On 1 July 2026, changes to New South Wales work health and safety laws will impact how codes of practice will apply to regulatory enforcement. A great deal of confusing, and at times misleading, information is circulating these changes and what they mean for employers. This article explains what is changing, what is not, and what employers in NSW should do.
The short version
- From 1 July 2026, a business must follow the approved code of practice that applies to a risk within their business, or be able to show it is managing that risk just as safely or more safely than the code explains.
- This applies to every approved code, around 30 in all, not only the psychosocial code of practice.
- Psychosocial obligations are not new. They have applied in NSW since October 2022.
- A code of practice is still not legislation, and a business would not charged “under” a code. The change makes following a code a legal duty, enforced through the offence provisions that already exist within work health & safety legislation.
- Not following a relevant code, without a sound alternative, can be a breach on its own, even if no one has been harmed.
- The change brings NSW into line with Queensland, which has had the same rule since 2018.
What changes on 1 July 2026?
A new provision, Section 26A of the Work Health and Safety Act, takes effect. In plain terms, it requires a business, which the law calls a person conducting a business or undertaking, or PCBU, to follow any approved code of practice that applies to its risks. A business can depart from a code only where it manages the risk to a standard that is equal to or higher than the code.
The simplest way to see the shift is before and after.
- Until 1 July 2026 – a code is considered guidance material (soft law). In a prosecution it is strong evidence of what a careful business should have done, but the charge is always a breach of a safety duty, not a breach of the code.
- From 1 July 2026 – following the relevant code of practice, or doing something just as safe, becomes a duty in its own right.
Two points are easily missed by readers. The change covers every approved code, not just psychosocial hazards, even though psychosocial risk has drawn most of the attention. And it is not new ground nationally, because Queensland has had the same rule since 2018.
Is this a new psychosocial law? No.
A common claim in current marketing material being distributed by some advisory businesses is that psychosocial obligations are new laws arriving on 1 July 2026. They are simply not. The duty to manage psychosocial risks has applied in NSW since 1 October 2022, and it sits in the Work Health and Safety Regulation, not in any code of practice.
That duty was materially strengthened in August 2025. A business must now work through the hierarchy of control for psychosocial risks. In practice that means removing the risk where it can, and relying on lower-order measures such as training only where removing it is not reasonably practicable. The psychosocial duty is therefore already in force and already enforceable. What is new on 1 July 2026 is the change to how codes of practice work in NSW, which applies across the board to all codes.
So is a code of practice now law?
This is where most of the confusion sits, and the distinction matters. A code of practice is not an Act or a Regulation. It is guidance approved by the Minister. Even after 1 July 2026, a business cannot be charged “under” a code of practice.
What changes is that following the applicable code becomes a legal duty. Breaking that duty is treated as a failure to comply with a safety duty under the Act, and it is prosecuted through the same offence provisions that apply to any safety breach. A regulator no longer needs to wait for an incident or prove that harm occurred. Falling short of a relevant code, without a sound alternative, can be a breach on its own.
How will WHS inspectors and courts use a code of practice?
In practice, the applicable code becomes the yardstick for measuring what good looks like. A regulator or court will likely ask two questions. First, did the business follow the code of practice. If not, can the business show that what it did instead was equally safe or safer. A business that can answer neither appropriately is likely significantly exposed.
Inspectors can point to the relevant code when issuing an improvement notice or a prohibition notice. The regulator is also resourcing for the change (SafeWork NSW announced 51 additional inspectors in March 2026), including 20 dedicated to psychosocial hazard enforcement. For psychosocial risks, a regulator can test a business against both the Regulation and the new code duty. A system that leans only on the 2021 psychosocial code, which predates the 2025 hierarchy of control requirement, may still fall short.
The pool of people who can act on regulatory measures has also widened. Beyond SafeWork NSW inspectors, the Industrial Relations Commission now has a role in resolving work health and safety disputes, and registered organisations such as unions have broader standing to bring proceedings. The code of practice likely becomes the reference point in those forums too.
These are reasonable expectations of how the provision will work in practice. It has not yet commenced or been tested in court, so the finer detail will likely settle over time.
What are the penalties?
The penalties are significant, and they are set in three categories. A failure to follow an applicable code is most likely to be charged in the middle or lower category. At current values, the middle category reaches up to about $2.24 million for a company, and the lower category up to about $748,000. The highest category, which can reach about $11.15 million for a company, or up to 10 years imprisonment for an individual, applies only where there is gross negligence or reckless conduct.
