Weekly WHS Round-Up  

Weekly WHS Update (19th to 26th January 2026)

We hope you had a safe week. Here’s your weekly round up of critical workplace health and safety updates across Australia (19–26 January 2026). This edition is packed with urgent heat hazard warnings and valuable new guidance to help you keep your team safe:

What You Should Do This Week:

• Implement Heat Controls Immediately: With extreme heat in many regions, double check your heat illness prevention, ensure cool drinking water, extra breaks, sun protection, and, where possible, reschedule strenuous outdoor jobs to cooler parts of the day. If you’re in a Total Fire Ban area, halt any hot work (welding, grinding, etc.) and have your bushfire emergency plans ready.

• Distribute the Asbestos HSR Guide: If your workplace has any asbestos (e.g. in older plant or buildings), share Safe Work Australia’s new asbestos guide with your HSRs and supervisors. Use it to review your asbestos register and control plan, HSRs should be actively involved in spotting risks and ensuring proper removal or encapsulation measures.

• Reinforce Patient/Client Safety (Health Sector): For those in healthcare or community services, take a cue from the Victorian prosecution, assess your facilities for any gaps in patient safety (e.g. risks of self harm, inadequate supervision, environmental hazards). Make any necessary fixes now and remind staff that keeping patients safe is part of WHS due diligence.

• Audit High-Risk Tasks: This week’s alerts point to key hazard areas. Ask your team to conduct quick safety audits on:

  • Electrical work: Verify that lockout/tagout and de-energisation procedures are strictly followed for all electrical maintenance. Provide refresher training on arc flash prevention and ensure correct PPE is available (arc-rated clothing, face shields, etc.).

  • Working at heights: Given regulatory focus (SA’s upcoming 2m rule) and incidents, ensure your fall prevention systems are rock solid. Check that scaffolds, fall restraints, and SWMS for >2m work are in place and understood by workers.

  • Mobile plant and cranes: If you use cranes or EWPs, review their operating procedures. Cranes: Follow manufacturer guidelines in high winds, set a maximum wind threshold and have a plan to secure cranes during storms. EWPs: Emphasise setting up on stable ground; remind operators not to over reach or travel extended on uneven surfaces.

  • Asbestos handling: Confirm that nobody at your worksites is using high pressure washers or grinders on asbestos materials. If any asbestos removal or cleanup is needed, engage a licensed removalist. Brief your teams on the legal bans and health dangers, so there’s no confusion.

• Communicate and Consult: Lastly, engage your workers and HSRs in discussing these incidents and alerts. A ten minute toolbox talk on one of these topics (heat stress, electrical safety, etc.) this week could be invaluable, it helps everyone learn from others’ mistakes and reinforces our safety culture.

Commonwealth (Safe Work Australia & Comcare)

• National/All – 23 Jan 2026: Safe Work Australia – “New guidance for health and safety representatives on asbestos.” Safe Work Australia (in partnership with the Asbestos Safety & Eradication Agency) released a guide and checklist to help HSRs identify and address asbestos risks.

  Who it affects: Health and Safety Representatives and PCBUs in any workplace with asbestos (e.g. construction, maintenance).

  Recommended action: Share this new asbestos guide with HSRs and supervisors; review your asbestos management plan against the guide’s best practices (e.g. HSRs advocating controls, speaking up on unmanaged asbestos).

  Source: Safe Work Australia – Asbestos guide for HSRs.

• Commonwealth (Comcare): No new updates found this week (last checked at 12:42 PM AEST).

Victoria

• Victoria – 26 Jan 2026: URGENT: WorkSafe Victoria – “Workplaces at risk from heat and fire danger.” WorkSafe warns that an extreme heatwave and statewide Total Fire Ban are creating imminent risks to workers. Employers must take action to prevent heat illness (e.g. provide cool water, rest breaks, ventilation/AC, shade) and postpone outdoor or strenuous work during peak heat. Hot works (welding, grinding) must not be done on fire ban days due to ignition risk.

  Who it affects: All industries with outdoor work or heat exposed environments (construction, agriculture, outdoor events, manufacturing without climate control).

  Recommended action: Activate your heat stress management plans immediately, reschedule work to cooler hours, supply water/ice, enforce extra breaks, monitor workers for heat illness, and cease any fire risk activities on high-risk days.

  Source: WorkSafe Victoria – Heatwave and fire danger alert.

• Victoria – 22 Jan 2026: WorkSafe Victoria – “Hospital charged after patient death in care.” WorkSafe has charged St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne) with two offenses after a psychiatric inpatient died by suicide, alleging the hospital failed to ensure persons other than employees (i.e. a patient) were not exposed to health and safety risks. The case is listed for court on 17 Feb 2026.

  Who it affects: Healthcare and aged care providers, highlights duties to protect not only workers but also patients, visitors, and others at the workplace.

  Recommended action: Managers in healthcare should audit and strengthen controls for patient safety (especially for mental health units), ensure risk assessments cover self-harm hazards, and train staff on monitoring and interventions, fulfilling WHS obligations to non-employees.

  Source: WorkSafe Victoria – Charges after patient fatality.

New South Wales

• NSW | Proposed WHS Laws for Digital Work Systems (Pending)
  A new WHS Bill before NSW Parliament will require employers to manage health and safety risks from digital work systems, defined as algorithms, AI, automation or online platforms. This includes rostering tools, performance tracking software and other automated decision-making systems.
  Key risks addressed: Unreasonable workloads, excessive surveillance, performance pressures, and discrimination linked to digital outputs.

