“Thank you for turning around some incredibly stressful situations and your ongoing support that has helped us prevented others. Your competence, professionalism and knowledge make the Construction Legal team my go to for trusted advice when we need it. Your help with everything from compliance to defence has helped us face safety issues with confidence. Both the service and dedication from Construction Legal has been excellent — you guys work so hard to ensure the best possible result for your clients and it shows.”
JASON FARRUGIA
WORK HEALTH SAFETY MANAGER
DEICORP
Construction is the industry SafeWork NSW is watching hardest, and prosecuting hardest
Construction accounted for 28 of the 50 prosecutions SafeWork NSW commenced in just the second half of 2025, more than every other industry in NSW combined, and construction workplaces generated 41 percent of all safety concern reports lodged with the regulator over that same period. Between January 2021 and December 2025, SafeWork NSW issued nearly 2,916 penalty notices to the construction industry alone and recovered over $7.1 million in fines. Since September 2024, the stakes have risen further still: industrial manslaughter is now a standalone offence in NSW, carrying no limitation period, meaning a prosecution can be brought years after an incident and a PCBU or officer who acts with gross negligence causing a death now faces the most serious charge in the WHS framework.
This is the environment construction businesses, contractors and directors are now operating in, and it’s exactly where Construction Legal works.
Real defence experience, not theoretical advice
We’ve acted for head contractors, subcontractors and directors facing SafeWork NSW prosecutions, working alongside leading barristers to run the defence and, where possible, minimise or avoid conviction and penalty entirely. We understand how SafeWork’s prosecution guidelines and public interest test actually operate in practice, and we’ve built genuine working relationships with the regulator over years of matters, not just familiarity with the legislation on paper.
That matters more than ever given how these matters now play out. SafeWork NSW’s own reporting shows investigations frequently run for years before a prosecution is even announced, meaning a business can be carrying an open, undisclosed exposure long after the incident occurred. Getting privilege, evidence-gathering and strategy right in the days after an incident can materially shape an outcome that isn’t decided in court until years later.
How we help
- Advising on the statutory WHS framework and how it applies to your business, contracts and site structure
- Developing strategies and procedures to manage and control workplace safety risk before an incident occurs
- Advising directors on their personal duties and exposure, including under the industrial manslaughter offence
- Investigating workplace incidents alongside site safety managers and HR, including setting up privilege protocols to protect anticipated legal proceedings
- Incident response advice and crisis management, including responding to improvement, prohibition and enforcement notices
- Running prosecution defence in the Local, District and Industrial Courts, including charge negotiation and sentencing submissions
- Advising on and negotiating enforceable undertakings as an alternative to prosecution
- Ongoing training and support for contractor clients on their rights and obligations under WHS legislation
Contact our team if you’re facing a SafeWork NSW investigation, notice or prosecution, or want to get your safety systems right before you need to.
