For years, a Victorian employer caught with an unguarded roof edge or a missing scaffold rail faced one of two outcomes. An inspector could issue an improvement or prohibition notice, or WorkSafe could spend months building a prosecution. That has now changed, with fall-prevention rules enforced more directly and more often.
What’s changed
WorkSafe inspectors can now issue infringement notices (on-the-spot fines) for offences involving failure to prevent falls from height, following the announcement by WorkSafe Minister Steve Dimopoulos on 18 September 2026. These offences have been added to Schedule 20 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017. Schedule 20 already listed about 59 infringeable offences, but they were mostly paperwork matters such as licensing, registration and record-keeping. The fall-prevention duties in Part 3.3 of the Regulations had never been on the list.
The ceiling has also risen. The maximum infringement penalty has gone from 10 penalty units to 60, which is $12,546 in 2026–27. Previously a company could be fined at most $2,091 on the spot, and an individual $418.20.
Why falls, and why now
Falls from height remain the leading cause of death in Victorian construction. Over the past three years, 26 construction workers were killed and more than 10,600 injured. Across all industries last year, Victoria recorded 61 workplace deaths and 26,323 injury claims.
Prosecution works, but it is slow and used sparingly. In 2025, WorkSafe finalised 52 working-at-height matters, with penalties totalling $3.74 million. That is an average of about $72,000 each, but it is 52 cases across an entire state. Infringement notices let an inspector deal with a breach on the day it’s seen, so enforcement becomes routine instead of rare.
The falls change is part of a wider push. WorkSafe is concentrating on five hazards: falls, vehicles and machinery, hazardous manual handling, workplace violence and psychosocial risk. It is also focusing on five industries: construction, healthcare and social assistance, government, agriculture and transport. Together those industries account for 60% of deaths and 55% of injury claims. More inspectors are being recruited to support the effort.
The bigger picture: directors in the frame
The fines sit alongside the OHS Amendment (Dangerous Goods) Bill 2026, which has passed Parliament and starts in April 2028. It introduces a due-diligence duty for officers, broadly in line with the national model WHS laws. Directors and senior managers will have to take reasonable steps to understand the hazards in their business, make sure resources and systems exist to control them, and check that those systems work. The maximum penalty is about $380,000, or more than $2 million where the failure contributes to workplace manslaughter.
What this means on site
- Employers: review fall controls now: edge protection, scaffolding, work platforms, ladders and roof access. A breach an inspector can see is a breach they can now fine on the spot.
- Health and safety reps (HSRs) and workers: you have more leverage. Fall hazards raised with management that stay unfixed can now bring immediate fines, not a prosecution that may never come.
- Boards: from 2028, not knowing about a hazard will not be a defence. Ask for evidence that fall controls are working, not just that a policy exists.
Paying an infringement notice doesn’t create a conviction and isn’t an admission of guilt. But the message from government is clear. Falls are the biggest killer on building sites, and the old approach of issuing a notice and moving on is over.
Anchor Safe takeaway: what to do now that the change is live
On-the-spot fines for fall-prevention failures are now in effect in Victoria. The safest position is to have your controls in place and documented before an inspector arrives.
Action checklist for employers and contractors:
- Review edge protection, scaffolding, work platforms, ladders and roof access across all sites.
- Check your height safety equipment (anchors, harnesses, lanyards, static lines) is suitable, inspected and used correctly.
- Act on fall hazards raised by workers and HSRs promptly, and keep a record of what was done.
- Brief directors and senior managers on their upcoming due-diligence duty and ask for evidence that fall controls are working.
Anchor Safe can help you get compliant with height safety systems, site-specific advice and practical installation solutions for working at height.