Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Policy

The policy provides a consistent, principle-based approach to compliance monitoring and enforcement.

It informs duty holders of the regulator’s approach and guides inspectors and their managers in decision-making and the selection of appropriate compliance and enforcement actions under the:

Duty holders must comply with their legislative obligations to ensure workers and others are not exposed to unacceptable risks that may result in death, injury or illness.

On this page:

2026 update
Our priorities
Our approach
Purpose
Compliance monitoring
Enforcement measures
Review of decisions
CMEP review

2026 update

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) and the Electrical Safety Office (ESO) are regulatory agencies within the Office of Industrial Relations (OIR). Together, we deliver effective services to support healthy, fair, safe and productive Queensland workplaces and communities.

We administer and enforce the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act), the Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act 2011 (SRWA Act) and the Electrical Safety Act 2002. These Acts support our regulatory effort to:

secure the health and safety of workers and others from harm arising from work and workplaces
ensure the health and safety of persons participating in recreational water activities provided by a person conducting a business or undertaking
prevent death and injury caused by electricity
prevent electricity from causing property damage or destruction.

Our priorities

WHSQ and ESO apply a risk-based, intelligence-led and data-driven approach to setting strategic priorities and delivering compliance and enforcement activities. Our priorities are informed nationally through collaboration with Safe Work Australia and the Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council and are tailored to Queensland’s specific risk profile.

We use risk-based targeting to focus our efforts on the most serious current and emerging work health and electrical safety risks to workers, industry and the broader community. Priorities are reviewed regularly to ensure they remain contemporary, responsive to incident and injury trends, aligned to emerging hazards and reflective of community expectations and industry change.

The OIR Strategy provides the overarching corporate direction, articulating OIR’s purpose, vision, priorities and values, and defining our mandate as a government agency.

Our approach

Our Regulatory Approach outlines how WHSQ and ESO deliver regulatory services. It describes the range of tools available and the principles guiding their use, including how compliance and enforcement strategies are developed and how priorities and interventions are informed by data, intelligence and stakeholder insights.

Detailed priorities and interventions are articulated in supporting strategies and plans, including the:

We may publicise information about our compliance activities and enforcement action to raise awareness of laws and the consequences of non-compliance to deter similar conduct and promote better practices.

Purpose

The Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program (CMEP) operationalises our strategic direction at the frontline by promoting a consistent approach to compliance and enforcement. It complements the National Compliance and Enforcement Policy 2024 by setting out how inspectors, advisors and managers monitor duty holder compliance and determine the appropriate regulatory response. It ensures regulatory decisions are consistent, proportionate, transparent and aligned with our risk-based approach. It also guides inspectors and their managers in their decision-making and use of enforcement tools, operating alongside other strategies and plans that explain our approach to compliance monitoring and enforcement.

This policy provides the Regulator’s direction under section 162 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and section 137B of the Electrical Safety Act 2002 for assessing compliance and taking enforcement action in relation priority infringement notice offence provisions and contraventions of the WHS Act and ES Act. The CMEP enlivens this direction by requiring certain regulatory actions to be taken by inspectors carrying out their functions under section 160 of the WHS Act and section 137 of the ES Act.

Compliance monitoring

Site visits

WHSQ and ESO monitor compliance with work health and safety (WHS) and electrical safety (ES) laws to identify breaches, determine incident causes, and decide on actions to prevent recurrence and ensure compliance.

Compliance monitoring can be either planned or responsive. Planned monitoring targets high risk activities and strategic priorities using shared data and collaboration with other regulators, while responsive monitoring addresses incident notifications, complaints, or requests through a triage process to determine an appropriate response.

In most instances, inspectors do not give prior notice of entry for an inspection except in specific circumstances (for example, remote sites where it is necessary to ensure someone is on site or a particular person is available, responses to psychosocial health incidents/complaints, or at the discretion of the Manager) and where advance notice will not compromise the intention of the visit and assists the inspector to determine the nature of the alleged breach.

Workplace representatives

Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) have important functions and powers under WHS laws, including powers to take certain actions and, if appropriately elected and trained, issue provisional improvement notices and direct unsafe work to cease. Union officials who hold WHS entry permits have legal rights that may be exercised at a workplace (for example, entering a workplace to inquire into a suspected WHS breach).

Inspectors may be appointed to assist in resolving matters under Part 5 or Part 7 of the WHS Act in relation to a health and safety matter or right of entry dispute. At all times when visiting a workplace, an inspector must identify if there is a HSR at the workplace and advise them of their presence and invite them to accompany the inspector during their visit.

Investigations

WHSQ and ESO undertake investigations for the most serious incidents or breaches to assess the cause of an incident and whether a duty holder has complied with their legal obligations. Investigations are used to determine whether a matter is referred for prosecution or, in the case of electrical licence holders, to the Electrical Licensing Committee for disciplinary action. Generally, WHSQ and ESO will investigate a work-related death, unless there are compelling reasons not to do so.

Enforcement measures

In addition to providing information, advice and guidance to persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs), WHS and ES inspectors are required to issue enforcement notices to remedy non-compliance with WHS and ES laws and serious risks. This can involve statutory notices, administrative sanctions, civil and criminal proceedings, or a combination of these measures.

