WHS for Construction: What Hunter Site Leaders Need to Know
In March 2026, Building Commission NSW and SafeWork NSW ran a joint compliance operation across the Hunter region. They inspected 36 sites before the operation even began and found enough problems to justify a full blitz. Once it was underway, Building Commission NSW issued 18 penalty infringement notices worth $12,000, and SafeWork NSW visited 27 worksites, handing out 57 improvement notices and 5 prohibition notices.
The most common offence wasn't a dramatic safety failure. It was unlicensed work, accounting for 11 of the penalty notices on its own. After that came missing or inadequate site fencing, poor signage, and sites without basic toilet and handwashing facilities.
With roughly 700 active construction sites and 17,000 licensed workers operating across the Hunter at any given time, this wasn't a handful of rogue operators. It's a sign that a lot of otherwise capable builders and contractors are getting caught out by the basics.
If you run a construction business in Newcastle, Maitland, Lake Macquarie or anywhere in the Hunter Valley, here's what actually matters right now.
The rules changed on 1 July 2026, and most businesses haven't caught up
For years, NSW Codes of Practice were treated as helpful guidance. Following them was a good idea, but not a legal requirement in itself.
That changed under section 26A of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW). Businesses must now either follow the relevant approved Code of Practice or be able to demonstrate that whatever they're doing instead meets an equivalent or higher standard. SafeWork NSW can issue improvement or prohibition notices, and prosecute for breaches. Officer due diligence duties now extend to making sure the business actually complies with section 26A, which means this sits squarely on the desk of owners and directors, not just site supervisors.
For construction, this is not a small shift. Codes of Practice cover site safety, work at height, excavation, demolition and more. "We've always done it this way" is no longer a defence if it doesn't match the Code and you can't show your alternative stacks up.
Know your 20 categories of high risk construction work
Under the model WHS laws, there are 20 categories of high risk construction work that trigger a legal requirement for a Safe Work Method Statement, or SWMS. These include work involving a fall of more than 2 metres, demolition of load bearing structures, work in or near a trench deeper than 1.5 metres or a confined space, work near energised electrical installations, tilt-up or precast concrete work, and work on or next to a road or traffic corridor, among others.
If your business carries out any of this work, you're required to prepare, keep, comply with and review a SWMS, and provide a copy to the principal contractor before the work starts. This isn't paperwork for its own sake. A proper SWMS forces you to actually think through the hazard and the control before someone is standing in the trench or working under a suspended load.
The gap Anzen sees most often isn't businesses without a SWMS template. It's SWMS that were copied from another job, never actually matched to the site, and never looked at again once the work started. That's the kind of document a SafeWork inspector will spot in about thirty seconds.
Where the Hunter blitz found the gaps, and what to check on your own sites
Based on what turned up in the March blitz, here's a realistic list to work through on your own sites this month.
Licensing comes first. Every worker and subcontractor on site holding themselves out as licensed for their trade or high risk work needs to actually be licensed, and you need to be able to prove it on request, not promise to email it later.
Site security and signage matter more than most builders assume. Fencing that keeps the public and unauthorised workers out, and signage that tells anyone on site what's required, are cheap to fix and are exactly what inspectors check first because they're visible from the street.
Amenities are a legal requirement, not a nice to have. Toilets and handwashing facilities need to be provided and maintained for the whole time people are working on site, regardless of how small or short term the job is.
Fall protection and mobile plant separation are where the serious injuries happen. If your SWMS mentions edge protection or exclusion zones for moving plant, walk the site and confirm they're actually there, not just documented.
What construction leaders should do this quarter
Start by pulling your current SWMS library and checking whether each one still matches the site it's meant to cover. A SWMS written for a different job on a different street isn't compliance, it's a liability waiting to be found.
Next, walk your active sites specifically looking for licensing, fencing, signage and amenities, the exact four areas the Hunter blitz flagged. It takes an hour and it closes off the easiest penalty notices to avoid.
Then look at how psychosocial hazards fit into your site safety plan. Construction has some of the highest rates of fatigue, bullying and mental health strain of any industry, and under section 26A this now needs the same systematic approach as a fall hazard. We've written separately about what the psychosocial hazards code requires if you want to go deeper on that.
Finally, get an outside set of eyes on it. Site leaders are usually too close to their own sites to see what an inspector will see walking in cold. That's exactly the gap a short, practical conversation can close before it costs you a penalty notice or worse.
Talk to someone who has actually run safety on real sites
Anzen was built by people who have managed WHS at scale in genuinely high risk environments, not just written about it. If you want a straight answer on where your construction business actually stands, book a free 30 minute safety health check with Glen Dunkley, our Managing Director. No sales pitch, no obligation, just a practical conversation about what you'd need to fix first.
If you'd rather start with something self-paced, our free WHS course covers the fundamentals of legislation, risk management and incident response in under 30 minutes.
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