Short version: Under the model-based WHS laws, an inspector can enter a workplace without notice and require documents and answers. The records that matter most for questions about people — who was on site, whether they were trained, inducted and licensed for the work, and what happened in an incident — are easiest to produce if they were captured at the time. In labour hire, the host and the labour hire business both have WHS duties for the same workers, must consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other, and can’t contract those duties away. Recording an incident in your own system is not the same as notifying the regulator. And the rules are not identical everywhere: most jurisdictions use WHS Acts based on the model law, while Victoria has its own OHS Act.
Which WHS law applies
- Most of Australia: Safe Work Australia maintains the model WHS laws, but they only become law when each jurisdiction implements them. Safe Work Australia says they have been implemented everywhere except Victoria, and that some jurisdictions have made variations.
- Victoria: the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 applies, regulated by WorkSafe Victoria.
- Codes of practice: a model code of practice only has legal effect once it is approved in a jurisdiction. In New South Wales, a new duty in section 26A of the WHS Act commenced on 1 July 2026: a business must comply with an approved code of practice, or manage the hazards and risks in a different way that gives an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety.
- Changes in the pipeline: Safe Work Australia amended the model WHS Act in December 2025 to widen what counts as a notifiable incident. Those changes only apply once each jurisdiction adopts them, so check with your regulator before changing how you notify.
What an inspector can do
Under the model-based WHS Acts (sections 163 to 171 of the Commonwealth Act, for example), an inspector can:
- enter a workplace at any time, without prior notice. After entering, the inspector must take reasonable steps to tell the business, the person managing or controlling the workplace and any health and safety representative — unless that would defeat the purpose of the entry or cause unreasonable delay;
- inspect and examine the workplace and anything in it, including documents, and take measurements, photographs and other recordings;
- require documents and answers. While at the workplace, an inspector can require a person to produce documents (by written notice, unless immediate access is needed) and to answer questions, and within 30 days after the entry can require documents or written answers by written notice;
- require reasonable help to exercise those powers.
Refusing or failing to comply with a requirement to produce documents or answer questions, without a reasonable excuse, is an offence. In practice, that means the records you can find quickly matter — and a written notice can follow the visit.
Host and labour hire duties overlap
Safe Work Australia’s guidance is that the labour hire business and the host are both persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs), both are responsible for the labour hire worker’s health and safety, and neither can contract out of or transfer its duties to the other. The model Act backs this up: more than one person can have the same duty, each keeps responsibility for it to the extent of their capacity to influence and control the matter, and duty holders must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other.
- The host, as the business at the workplace, must make sure workers have adequate facilities, first aid and an emergency plan.
- The labour hire business must make sure the host is providing a safe working environment, including checking those facilities and plans.
- Together, they need to make sure labour hire workers get the information, training, instruction and supervision the work needs — including the right qualifications or licences and a safety induction — suitable personal protective equipment, agreed processes for consulting workers and for notifying the regulator of notifiable incidents, and ongoing monitoring of conditions.
Neither side owns safety alone, and no contract or piece of software changes that.
Inspections, risk management and consultation
“Inspection” can mean several different things, and it helps to keep them apart:
- A regulator’s inspection — an inspector using the powers above.
- Your own workplace inspection — walking a site to look for hazards, which is one practical way to manage risk. The duty is to eliminate risks, or if that isn’t reasonably practicable, minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable. How often you look depends on the work and its risks, and on any codes of practice or regulations that apply to it; there is no single inspection timetable for every workplace.
- An incident investigation — working out what happened after something has gone wrong.
Safe Work Australia describes risk management as four steps: identify hazards, assess risks, control risks and review control measures — consulting workers and their health and safety representatives at each step. Under the model Act, consultation means sharing relevant information, giving workers a reasonable opportunity to raise issues and contribute to decisions, taking their views into account and telling them the outcome.
Notifiable incidents: your record is not a notification
Under the model-based WHS Acts:
- A notifiable incident is the death of a person, a serious injury or illness (as defined — for example, one requiring immediate treatment as an in-patient in hospital), or a dangerous incident (such as an uncontrolled fire, explosion or escape of a substance, electric shock, or the collapse of a structure).
- The business must make sure the regulator is notified immediately after becoming aware of a notifiable incident arising from its business, by the fastest possible means — by phone or in writing. If notice is given by phone, the regulator can require a written notice within 48 hours.
- The person managing or controlling the workplace must, so far as is reasonably practicable, preserve the incident site until an inspector arrives or directs otherwise — though that doesn’t stop anyone helping an injured person, making the site safe, or acting with an inspector’s permission.
- A record of each notifiable incident must be kept for at least 5 years from the day the regulator is notified.
In Victoria, WorkSafe Victoria says notifiable incidents must be reported to it immediately, followed by a written report within 48 hours, the scene must not be disturbed until an inspector arrives (with limited exceptions), and the record must be kept for at least five years.
In labour hire, agree in advance who will notify the regulator for which incidents. Logging an incident in workforce software — OnCrew included — does not notify any regulator. Notification has to be made directly to the relevant state, territory or Commonwealth regulator.
What a workforce audit trail should cover
Alongside your WHS management system, these are the people records an inspector is most likely to ask about:
- Who actually worked, and when — recorded start and finish times, not just the roster.
- Training, inductions and licences relevant to the work, with the dates they were completed and when they expire.
- Incidents and near misses — what happened, when and where, who was involved, the injuries and treatment, and the actions taken.
- Who decided what — who placed a worker on a shift, who approved their hours, and any decision to proceed despite a missing requirement.
- What you shared with the host, or received from it, about site inductions, hazards and incident arrangements.
If you may need to show what a record said on a past date — a licence that has since been renewed, for example — keep a copy of it as it stood.
Where OnCrew fits, and where it does not
OnCrew is not a WHS management system. It doesn’t identify hazards, carry out risk assessments, consult workers, supervise work or make a workplace safe, and it doesn’t notify any regulator. It doesn’t move WHS duties from one business to another. Those stay with the host and the labour hire business.
What OnCrew records can be part of the workforce side of the trail:
- Who was on shift. Each clock-in is location-checked against the site, and one outside the boundary is flagged for review rather than blocked; clock-out is time-stamped but not location-checked.
- Credentials and site requirements. Worker tickets and licences are held with their expiry dates, and OnCrew can text workers reminders before they expire (an agency setting). Each site can list the credentials it requires, each set to warn or to enforce. An admin can still assign a worker who is missing an enforced requirement by overriding it, and that override is logged.
- Your agency induction. If you set one up, workers complete it in onboarding as a quiz with a pass mark, and their score and completion are recorded. Site-specific inductions run by the host are not automatically part of this.
- Incident reports. Supervisors and admins can log incidents, near misses and hazards with the time, place, people involved, injury details, treatment, personal protective equipment, witnesses, actions taken and photos. An admin can mark whether an incident is notifiable and record the date the regulator was notified — your record of what you did, not the notification itself.
- An activity log of specific events, such as worker assignments, compliance changes and overrides, incident reports and status changes, and timesheet approvals. It is not a record of every action, and it is not a complete or tamper-proof audit trail.
For the incident side in more detail, see incident reporting. For keeping credentials current, see ticket and licence expiry tracking.
Official sources checked for this guide (October 2026): Safe Work Australia — model WHS laws · Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth), ss 14–19, 35–39, 46–49, 163–171, 272 · Safe Work Australia — labour hire WHS duties · Safe Work Australia — managing risks · Safe Work Australia — incident notification under the model WHS Act · Safe Work Australia — reporting an incident · SafeWork NSW — codes of practice · WorkSafe Victoria — report an incident
