What the HSWA Amendment Act 2026 changes on 1 April 2027
The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 is now law. It received Royal assent on 9 July 2026 and comes into force on 1 April 2027. Until that…
The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 is now law. It received Royal assent on 9 July 2026 and comes into force on 1 April 2027. Until that date, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 still applies in full.
This page is what the Act and WorkSafe have said so far. It is general information, not legal advice. WorkSafe has said more detailed guidance will come out before the start date. We last checked the sources on 13 September 2026.
Nothing here is a reason to drop a control you already have.
Parliament passed the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 (2026 No 38). The official record shows Royal assent on 9 July 2026. WorkSafe published its note on 13 July 2026. Section 2 of the Amendment Act says it comes into force on 1 April 2027.
The point of the reform, in WorkSafe’s words, is to focus the health and safety system on critical risk, so businesses are clear about the most important things to prioritise.
From 1 April 2027 the main purpose of HSWA is a balanced framework that prioritises the critical risks that arise from work. The “highest level of protection as is reasonably practicable” principle stays.
From 1 April 2027, new section 22A defines critical risk. It is:
WorkSafe puts the second limb this way: likely to result” means the chance that those outcomes will result when an incident or accident occurs. It does not mean how likely the event is to happen in the first place.
The Act also says that “risk” in that second limb includes harm to mental health associated with the hazard.
Schedule 1A is not a short list of “the usual suspects. It is a schedule of hazards already picked up by specific regulations. It includes, among other things, asbestos work, remote or isolated work, atmospheres with potential for fire or explosion, substances hazardous to health, working at heights, scaffolding, excavations, occupational diving, and a range of higher-hazard sectors (mining, petroleum, major hazard facilities, and so on). That is not a complete inventory. Read the schedule if the work might sit there.
How you decide whether a risk is critical is not a guess. New section 25C says the decision must be based on what the PCBU knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the business, the hazard, and whether the consequences in section 22A apply. WorkSafe has said the same thing in plainer words: all businesses will need to identify critical risks based on what they should reasonably know about their work.
The Amendment Act splits PCBUs into two groups.
A small PCBU is a PCBU with fewer than 20 workers carrying out work in any capacity. If worker numbers move around during the year (seasonal work is the example in the Act), you are still a small PCBU if you reasonably expect fewer than 20 workers in at least nine months of the current financial year. The Act defines financial year as 1 July to 30 June. A large PCBU is any PCBU that is not small.
WorkSafe’s explainer matches that 20-worker line. If you sit close to 20, or your headcount moves, watch it. Do not invent a counting method the Act does not give you. WorkSafe has said it will release more guidance on small PCBUs and critical risks.
New section 25A is the provision that matters.
For a set of “critical risk provisions” (sections 36 to 43 of HSWA, except section 36(3)(e), plus specified training and PPE regulations), a small PCBU has to comply only in relation to critical risks.
Section 36(3)(e) — the duty about facilities for workers’ welfare — still applies on its own terms.
For every other provision of the Act and regulations, a small PCBU must prioritise critical risks. The Act says what “prioritise” includes: manage critical risks before other risks; monitor and review those controls more often; put a higher share of risk-management resource into them.
A small PCBU’s failure to prioritise critical risks is not an offence. That is in the Act, not a commentary piece. It is also not a free pass. You still have duties. You still have to get the critical-risk judgement right. Get that wrong, and the narrower scope does not help you.
A large PCBU still has to manage its risks. New section 25B requires large PCBUs to prioritise critical risks when complying with the Act (except section 36(3)(e)) and the regulations. Failure to prioritise is, again, not an offence. WorkSafes summary: large businesses must manage both critical and other risks, and give critical risks the highest priority when they decide what to do first and where time and money go.
An approved code of practice (ACOP) sets a standard for how specific work can be done safely. It is not mandatory to follow one.
From 1 April 2027, if you follow the actions in an ACOP that match your role and circumstances, you are taken to have complied with the Act and regulations for that risk. WorkSafe calls this safe harbour. Enforcement action cannot be taken about that relevant matter if you have followed the code.
Safe harbour applies to ACOPs approved on or after 1 April 2027. The Amendment Act also applies it to two existing codes:
Other existing ACOPs can still be used as evidence that you met a duty. They do not get the new safe-harbour rule unless the Act says so.