Direct compliance

An inspector may decide that it is necessary to direct compliance using a statutory notice to ensure that non-compliance by a duty holder is rectified and to protect the safety of workers and the community.

Inspectors issue notices (or a combination of notices) to direct compliance and must provide information (either verbally or in writing) to help the recipient understand the notice and comply. This information typically includes the reason for the notice, the actions required to comply (and what compliance may look like), the due date for compliance (improvement notices only), and any guidance on how to comply.

Improvement notices

WHS and ES inspectors must issue an improvement notice when they reasonably believe that a person is contravening a provision of the legislation; or has contravened a provision and believes it is likely that it will continue or be repeated. The improvement notice may be issued to remedy a contravention, prevent a likely contravention from occurring, or remedy the thing/s or operation/s causing the contravention or likely contravention.

An inspector may refrain from issuing an improvement notice where immediate compliance has been achieved. The details of the remedy are recorded by the inspector.

Prohibition notices

WHS inspectors must issue prohibition notices when there is a serious risk which emanates from an immediate or imminent exposure to a WHS hazard (for example, unguarded machinery, working at heights without an appropriate control measure). A prohibition is a direction to stop an activity that is occurring or may occur at a workplace. The direction may be given orally but must be confirmed with a written notice.

The written prohibition notice is given to the person who has control over the activity as soon as reasonably practicable.

Electrical safety protection notices

WHS and ES inspectors must issue an electrical safety protection notice (ESPN) where they reasonably believe that circumstances are causing, or are likely to cause, an immediate electrical risk to persons or property.

This includes taking action to disconnect electrical equipment from its supply or directing an electricity entity to do so. Inspectors must ensure an exclusion zone is in place around the area until the electricity supply can be disconnected.

Where a direction is given orally, the direction must be confirmed by a written ESPN and given to the person as soon as reasonably practicable.

Non-disturbance notices

An inspector may issue a non-disturbance notice if they reasonably believe it is necessary to do so to facilitate the exercise of their powers. A non-disturbance notice may be issued to preserve the site at which a notifiable event has occurred, or to stop any disturbance of a particular site (including plant, substance, structure or thing associated with the site), for a stated period that is reasonable in the circumstances (not more than seven days).

Warnings to duty holders

We may write to duty holders to reinforce compliance requirements. These letters are a formal record and may be referenced in future compliance monitoring or enforcement actions as evidence that a duty holder was made aware of their legal obligations and compliance requirements. For example:

A letter to an officer of the PCBU informing them of their due diligence obligations under section 27 of the WHS Act and/or section 38A of the ES Act.
A letter to the PCBU under section 160 of the WHS Act and/or section 137 of the ES Act sent after an investigation has been completed to note contraventions of the Act they must address and advise on their risk management obligations.
Any other written warning determined as appropriate.

Administrative sanctions

Priority infringement offence notices

The Regulator has identified a smaller number of infringeable offences as priority areas for enforcement. An inspector will have additional focus on these areas, and if an inspector identifies a contravention of one of these provisions, the inspector will issue an infringement notice, unless mitigating circumstances are present.

The priority areas do not prevent an inspector from issuing an infringement notice for an infringeable offence not identified as a priority.

Refer to penalties for more information.

Inspector discretion

The Regulator has directed inspectors to assess compliance and implement enforcement action where contravention of WHS and ES legislation is detected, or where a priority infringement offence has been identified. However, there may be mitigating circumstances to not issue an infringement notice for a priority infringement offence, and processes are in place to determine whether it is appropriate, in the circumstances, for an inspector to exercise their discretion.

If the priority infringement notice offence relates to an active proactive compliance campaign, then inspectors do not have discretion and an infringement notice must be issued.

Authorisations

WHSQ and ESO authorise:

certain people to undertake certain types of work (for example, work involving the removal of dangerous substances such as asbestos, electrical licences, high risk work licences), and
organisations to conduct certain types of undertakings (for example, operate major hazard facilities).

Where circumstances exist, typically as a result of exposure of persons to serious risk where previous actions have not resulted in improvements of that risk, then the Regulator, or Electrical Licensing Committee may decide to suspend, cancel or the impose conditions on a person’s authorisation.

Enforceable Undertakings

An Enforceable Undertaking (EU) is a legally binding agreement entered into as an alternative to having the matter decided through legal proceedings for an alleged breach of the WHS Act, SRWA Act and/or ES Act.

Court and other sanctions

Court and other sanctions include civil proceedings, court orders (adverse publicity restoration, WHS or ES project, injunction, training order), and criminal proceedings (including industrial manslaughter, reckless conduct and duty contravention proceedings). These stronger enforcement measures may be taken to address more serious cases of harm or following escalation of repeated noncompliance.

Prosecuting duty holders is a powerful deterrent and ensures that those who contravene the legislation are held to account. It draws attention to the consequences of contravening WHS and ES laws. Bringing a prosecution is a significant decision which has considerable impacts (for example, on the defendant, worker or family of a deceased worker). WHSQ and ESO refer serious breaches to the Office of the WHS Prosecutor (OWHSP) to decide whether to bring a prosecution.

Review of decisions

Certain decisions under the WHS Act and ES Act are reviewable. A person affected by a decision made by a WHS or ES inspector or Regulator may apply for a review of that decision.

CMEP review

The CMEP is periodically reviewed, including when relevant updates are made to WHS and ES laws.