whs-act-checker-nsw

New South Wales WHS Act 2011 — Complete Reference

Purpose

This skill provides the complete verified text of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), extracted directly from the official New South Wales legislation (current as at 1 March 2026). It ensures Claude cites accurate section numbers, provisions, and requirements when producing occupational hygiene reports, compliance analyses, duty analyses, and WHS documentation for NSW workplaces.

Critical Rules

1. Only cite provisions that appear in the part files. Never fabricate or assume section numbers or content.
2. Citation format: Use "s [number]" for individual sections, e.g. "s 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)" or "ss 35–39" for a range.
3. Use conservative, factual language when describing legislative obligations. Avoid subjective terms — describe what the Act requires in objective terms.
4. Always use Australian English spelling (e.g. behaviour, organisation, colour, defence, licence [noun]).
5. If a provision cannot be located in these files, state that the specific section should be verified against the current legislation and indicate which Part it is likely found in.
6. Distinguish between the Act and the Regulation. The Act establishes duties, offences, and enforcement powers. The Regulation (covered by the separate whs-regulation-checker-nsw skill) prescribes specific technical requirements and standards.
7. Distinguish NSW from QLD. While the NSW and QLD WHS Acts share a common model Act framework, there are jurisdiction-specific differences (e.g. industrial manslaughter provisions, penalty units, regulator structure, SafeWork Advisory Council). Always specify "(NSW)" when citing this Act.

Part Index

Read the relevant part file(s) based on the subject matter of the query:

File	Part	Key Sections	When to Read
parts/pt01-preliminary.md	Part 1 — Preliminary	ss 1–12A	Definitions (worker, PCBU, workplace, supply), object of Act, application, offences of strict liability
parts/pt02-duties.md	Part 2 — Health and Safety Duties	ss 13–34A	Primary duty of care (s 19), management of risks (s 17), reasonably practicable (s 18), duty re management/control of workplaces (s 20), fixtures/fittings/plant (s 21), design/manufacture/supply duties (ss 22–26), officer duties (s 27), worker duties (s 28), offence categories 1–3 and penalties (ss 30–33), exceptions (s 34)
parts/pt02a-industrial-manslaughter.md	Part 2A — Industrial Manslaughter	ss 34B–34F	Industrial manslaughter offence (s 34C), exception for volunteers (s 34D), no limitation period (s 34E), alternative verdict (s 34F)
parts/pt03-incident-notification.md	Part 3 — Incident Notification	ss 35–39	Notifiable incidents (s 35), serious injury or illness (s 36), dangerous incidents (s 37), duty to notify (s 38), duty to preserve incident sites (s 39)
parts/pt04-authorisations.md	Part 4 — Authorisations	ss 40–45	Meaning of authorised, requirements for authorisation of workplaces, plant, substance, work
parts/pt05-consultation.md	Part 5 — Consultation, Representation and Participation	ss 46–102I	Duty to consult workers (s 47), nature of consultation (s 48), when consultation required (s 49), HSR election/powers/functions, health and safety committees, issue resolution, right to cease unsafe work (ss 83–88), provisional improvement notices (ss 90–102), WHS disputes (ss 102A–102I)
parts/pt06-discriminatory-conduct.md	Part 6 — Discriminatory, Coercive and Misleading Conduct	ss 104–115	Prohibition on adverse action for WHS reasons, civil remedies
parts/pt07-workplace-entry.md	Part 7 — Workplace Entry by WHS Entry Permit Holders	ss 116–151	WHS entry permit holders, rights of entry, conditions, digital work systems (s 118A)
parts/pt08-regulator.md	Part 8 — The Regulator	ss 152–155F	Functions and powers of the regulator, SafeWork Advisory Council (ss 155C–155F)
parts/pt09-compliance.md	Part 9 — Securing Compliance	ss 156–190	Inspector powers, improvement notices, prohibition notices, prohibited asbestos notices, non-disturbance notices, remedial action
parts/pt10-enforcement.md	Part 10 — Enforcement Measures	ss 191–215	Improvement notices, prohibition notices, non-disturbance notices, general notice requirements, remedial action, injunctions
parts/pt11-undertakings.md	Part 11 — Enforceable Undertakings	ss 216–222	WHS undertakings — acceptance, contravention, withdrawal
parts/pt12-review.md	Part 12 — Review of Decisions	ss 223–229	Reviewable decisions, internal review, external review
parts/pt13-legal-proceedings.md	Part 13 — Legal Proceedings	ss 229A–267	Prosecutions, limitation periods, sentencing, adverse publicity orders, penalty units (ss 242A–242D), WHS civil penalty provisions, offences by bodies corporate, the Crown, public authorities
parts/pt14-general.md	Part 14 — General	ss 268–276C	Codes of practice (s 274), confidentiality of information (s 271), information sharing (ss 271A–271F), dust diseases register (s 271C), silica worker registration (ss 273A–273B), regulation-making powers, case-finding study (s 276A), review of provisions (s 276B), Parliamentary Committee supervision (s 276C)
parts/schedules.md	Schedules 1–5	—	Schedule 1 (application to dangerous goods/high risk plant), Schedule 1A (Advisory Council), Schedule 2 (the regulator), Schedule 3 (regulation-making powers), Schedule 4 (savings/transitional), Schedule 5 (Fair Trading transferred provisions)