  Who this affects: NSW employers using digital work platforms, especially in logistics, retail, call centres, education, and app-based workforces.

  Recommended actions:

  • Map existing digital systems and review for psychosocial risks.

  • Integrate digital risks into your WHSMS and consult workers on their use.

  • Provide WHS training for managers and HR on managing algorithm driven workloads.
    Note: The Bill is not yet law but is expected to pass in 2026.

  
  Source: NSW Parliament – Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Bill 2025 (NSW)

• No further updates for NSW found this week (last checked at 12:42 PM AEST).

Queensland 

• Queensland – 21 Jan 2026: URGENT: Workplace Health & Safety QLD – Incident Alert: “Arc flash incident with high voltage equipment.” A worker sustained serious burns from an arc flash while working on high voltage electrical gear. Early findings suggest electrical work was being done on a new transformer installation when an isolator switch operation caused a short circuit and explosive arc flash.

  Who it affects: Electrical utilities, contractors, and any business with HV installations.

  Recommended action: Enforce strict de-energisation and isolation procedures for electrical work, no live HV work unless absolutely necessary. Verify all electricians’ training on arc flash risks; use appropriate PPE, insulated tools, exclusion zones, and have verified switching plans before work. Review your Electrical Risk Management plan against this alert to prevent similar incidents.

  Source: WHS Queensland – Arc flash incident alert.

• Queensland – 20 Jan 2026: URGENT: WHS Queensland – Incident Alert: “High-pressure water cleaning on an asbestos roof.” A July 2025 incident (now publicised) involved a painting contractor illegally using a high pressure washer on an asbestos cement roof, which spread asbestos contaminated debris across the site and neighboring areas. This unsafe practice risked both fall injuries and asbestos exposure.

  Who it affects: Contractors, painters, roofing and demolition companies, anyone working on or removing asbestos containing roofing.

  Recommended action: Never use high pressure water or abrasive blasting on asbestos materials (it’s prohibited). Instead, use compliant methods: employ licensed asbestos removalists for old roofs, or use low pressure, hand tool methods if absolutely required by code. Ensure any asbestos work follows legal requirements (notifications, enclosures, PPE, decontamination) to prevent asbestos fibre release. Also, maintain strict fall protection when working on any roof.

  Source: WHS Queensland – Safety alert: Asbestos roof high-pressure cleaning incident.

• Queensland – 19 Jan 2026: URGENT: WHS Queensland – Safety Alert: “Luffing tower cranes – extreme weather (wind) events.” After several incidents where high winds caused free slewing crane booms to swing or collapse, this alert warns crane operators and construction firms to brace for severe weather. A recent QLD incident involved rapidly changing wind directions; a tower crane’s upper structure couldn’t weathervane quickly enough, and strong gusts imposed dangerous forces on the boom.

  Who it affects: Construction projects with tower cranes (especially luffing/jib cranes) and crane hire companies.

  Recommended action: Monitor weather forecasts and cease crane operations in high winds. Configure cranes to safely weathervane when parked; follow manufacturer guidelines for wind speeds. Secure or lower crane jibs before storms. Develop emergency procedures for sudden wind events (e.g. site alarms to clear areas). Ensure crib bolts, slew brakes, and storm pins are inspected and used per instructions.

  Source: WHS Queensland – Alert: Crane safety in extreme winds.

Western Australia

• Western Australia – 20 Jan 2026: URGENT: WorkSafe WA (DMIRS) – Significant Incident Summary No.11: “All-terrain EWP tipping incident.” Serious incident: A worker was injured when a self propelled all terrain boom lift (Elevating Work Platform) tipped over during tree trimming on a suburban street. The operator, working from the elevated basket, had the boom fully extended; the EWP’s front wheel went off a curb, causing the entire EWP to fall onto its side. The worker fell ~6 metres, suffering spinal and multiple fractures.

  Who it affects: Anyone operating EWPs or boom lifts ( arborists, construction, maintenance at height).

  Recommended action: Audit your EWP operations – ensure stable ground and proper set up (use outriggers or pads on soft/uneven ground, keep within safe boom angles). Train operators to spot terrain hazards (e.g. drop offs like curbs). Establish exclusion zones so EWP travel paths are clear of bystanders/objects. Always retract booms before moving if instructed by manufacturer. This incident underscores that even without a worker error, lack of proper stability controls can be catastrophic.

  Source: WorkSafe WA – Significant Incident Summary (EWP tip-over).

Northern Territory 

• Northern Territory: No new updates found this week (last checked at 12:42 PM AEST).

Tasmania

• Tasmania: No new updates found this week (last checked at 12:42 PM AEST).

South Australia

• South Australia: No new updates found this week (last checked at 12:42 PM AEST). (Note: SafeWork SA’s next regulatory change – lowering construction fall height threshold to 2m was announced Dec 2025, taking effect 1 July 2026. No new SA alerts were issued during 19–26 Jan 2026.)

Australian Capital Territory

• Australian Capital Territory: No new updates found this week (last checked at 12:42 PM AEST).

Priority for Managers: The most urgent issues for immediate attention are the extreme heat/fire warnings in VIC (and generally applicable elsewhere) and the QLD/WA safety alerts on high consequence hazards (arc flash, asbestos, crane winds, EWP stability). These require prompt risk controls. Other items (prosecutions, guidance materials) highlight areas for ongoing improvement (patient safety in healthcare, asbestos risk management, etc.) rather than emergency action.

Stay safe, and as always, reach out if you need assistance interpreting how these updates impact our operations.

Compiled by: Work Safety Hub – Helping organisations build safer, stronger workplaces.
🔗 worksafetyhub.com.au