These are maximum penalties, and in practice they are rare and reserved for the worst cases of gross neglect. The penalty in any matter turns on how serious the failure was.
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Timeline of psychosocial legislation in NSW
- 1 October 2022 – the psychosocial duties begin in NSW.
- 22 August 2025 – those duties are strengthened to require the hierarchy of control for psychosocial risks.
- 13 October 2025 and 1 March 2026 – other parts of the wider reform package commence, including dispute resolution and prosecution changes. Not everything waits for July.
- February 2026 – SafeWork NSW approves new codes, including for the healthcare and social assistance industry, fatigue, and respirable crystalline silica. These start on approval, not on 1 July 2026.
- 1 July 2026 – the new code duty begins, and applies to every approved code, including the recent ones.
What employers should do now
The work is achievable in the time available. Safetysure recommends that NSW businesses:
- identify which approved codes apply to their operations,
- map current controls against each applicable code, and record where a different approach is used and why it is equal or safer,
- for psychosocial risk, make sure controls go beyond policies and training to address how the work itself is designed,
- keep the evidence a regulator will look for, such as risk registers, control records, consultation records, and review notes, and
- brief officers and the board, since officers carry their own due diligence duty.
Frequently asked questions
Is a code of practice now law in NSW?
No. A code of practice is not an Act or a regulation, and a business cannot be charged under a code. From 1 July 2026, Section 26A of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) makes following an applicable approved code a legal duty. A business can depart from a code only where it manages the risk to a standard that is equal to or higher than the code. Breach of that duty is prosecuted through the Act’s existing offence provisions, not under the code itself.
Are the NSW psychosocial laws new from 1 July 2026?
No. The duty to manage psychosocial risks has applied in NSW since 1 October 2022 and sits in the NSW Work Health and Safety Regulation, at Sections 55A to 55D. It was strengthened on 22 August 2025, when businesses became required to apply the hierarchy of control to psychosocial risks. What changes on 1 July 2026 is how codes of practice work, and that change applies to every approved code, not only the psychosocial code of practice.
What happens if a NSW business does not follow a code of practice?
From 1 July 2026, not following an applicable code, without showing an equally safe or safer alternative, can be a breach on its own, even if no one has been harmed. Inspectors can reference the code when issuing improvement or prohibition notices, and a breach can be prosecuted as a failure to comply with a health and safety duty under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW).
What are the penalties for breaching codes of practice duty in NSW?
Penalties fall into three categories. A failure to follow an applicable code is most likely charged in the middle or lower category, which at 2025-26 values reach up to about $2.24 million and about $748,000 for a company. The highest category, up to about $11.15 million for a company or up to 10 years imprisonment for an individual, applies only where there is gross negligence or reckless conduct. These are maximums, rare in practice, and indexed annually.
Does the 1 July 2026 change apply outside NSW?
The Section 26A change applies in NSW. Queensland has had the same rule since 1 July 2018. The psychosocial duty is broadly harmonised across the model WHS jurisdictions, though the detail varies. Victoria operates under its own occupational health and safety laws, where its compliance code has a different legal status.
What about businesses in other states?
The position is not uniform. Queensland has had this rule since 2018. The psychosocial duty is broadly harmonised across the model law states, although the detail varies between them. Victoria sits outside this framework under its own laws, where its compliance code has a different status: not following it is not itself a breach, but following it is generally accepted as meeting the relevant duty.
How Safetysure can help
Safetysure supports NSW organisations through the change with code-mapping reviews, psychosocial risk management, and governance briefings for boards and officers. We recommend treating 1 July 2026 as a prompt to confirm work already in hand, rather than a deadline to scramble against.
The legal detail
For readers who want the specific provisions
- the new duty is Section 26A of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), inserted by the Industrial Relations and Other Legislation Amendment (Workplace Protections) Act 2025 No 42 (NSW) and commencing 1 July 2026.
- Breach is enforced as a Category 1, 2, or 3 offence under Sections 31 to 33.
- The existing evidentiary role of codes is in Section 275. The psychosocial duty is in Sections 55A to 55D of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW), with the hierarchy of control in Section 36.
- Officer duties are in Section 27, and the inspector notice powers in Sections 191 and 195.
Sources and currency
The information in this article is current as at June 2026. Penalty figures use the 2025-26 penalty unit value of $123.31 and are indexed annually. Primary sources: the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) at legislation.nsw.gov.au; the Industrial Relations and Other Legislation Amendment (Workplace Protections) Act 2025 No 42 (NSW) and its commencement proclamation; SafeWork NSW, including the list of codes of practice and the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work code (May 2021); and the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW.
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