Five weeks after flagging the change, the Victorian Government has put a start date and a price on it. For residential sites, the offence that arrives alongside the falls fine may matter just as much.
From 31 March 2027, WorkSafe Victoria inspectors will be able to fine employers on the spot for failing to control the risk of a fall from height.
The Victorian Government confirmed the start date on Wednesday 21 October, along with the penalty amounts and two other offence types joining the scheme at the same time. One is starting high risk construction work without a safe work method statement. The other is failing to keep safety records on hand for workers and inspectors.
When the change was first announced on 18 September, it came with no date, no amounts and no list of offences. That is where our coverage of the original announcement left it. Most of those gaps have now been filled.
What will WorkSafe be able to fine on the spot from March 2027?
Failing to manage fall risks will carry a fine of up to $418.20 for an individual and $2,091 for a company.
Starting high risk construction work without a safe work method statement, and failing to keep safety records on hand, will carry fines of up to $250.92 for an individual and $1,254.60 for a company.
The government says the change creates no new obligations. Every one of these is already an offence. What changes is how quickly a breach can turn into a penalty.
Prosecution stays available. The government says 46 duty holders were prosecuted over fall risks in 2025 to 26 and penalised a combined $6.2 million, whether or not anyone was hurt.
Why the SWMS offence matters as much as the falls fine
In Victoria, construction work where there is a risk of a person falling more than two metres is high risk construction work. WorkSafe’s position is that this work must not be performed unless a safe work method statement has been prepared.
That means on most residential sites where the falls offence is in play, the SWMS requirement is in play as well. Roof framing, upper floor edges, stair voids and scaffold work routinely sit above that line.
The falls offence and the SWMS offence will usually turn up on the same roof.
The existing infringement scheme already covers part of this ground. According to WorkSafe’s published list of infringement offences, an inspector can already fine an employer or self employed person for failing to keep a copy of a SWMS. What the scheme has not reached is the failure to prepare one before the work starts. On the release’s description, that is the gap the new offence closes.
WorkSafe’s own court results show how often the two failures appear together. On 12 October, a solar installer was convicted and fined $40,000 for failing to reduce the risk of falls and $30,000 for failing to prepare a SWMS. The case began when an inspector saw two workers on a two storey roof at 5.79 metres, with no guard railing and no SWMS in place.
The falls offence and the SWMS offence will usually turn up on the same roof. From March, breaches of that kind are ones an inspector can also deal with by notice.
How do the new fines compare with the existing scheme?
Victoria’s infringement scheme has operated since 31 July 2021. WorkSafe says it covers 59 offences, most of them licensing, registration, documentation and record keeping offences.
Schedule 20 of the regulations sets almost every one of those offences at one of two rates. The higher rate is 2 penalty units for an individual and 10 for a company. The lower rate is 1.2 and 6 penalty units.
The Victorian Treasurer has fixed the penalty unit at $209.10 for the 2026 to 27 financial year. That puts the higher rate at $418.20 and $2,091, and the lower rate at $250.92 and $1,254.60.
The new amounts slot straight into that structure. Falls sit on the higher rate. The SWMS and record keeping offences sit on the lower rate, the same rate that already applies to failing to keep a copy of a SWMS.
Penalty units are indexed on 1 July each year. If the new offences follow the existing structure, the amounts would move on 1 July 2027, three months after the scheme starts.
Set against the court system, these are small numbers. WorkSafe’s 2025 enforcement results show 52 working at height outcomes, almost exclusively in construction, totalling $3.74 million in fines, costs and undertakings. That is a calendar year figure, so it does not match the government’s financial year number.
Infringement notice versus prosecution
An infringement notice is a fixed penalty an inspector can issue for an offence that regulations prescribe as an infringement offence. If it is paid on time, the offence is expiated: no further proceedings can be taken and no conviction is recorded. A prosecution is a court process that can end in a conviction and a fine set by the court, up to the maximum penalty for the offence.
Does paying an on the spot fine count as a conviction?
No. Under section 33 of the Infringements Act 2006, once an infringement penalty is paid, no further proceedings can be taken for that offence and no conviction is taken to have been recorded. Payment is also not an admission of guilt, or of liability in any civil claim arising from the same incident.
