Notifiable Incident Changes: Where Each State Stands & Who to Call

In a commercial building the person hurt at work is often not your employee. It is the cleaner, the security guard, or the lift technician, employed by a contractor. So the incident notification changes Safe Work Australia published in December 2025 matter more to a property owner or FM company than most, because they are as much about who tells whom inside a shared workplace as about what gets reported.¹ And a portfolio that crosses a border already runs on more than one set of rules.

What Changed in the Model WHS Act in December 2025.

Safe Work Australia says the amended model Act extends notification to dangerous incidents involving mobile plant and falls, violent incidents including sexual assault, work-related suicide and attempted suicide, and extended worker absences.¹ A death, a serious injury or illness, and a dangerous incident all stay notifiable. In the amended model Act's own terms:²

• A violent incident is a sexual assault or suspected sexual assault, a physical assault, including with bodily fluids, the deliberate deprivation of a person's liberty without lawful authority, or a threat of these where there is a reasonable belief the person intends to and has the means to carry it out, that exposes a person to a serious risk of psychological harm.²
• A notifiable extended absence is an absence reasonably attributable to a physical or psychological injury or illness arising from the conduct of a business or undertaking, where the worker has been absent for 15 or more consecutive days, or anticipates on a medical practitioner's opinion being absent that long and tells the business. It is notified within 14 days of becoming aware, not immediately.²
• A notifiable suicide covers a suicide, suspected suicide, or attempted or suspected attempted suicide of a worker in listed circumstances, such as at or near the workplace, and of anyone else at a workplace where suicide is a reasonably foreseeable risk due to the nature of the workplace and the presence of physical hazards that could be used in one.²
• New serious injuries include a fracture of the pelvis, the skull, or other facial bones, another serious bone fracture, a serious crush injury, and a serious brain injury or illness from a significant blow to the head, whether or not immediate treatment is sought, or from repeated blows.²
• A serious fall and a mobile plant incident become dangerous incidents where they immediately or imminently expose a person to a serious risk to their health or safety, and an uncontrolled fire, implosion, or explosion now expressly includes an electrical explosion or an arc flash explosion. A serious fall is a person falling from one level to a lower one, into a hole, trench, pit, or void, into water, or onto a dangerous surface or object.²

Are the New Notifiable Incident Rules Law Yet?

Only where a state or territory has adopted them. In Safe Work Australia's words, the changes "will only take legal effect once they are adopted into local WHS laws", and "each jurisdiction will determine its own implementation timeline".¹ When we checked on 12 October 2026, the ACT was the only jurisdiction with any of them in force, through its own amendments, and Queensland had a bill before Parliament that would add one category.

Notifiable Incidents by State and Territory.

Here is where each jurisdiction stood on 12 October 2026 on the December 2025 changes, and the line its regulator gives for notifying. Safe Work Australia is not a regulator and does not take notifications.³ The detail and sources for each row follow the table.

Where	Regulator and number	Changes in force
New South Wales	SafeWork NSW, 13 10 50	None
Victoria	WorkSafe Victoria, 13 23 60	Not model law; its own OHS Act
Queensland	Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, 1300 362 128	None; a bill to add violent incidents is before a committee
Western Australia	WorkSafe WA, 1800 678 198	None
South Australia	SafeWork SA, 1800 777 209 for a death or life-threatening incident	None
Tasmania	WorkSafe Tasmania, 1300 366 322	None
Northern Territory	NT WorkSafe, 1800 019 115	None
ACT	WorkSafe ACT, 13 22 81	Some, through its own amendments of 19 November 2025
Commonwealth	Comcare, 1300 366 979	None

New South Wales.

SafeWork NSW takes notifications 24 hours a day on 13 10 50.⁴ The NSW WHS Act in the version current from 1 July 2026 defines a notifiable incident as a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident: the three categories in force before December 2025.⁵ SafeWork NSW's own page, updated on 8 October 2026, describes the same three.⁴

Victoria.

Victoria is not under the model WHS laws, and its Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 sets its own list.⁶ An employer or self-employed person must not, without reasonable excuse, fail to notify WorkSafe Victoria immediately after becoming aware that an incident has occurred at a workplace under its management and control, and must give a written record within 48 hours.⁶ So in Victoria the duty follows management and control of the workplace, not who employs the injured person. WorkSafe Victoria's notification line is 13 23 60, and it then emails a link to its online form.⁷ A 2026 amendment that extends notification to some serious risks to property was assented to on 4 August 2026 and had not commenced on 12 October 2026.⁸

Queensland.

Queensland's WHS Act, in the version effective 3 August 2026, defines a notifiable incident as a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident.⁹ The Strengthening Protections Against Violent Workplace Incidents Amendment Bill 2026, a private member's bill introduced on 13 May 2026, would add the model's violent incident category and nothing else from the December 2025 package.¹⁰¹¹ It was referred to a committee the same day, and the committee's report is due on 16 November 2026.¹²¹³ Workplace Health and Safety Queensland takes notifications on 1300 362 128, in and outside business hours, or online during business hours.¹⁴

Western Australia.