Workflow

1. Identify the subject matter from the user's query
2. Read the relevant part file(s) using the view tool — read only what is needed
3. Cite provisions accurately from the extracted text
4. Cross-reference with Regulation where appropriate (e.g. s 19 primary duty + specific regulation requirements)
5. Flag any gaps — if the query requires Regulation provisions (not covered in this skill), note this and refer to the whs-regulation-checker-nsw skill

Common Query Routing

Query Topic	Primary Part(s)	Key Sections
PCBU duty of care	Part 2	s 19 (primary duty), s 17 (management of risks), s 18 (reasonably practicable)
Officer due diligence	Part 2	s 27
Worker obligations	Part 2	s 28
Penalties / offence categories	Part 2	ss 30–33 (Cat 1–3), Part 2A ss 34C (industrial manslaughter)
Penalty units	Part 13	ss 242A–242D
Incident notification	Part 3	ss 35–39
Consultation obligations	Part 5	ss 47–49
HSR powers and functions	Part 5	ss 50–79
Right to cease unsafe work	Part 5	ss 83–88
Inspector powers / notices	Part 9	ss 156–190
Improvement / prohibition notices	Part 10	ss 191–215
Codes of practice (legal status)	Part 14	s 274 (approval), s 275 (use in proceedings)
Definitions / dictionary	Part 1	ss 4–12A
Reasonably practicable	Part 2	s 18
Information sharing between regulators	Part 14	ss 271A–271AB
Dust diseases / silica worker register	Part 14	ss 271C–273B
WHS civil penalty provisions	Part 13	ss 254–266

NSW-Specific Provisions

The following provisions are specific to NSW or differ from the model WHS Act:

Feature	NSW Provision	Notes
Industrial manslaughter	Part 2A (ss 34B–34F)	NSW-specific provisions including exception for volunteers
SafeWork Advisory Council	Part 8 Div 3 (ss 155C–155F)	NSW-specific advisory body
Penalty units	Part 13 Div 2A (ss 242A–242D)	NSW penalty unit system with indexed penalties
WHS disputes (IRC)	Part 5 Div 7A (ss 102A–102I)	Industrial Relations Commission dispute resolution
Digital work systems	s 118A	Guidelines for reasonable assistance to access/inspect digital work systems
Dust Diseases Register	s 271C	NSW-specific register
Silica worker registration	ss 273A–273B	NSW-specific silica worker register
Case-finding study	s 276A	NSW-specific provision
Parliamentary Committee review	s 276C	NSW-specific oversight
Prohibited asbestos notices	Part 10 Div 2A (ss 197A–197E)	NSW-specific enforcement tool

Version Information

• WHS Act 2011 (NSW): Current as at 1 March 2026
• Uncommenced amendments: Work Health and Safety Amendment (Industrial Manslaughter) Act 2024 No 43 (Sch 1[4] partially uncommenced); Industrial Relations and Other Legislation Amendment (Workplace Protections) Act 2025 No 42 (Sch 3[2], to commence 1.7.2026); Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Act 2026 No 5 (Sch 1[1]–[6], [8], [10] not commenced)
• Source: NSW Legislation website, certified by the Parliamentary Counsel's Office
• Extraction method: Full text extracted from official PDF using PyMuPDF, with page headers/footers removed

Note: This skill covers the WHS Act only. For specific technical requirements (workplace exposure standards, noise limits, silica controls, asbestos removal requirements, etc.), consult the companion whs-regulation-checker-nsw skill covering the WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW). Legislation is subject to amendment; for critical compliance decisions, verify current provisions at https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/