Australia's first specific safety laws aimed at regulating the use of digital work systems

What you need to know

• New legislation has passed the NSW Parliament seeking to regulate safety risks arising from the use of digital work systems, such as artificial intelligence.
• The Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Bill 2026 (Bill) amends the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) (WHS Act) by introducing specific duties on a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) and expanding the rights of WHS entry permit holders in relation to digital work systems.
• New South Wales is the first in Australia to introduce specific safety laws aimed at regulating the use of digital work systems. If the Model WHS laws deal with substantially the same subject matter, the Minister will undertake a review of the amendments made by the Bill.
• These amendments, coupled with a raft of other significant changes to the WHS Act over the last 6 months, will see an increase in regulatory oversight by SafeWork NSW and unions.

What you need to do

• Be aware of the existing and upcoming changes to the NSW WHS Act.
• Proactively review your safety management system to identify what digital work systems you currently have in place and how you identify, assess and manage risks arising from those systems (including with respect to psychosocial risks).
• Conduct a risk assessment of your digital work systems, having regard to the risks arising from the new duty in section 21A of the NSW WHS Act and any other hazards or risks relevant to your business.
• Review the right of entry guidelines once developed and published on SafeWork NSW's website.
• Be aware of union officials seeking to utilise these expanded powers and, once in force, carefully consider any right of entry notice to ensure it complies with the requirements of the WHS Act.

New legislation has passed the NSW Parliament seeking to regulate safety risks arising from the use of digital work systems, such as artificial intelligence.

The Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Bill 2026 (Bill) amends the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) (WHS Act) by introducing specific duties on a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) and expanding the rights of WHS entry permit holders in relation to digital work systems.

The Bill passed Parliament on 12 February 2026 and was assented to on 18 February 2026.

Overview of the Bill

The Bill amends the WHS Act to:

• Introduce the concept of a "digital work system" which is defined as an algorithm, artificial intelligence, automation or online platform.
• Extend the primary duty of care under section 19 of the WHS Act, to ensure the health and safety of workers is not put at risk from the use of digital work systems by the business or undertaking.
• Create a new specific duty (new section 21A) requiring a PCBU to consider and manage risks arising from the allocation of work by a digital work system. This duty requires a PCBU to consider whether the allocation of work by or using a digital work system creates or results in the risk of:
  • excessive or unreasonable workloads for workers at work in the business or undertaking;
  • the use of excessive or unreasonable metrics to assess and track the performance of workers at work in the business or undertaking;
  • excessive or unreasonable monitoring or surveillance of workers at work in the business or undertaking; or
  • unlawful discriminatory practices or decision-making in the conduct of the business or undertaking.

• Expand the rights of WHS entry permit holders (see below).

Amendments to the primary duty of care and new specific duty will not commence operation until they are proclaimed.

Expanded rights of entry for WHS entry permit holders

The Bill expands a WHS entry permit holder's right of entry to inquire into a suspected contravention under section 17 of the NSW WHS Act, by allowing the WHS entry permit holder to require the PCBU to provide reasonable assistance to access and inspect a digital work system relevant to the suspected contravention.

In order to exercise this new right, the WHS entry permit holder must:

• during business hours, give the relevant person notice of the proposed entry at least 48 hours (but not more than 14 days) before the entry; and
• comply with the guidelines made by the regulator, SafeWork NSW (which must be issued and published on SafeWork NSW's website).

Note, a PCBU is not required to allow a WHS entry permit holder to inspect or make copies of a document if to do so would contravene a law of the Commonwealth or a law of a State.

Penalties apply to PCBUs who, without reasonable excuse, refuse or fail to provide reasonable assistance to a WHS entry permit holder to access and inspect a digital work system relevant to the suspected contravention.

A WHS entry permit holder may not exercise a power under these new provisions until at least one month after the day on which the first guideline is published (which will be developed following public consultation).

Should you have any questions about the Bill, or how your business can best prepare for these amendments, please do not hesitate to contact us.