lives about what we can to do to improve safety in construction.
“We need the number of fatalities and the number of seriously injured workers in the construction industry come down because everyone who goes to work deserves to come home safely to their families.”
SafeWork NSW Commissioner Janet Schorer said:
“The construction sector is one of the most high-risk industries in NSW.”
“This roundtable is an opportunity to raise awareness of the common failings and harms SafeWork NSW has identified which are contributing to workers being placed at risk.
“I look forward to harnessing the collective knowledge and influence of attendees to contribute to the development of strategies and approaches which will drive industry-led safety improvements.”