WorkSafe WA takes notification of a death or a life-threatening dangerous incident on 1800 678 198, 24 hours a day; other dangerous incidents, and serious injuries, can be lodged online.¹⁵¹⁶ Western Australia's WHS Act 2020, as at 28 May 2026, defines a notifiable incident as a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident, and no bill to amend it was listed before Parliament.¹⁷¹⁸ Its serious injury list already has two limbs the model's does not: an injury or illness that, in a medical practitioner's opinion, is likely to keep the person from their normal work for at least 10 days, and one that occurs in a remote location and needs the person transferred urgently to a medical facility for treatment.¹⁷

South Australia.

South Australia's WHS Act, in the version current from 1 July 2025, defines a notifiable incident as a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident, and its incident notification part has been unchanged since June 2013.¹⁹ SafeWork SA takes notification of a death or a life-threatening incident on 1800 777 209, its 24/7 emergency line, and lists a separate route for other workplace incidents.²⁰

Tasmania.

WorkSafe Tasmania takes notifications on 1300 366 322, or (03) 6166 4600 from outside Tasmania, and an electric shock must also be reported to TasNetworks on 13 2004.²¹ Tasmania's WHS Act, in the version of 2 July 2025, keeps the three categories.²²

Northern Territory.

The Northern Territory's WHS Act, in the reprint in force from 1 February 2020, keeps the three categories, and no WHS bill was before the Legislative Assembly.²³²⁴ NT WorkSafe must be notified immediately by the fastest possible means, by telephone or in writing, and its number is 1800 019 115.²⁵

Australian Capital Territory.

The ACT is the one place with any of the changes in force. Its own amendments, which commenced on 19 November 2025, brought in a wider serious injury list, serious falls, mobile plant incidents, electrical and arc flash explosions, evidence preservation, and a duty to tell each other.²⁶²⁷ They are not word for word the model's: the ACT's serious fall includes the risk of a person falling, and its head injury limb reads "a serious head injury or illness".²⁷ The ACT has made a sexual assault incident notifiable since 9 June 2023, and has not adopted notifiable suicide, extended absence, or the model's violent incident.²⁸²⁷ For a sexual assault incident the business need only give its name and contact details, a description of the workplace, and whether the incident was reported to police, and must not give information identifying anyone involved.²⁷ WorkSafe ACT takes notifications on 13 22 81, or 0419 120 028 after hours, and online.²⁸

Commonwealth.

Businesses under the Commonwealth WHS Act notify Comcare on 1300 366 979, or online.²⁹ The Commonwealth Act in its 1 July 2024 compilation, the latest on 12 October 2026, still defines a notifiable incident as a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident.³⁰

Why Does This Matter More in a Shared Building?

Because, once a jurisdiction adopts the model changes, the business that notifies and the business that manages the workplace have to tell each other, immediately and so far as is reasonably practicable. Under the amended model Act, a person conducting a business or undertaking must ensure the regulator is given notice of a notifiable incident immediately after becoming aware of it.² The person with management or control of the workplace must, so far as is reasonably practicable, preserve the site until an inspector releases it, and preserve the evidence, "including electronic and digital records and witness details".²

The new section 39A links them. The business with the duty to notify must, immediately after becoming aware and so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the person with management or control is told; that person must, on the same terms, ensure the notifying business is told.² The ACT's version has the same two-way duty, immediately after becoming aware, without the words "so far as is reasonably practicable", and strict liability applies to it.²⁷

In a building those can be different businesses, or the same one. Under the WHS laws more than one business can hold the same duty at once, and a duty cannot be transferred to another person.³¹ Section 20 of the model Act defines a person with management or control of a workplace as a business to the extent that it manages or controls the workplace, in whole or in part, so in one building that can be the owner, the managing agent, the FM company, or more than one of them.³¹

Which New Incidents Will a Property Portfolio See?

Where a state or territory adopts the changes, mostly three; on 12 October 2026 only the ACT had serious falls and mobile plant incidents in force, and no jurisdiction had the violent incident. A serious fall, which covers a plant room ladder, a roof edge, or a service pit. A mobile plant incident, such as a scissor lift that overturns or collides with a person or thing. And a violent incident: in a shopping centre, that is the security guard and the after-hours cleaner. In a switchroom or a lift motor room, an uncontrolled electrical explosion or arc flash explosion is now named as a dangerous incident in the model and in the ACT.² A fall, a plant incident, or an explosion is a dangerous incident only where it immediately or imminently exposes a person to a serious risk to their health or safety.²

Under the amended model Act, the notifiable suicide of a person who is not a worker is a question for car parks and rooftops, where suicide can be a reasonably foreseeable risk because of the nature of the workplace and physical hazards that could be used in one.² And under the amended model Act a notification is only required once in relation to the same event or set of circumstances.² The ACT's Act does not carry that rule, though WorkSafe ACT says a notifiable incident only needs to be reported to it once, while all PCBUs keep the legal responsibility to make sure it is.²⁶

A Worked Example: A Fall in a Canberra Plant Room.

