Safe Work Australia has published the Best Practice Review of the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws following agreement to publish the report by WHS ministers.
The Review makes 21 recommendations to strengthen Australia’s model WHS framework and drive consistent national action to protect workers from both longstanding and emerging workplace risks.
Its release comes at a time of growing concern about workplace fatalities. In 2025, 222 workers lost their lives from traumatic injuries sustained at work – the highest annual number since 2012.
The Review calls for stronger national coordination to prevent workplace deaths and identifies immediate actions for Safe Work Australia. These include establishing a dedicated strategic national approach to reduce work-related fatalities and improving mechanisms to ensure coronial findings are shared, assessed and acted on in a timely and consistent manner across Australia.
The Review found there continues to be strong support for nationally harmonised WHS laws, which provide the same protections for workers as well as the same obligations for businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions. However, it also found that maintaining effective harmonisation depends not only on aligned laws, but also on consistent application and enforcement of the laws across Australia.
The Review identifies 3 major challenges that are already reshaping Australian workplaces and creating new or intensified WHS risks: artificial intelligence, climate change and harmful workplace behaviours, including work-related violence and harassment. The Review recommends national strategies to drive coordinated action and ensure the WHS framework keeps pace with changing workplaces and emerging risks.
The Review was informed by extensive consultation, drawing on insights and experiences of workers, families affected by workplace fatalities, businesses, unions, employer groups, peak bodies, community groups, inspectors, experts, prosecutors and members of the judiciary.
Its recommendations establish a clear agenda for future reform and will shape Safe Work Australia’s work over the coming months and years, ensuring Australia’s WHS system remains responsive, effective and fit for the future.
Quotes attributable to Marie Boland, CEO of Safe Work Australia
“Every worker in Australia should have the same strong safety protections, regardless of where they live, what industry they work in, or the jurisdiction that regulates their workplace.
“The latest statistics are a stark reminder that too many Australians are still losing their lives at work from known and preventable causes. Too many workers continue to be killed by the same well-known hazards and preventable risks.
“Australia must do more to learn from every workplace fatality and turn those lessons into action. That is why the Review recommends immediate action by Safe Work Australia to work directly with high-risk industries and relevant unions to establish a strategic national approach to reducing work-related fatalities, and with jurisdictions to improve how coronial findings are shared and acted on across Australia.
“Australia is also facing major challenges as work and workplaces adapt to changes in operating environments. Climate change, artificial intelligence and harmful workplace behaviours are creating new and increasingly complex work health and safety risks. These challenges require coordinated national leadership. Without coordinated action, we risk undermining the gains made in improving protections for workers and the clarity provided to businesses about their obligations.
“The Review found strong support for harmonised work health and safety laws, but laws alone are not enough. Consistent regulation, effective enforcement and national cooperation are critical to reducing fatalities and ensuring workers receive the same level of protection wherever they work.
“The Review provides a practical roadmap for achieving this. If we are serious about ensuring every worker returns home safe and healthy, the task is clear: act on the recommendations, work together nationally and continue building a system that protects workers today and into the future.”
