The NSW Government is tightening its workplace safety laws, aiming to draw clearer lines around how digital tools can be used in organisations. With more businesses relying on automated scheduling, monitoring software and data-driven systems, ministers say it’s time the law recognised the pressures these technologies can place on workers.
The new bill updates the state’s work health and safety framework so employers know exactly what is expected of them when using digital systems. In practice, it means that a business must ensure the tools it introduces don’t create unreasonable workloads, encourage constant surveillance, or push people into unhealthy patterns of performance tracking. The government argues that while technology can help productivity, it can just as easily undermine wellbeing if it’s not handled with care.
These reforms draw heavily from a 2022 parliamentary inquiry into the future of work, which heard repeated concerns about algorithmic management and the way automated decisions can quietly shape someone’s day. Submissions described pressure from tight digital rostering tools, uneven work allocation and the mental toll of being monitored in real time — issues the Bill now attempts to address. A review clause has also been built in so NSW can adjust its approach once SafeWork Australia finalises national model laws in this area.
The legislation sits alongside a broader package aimed at strengthening psychosocial safety at work. The Government has already committed to a standalone SafeWork NSW, hired new inspectors to focus specifically on psychosocial risks, and announced a major mental health funding package designed to help businesses intervene earlier.
Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis said the goal is simple: technology should help people do their jobs, not push them to breaking point. “If a system tracks you, times you and nudges you beyond safe limits, that’s not innovation — it’s a risk we have to manage,” she said.
NSW moves to tighten digital safety rules as workplaces adopt more tech