Industry, unions, worker representatives, employer organisations, and sector groups can draft codes. They go to WorkSafe. WorkSafe reviews the draft and may recommend it to the Minister. WorkSafe has said it will publish more on how that process will work.
New section 35 replaces the old “compliance with other enactments” rule.
If you have a HSWA duty to manage a specified risk, and another enactment requires you to take actions that manage that same risk in the same situation, complying with the other enactment is taken to be complying with the HSWA duty. If HSWA regulations also impose specific duties for that risk, those still apply.
WorkSafe’s explainer gives everyday examples of the overlap: the Building Act 2004, the Maritime Transport Act 1994, and the Land Transport Act 1998. Use those as a prompt to check the actual duty, not as a complete list.
Officer duties stay personal. From 1 April 2027 they are written more tightly around governance.
WorkSafe’s summary: understand the risks and the relevant health and safety matters; ensure the business has resources and processes to manage risks; verify those resources and processes are being used. The duty is separate from what an officer does as a worker.
If a person is both an officer and a worker with a separate role, the section 44 duty applies only to their role as an officer. Worker duties sit in section 45.
For officers of a small PCBU, due diligence on the “critical risk provisions” is limited to critical risks.
We will publish a separate page on officer due diligence, including what “verify looks like on a board paper. Until then, Leadership Due Diligence training is the existing TSL page, and the current officer duty is still section 44 of HSWA 2015.
From 1 April 2027, a PCBU who manages or controls a workplace that includes outdoor space used for recreation does not owe the usual workplace duty to people who lawfully enter that space for recreation, unless:
Charging an access fee, on its own, does not make the recreation part of the business. That is the Amendment Acts new section 37 exception, and it matches WorkSafe’s short summary.
There is a separate, narrow exception for seismic risk on workplace buildings where the building owner is meeting their Building Act earthquake-prone duties. That is not a general “buildings are someone else’s problem” rule. Read the section if it might apply.
The old section 34 consult, cooperate and coordinate duty is replaced.
From 1 April 2027:
Contracts can require a small PCBU to cooperate on non-critical risks. They cannot contract out of the Act.
WorkSafe has said that when PCBUs work together, it will focus on whether small PCBUs cooperated on critical risks, and whether large PCBUs cooperated on all risks.
Do not wait for the last week of March 2027. Also do not strip the system you have today.
An Act that amends HSWA 2015. It received Royal assent on 9 July 2026. The main change is a refocus on critical risk, with different scopes for small and large PCBUs, a new critical-risk definition, ACOP safe harbour, a rewritten overlap rule with other Acts, and tighter officer and landowner wording.
1 April 2027. Until then, HSWA 2015 applies in full.
A Schedule 1A hazard, or any hazard that, if the risk occurs, is likely to result in death, a notifiable injury, illness or incident, or a listed occupational disease. “Likely to result” is about the outcome if it happens, not how often you expect it to happen. Mental health harm associated with the hazard is in scope.
Fewer than 20 workers. If numbers fluctuate, fewer than 20 in at least nine months of the financial year (1 July to 30 June), based on what you reasonably expect.
No. The Act narrows some duties to critical risks and requires small PCBUs to prioritise critical risks on the rest. Failure to prioritise is not an offence. Getting the critical-risk judgement wrong is still a problem. WorkSafe has said it will publish more guidance.
No. From 1 April 2027, following a qualifying ACOP is treated as meeting the duty for that risk. Two existing forestry and ports codes get that treatment. Other existing codes remain useful evidence.
No. ISO 45001 is still a voluntary standard. It does not replace HSWA. We will cover that on a separate page. The existing ISO 45001 audit page is about certification prep, not this legal question.
Keep meeting the current section 44 duty. From 1 April 2027 the written duty is governance: understand, resource, verify. If you are both officer and worker, the Act will treat those as separate roles.
If you want a second pair of eyes on the critical-risk list, or a check that the system you have will still stand up after 1 April 2027, talk to The Safety Lab. We also build management systems that people can actually use.
This page is not legal advice. Read the Act and WorkSafe. Check both again before you brief a board.