That matters for prequalification questionnaires, tenders and insurance proposals that ask about convictions. A paid notice is not one.
What has not been published yet?
Three pieces of detail are still missing.
The first is the regulations themselves. Infringement offences are prescribed in Schedule 20 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017. The consolidated version current at 20 October 2026 contains no falls offences, and we could not locate amending regulations on the Victorian legislation register when we checked on 21 October.
The March date is also not tied to the wider rewrite of the regulations. WorkSafe says the current regulations have been extended to April 2028 while that review runs.
The second is which records are captured. The release refers to safety records kept on hand for workers and inspectors, without naming them.
The third is which falls provisions apply. Part 3.3 of the regulations covers falls of more than two metres, while falls of two metres or less are covered by the general duties in the Act. The release does not say which provisions the new offence will attach to.
How does Victoria compare with other states?
Victoria runs its own Occupational Health and Safety Act rather than the harmonised model work health and safety laws used in most other jurisdictions.
In New South Wales, SafeWork inspectors were already issuing falls fines in 2021. During a construction blitz that year, the regulator reported fines of $3,600 for corporations and $720 for individuals for inadequate fall protection. Those were the amounts at the time.
Falls in Victorian construction remain the reason for the push. WorkSafe figures show 20 construction workers killed and more than 2,300 injured in falls since 2021.
THE GOOD BUILDER TAKE
The falls fine will get the headlines, but on a residential frame the SWMS offence is the one more likely to travel with it. From 31 March, an unprotected edge and a missing SWMS no longer have to wait for an investigation file and a court date. An inspector can deal with both at the end of a site visit. For builders who prepare the SWMS before the work starts and run edge protection as standard, nothing about their week changes. For those who have been relying on the odds that an inspector will not turn up, the odds have shifted. The penalty is small. The frequency is the point.
What actually changes on 31 March 2027?
The rules do not change. The duty to control the risk of a fall is the same today as it will be next March, and so is the requirement to have a SWMS before high risk work begins.
What changes is the distance between a breach and a consequence. Until now, a falls breach in Victoria meant a notice to fix it or a prosecution that can take more than a year to reach a sentence. From March, it can mean a fine written on the day. Combined with the falls enforcement escalation we reported in April, the direction is consistent: more consequences, delivered faster.
For a wider view of how state regulators are tightening oversight of builders, our guide to construction licensing and compliance in Australia tracks the changes as they land. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for the update when the regulations are published.
Frequently asked questions
The Victorian Government says WorkSafe inspectors will be able to issue on the spot fines for failing to control fall risks from 31 March 2027. The same start date applies to fines for starting high risk construction work without a safe work method statement and for failing to keep safety records on hand. As at 21 October 2026, the amending regulations had not been published on the Victorian legislation register.
Failing to manage fall risks will carry a fine of up to $418.20 for an individual and $2,091 for a company. Starting high risk construction work without a safe work method statement, or failing to keep safety records on hand, will carry fines of up to $250.92 for an individual and $1,254.60 for a company. Prosecution through the courts remains available, with much higher maximum penalties.
Yes, where there is a risk of a person falling more than two metres. Construction work with that risk is high risk construction work under Victorian OHS law, and WorkSafe’s position is that it must not be performed unless a safe work method statement has been prepared. Failing to keep a copy of a SWMS has been an infringement offence since 2021.
No. Under section 33 of the Infringements Act 2006, paying an infringement penalty on time means no further proceedings can be taken for the offence and no conviction is taken to have been recorded. Payment is not an admission of guilt, or an admission of liability in any civil claim arising from the same occurrence.
Related articles
- Victoria Will Fine Falls From Height On the Spot. Enforcement Moves From Rare to Routine.
- Victoria Doubles Down on Falls Enforcement
- Construction Licensing and Compliance in Australia
Last updated: 26 October 2026. Commencement dates, penalty amounts and penalty unit values can change. Confirm current requirements with WorkSafe Victoria.
General information only. This article reports on Victorian occupational health and safety law and a government announcement and does not constitute legal advice. Infringement offences, penalty amounts, penalty unit values and commencement dates can change. Builders and trades should confirm current requirements with WorkSafe Victoria and seek advice specific to their circumstances before acting.
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