A cleaner employed by a cleaning contractor steps back from a platform in the plant room of a Civic office building and falls into a service pit. In the ACT that is a serious fall, and it is a dangerous incident if it immediately or imminently exposed the cleaner to a serious risk to their health and safety.²⁷

1. The regulator is called. In the ACT a person who conducts a business or undertaking must ensure that the regulator, WorkSafe ACT, is notified immediately after becoming aware that a notifiable incident has occurred, and keep the record for at least 5 years.²⁷ The cleaning contractor holds that duty. WorkSafe ACT says the incident needs reporting only once but that all PCBUs retain legal responsibility to ensure notification occurs, so the FM company and the owner, if they also hold the duty, should confirm the call was made.²⁶
2. The FM company is told straight away. Under the ACT's section 39A, the notifying business must ensure the person with management or control of the workplace is notified immediately after becoming aware; in the ACT, unlike the model, that duty is not limited to what is reasonably practicable, and it runs the other way too.²⁷
3. The site and the evidence are preserved. Whoever has management or control of the plant room must, so far as reasonably practicable, preserve the site until an inspector releases it, and the evidence, including electronic and digital records and witness details: the CCTV, the access logs, the witnesses' names.²⁷ Helping the injured cleaner, and anything essential to make the site safe, are still allowed.²⁷
4. Both keep one record. Who called whom, when, and what the inspector released.

What Happens If You Fail to Notify?

Failing to notify is an offence in every jurisdiction, and each sets its own maximum for failing to notify the regulator. In the Northern Territory, as in the ACT, strict liability applies to each physical element of the offence.²³ The maximums:

• NSW: 121 penalty units for an individual and 607 for a body corporate, AU$15,531 and AU$77,914 at the 2026-27 penalty unit of AU$128.36.⁵³²
• Victoria: 240 penalty units for a natural person and 1,200 for a body corporate, AU$50,184 and AU$250,920 at the 2026-27 penalty unit of AU$209.10.⁶³³
• Queensland: 100 penalty units for an individual; for a body corporate the court may impose up to 5 times that, 500 penalty units, under the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992; check Queensland's current penalty unit value for the dollar figure.⁹³⁴
• Western Australia: a fine of AU$12,500 for an individual and AU$55,000 for a body corporate.¹⁷
• South Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory: AU$10,000 for an individual and AU$50,000 for a body corporate.¹⁹²²²³
• ACT: a tier D monetary penalty, AU$17,000 for an individual and AU$83,000 for a body corporate from 2 July 2026 (AU$14,000 and AU$70,000 before indexing), with strict liability applying to each physical element of the offence.²⁷³⁵
• Commonwealth: a tier D monetary penalty, AU$17,000 for an individual and AU$83,000 for a body corporate under the 2026 indexation notice.³⁰³⁶

The duty can reach people as well as companies. In the ACT's Act, an officer's due diligence includes taking reasonable steps to ensure the business has, and implements, processes for complying with its duties, and reporting notifiable incidents is the first example given; the amended model Act adds notifiable extended absences and notifiable suicides to that example.²⁷² Whether a facilities manager is an officer depends on the role, not the title.

What to Agree With Your Contractors Now.

WorkSafe ACT tells businesses to confirm notification arrangements at shared workplaces.²⁶ Under the WHS laws an agreement cannot move a duty, but it can make sure the call is made.³¹ What we recommend: settle four things with each cleaning, security, and maintenance contractor now, whichever jurisdiction your buildings are in.

• Who calls the regulator for each kind of incident, and a number for whoever manages the building that is answered out of hours.
• Who preserves the site, and how long your CCTV and access logs are kept before they are overwritten.
• How witness details are taken and passed on.
• Where the record lives, so both businesses can find it later.

Where ComplyFlow Fits.

ComplyFlow's incident management can ask, as soon as an incident is logged, whether it is potentially notifiable. If it is, the workflow can restrict the incident to a group of people you choose and notify that group.³⁷ People outside ComplyFlow, such as a contractor's supervisor, can be included in the incident's email notifications without system access.³⁸ It does not notify the regulator for you; that call stays with the businesses that hold the duty. For what counts as notifiable in full, see our guide to recordable and reportable incidents, and how we work with property and facilities management teams and facilities managers.

The timing of the rest of the changes is up to each state and territory. The agreement with your contractors about who calls whom is up to you, and it can be in place this month.