Safe Work Australia’s review of the national WHS laws wants specific regulations on extreme heat, and temperature thresholds are among the options it points to. None of it applies this summer. Unions and contractors already disagree on what the rules should say.
There is no temperature in Australian work health and safety law at which a building site must stop work. That could change. It will not change before this summer.
On 19 October, Safe Work Australia published the final report of its Best Practice Review of the model WHS laws. Recommendation 20 of its 21 calls for a national strategy on climate change that includes new model regulations on extreme heat, air quality and vector borne diseases. We covered the review’s wider changes for construction when it landed.
On 5 November, Safe Work Australia chief executive Marie Boland announced the strategy at a research forum in Brisbane. She said the aim is for the WHS framework to give workers nationally consistent protection from climate risks, backed by consistent enforcement between regulators.
For builders heading into December, the rules on site are the ones that applied last summer. What comes after that is now a live question.
The law this summer rests on general duties, not a number
Under the model laws, a business must ensure the health and safety of workers so far as is reasonably practicable. Regulation 40 of the model WHS Regulations adds a specific duty for the person with management or control of a workplace. Workers carrying out work in extremes of heat or cold must be able to do so without risk to their health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable. Safe Work Australia’s guidance on working in heat sets out how those duties apply.
The approved Code of Practice on managing the work environment and facilities adds the detail. It says workers in extreme heat or cold must be able to work without risk to their physical and psychosocial health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable. Where exposure to extreme heat cannot be eliminated, the risk of heat related illness must be minimised. The model Act separately requires a business to monitor conditions at the workplace.
Workers also have the right to stop work they reasonably believe is unsafe, and trained health and safety representatives can direct that unsafe work stop, according to Safe Work Australia.
What the law does not contain is a trigger. The ACTU has described the current regime as having no mandatory temperature thresholds or binding heat stress protocols. Some jurisdictions have gone further on guidance. Queensland’s regulator offers an online heat stress calculator, and the ACT approved a code of practice on managing extreme temperatures in 2025. Victoria sits outside the model framework altogether.
What is a model WHS regulation?
Model WHS Regulations are drafted nationally through Safe Work Australia as the basis for consistent laws across the country. They have no legal effect on their own. A model regulation applies in a state or territory only once that jurisdiction makes it part of its own law. Victoria has not adopted the model WHS laws.
The review proposes regulations, but not yet what they would say
The review accepts that heat is already covered by the primary duty and regulation 40, but says those rules were written for business as usual risks. It cites the International Labour Organization’s finding that general rules of this kind are inadequate for a warming planet.
It wants the heat regulations progressed as a priority, inside a wider project to modernise the model WHS Regulations.
It also sets out the scale of the problem. Between 2012 and 2022, 1,434 working age men and 716 working age women were hospitalised because of extreme heat, a gap the review says may reflect the number of men in outdoor work.
It also prioritises a construction code of practice, and names construction, civil works, agriculture and road transport as the outdoor industries that would most benefit from heat advice in industry codes.
The review does not draft the regulation. It does point to what the ILO suggests: following countries that have legislated heat stress indicators, temperature thresholds, and protective measures such as rest areas, hydration, training and PPE. Whether Australia lands on a threshold, a defined risk process, or both is the open question.
There is no temperature in Australian work health and safety law at which a building site must stop work.
Unions and contractors disagree on whether a temperature should decide it
The ACTU wants a heat regulation requiring controls such as rest breaks, work scheduling and work stoppages at defined temperature thresholds, along with workers’ compensation coverage for heat related illness. It has not put numbers on them. Its November 2025 position paper recommended a regulation built on risk assessment criteria, similar to the hazardous manual tasks regulation.
The Civil Contractors Federation has taken the opposite view. In February, national chief executive Nicholas Proud rejected automatic national shutdown rules. He argued heat risk depends on several factors and cannot be reduced to a single temperature. He pointed to state frameworks, including WorkSafe WA guidance, that manage heat through adjusted start times, task rotation, extra rest breaks, shade, hydration and monitoring.
Proud warned a blanket trigger would replace judgement and consultation and cost hotter regions weeks of work a year. The federation wants state systems strengthened, not national rules laid over them.
Both positions were set out before the review was published. Neither has yet been tested against a draft regulation, because there is not one.
NSW has been asked to move first, and has pointed back to the national process
In April, the NSW Net Zero Commission recommended amending the NSW WHS Regulations to mandate heat stress prevention plans and safe heat thresholds. The review cites that recommendation, alongside the ACT’s extreme temperatures code, and warns that states responding separately would weaken national consistency.
The NSW Government responded on 21 October. It accepted the finding on workplace heat in principle, but said the practical implementation of any regulatory change needs further consideration. Because NSW has signed the agreement on harmonised WHS laws, it said proposed amendments should go through the national processes.
That puts the decision back with Safe Work Australia and WHS ministers, and makes different heat rules on each side of a border less likely, for now.
Model regulations take years to reach a site
The recommendations sit with WHS ministers. A strategy has to be developed, a regulation drafted and agreed, and each state and territory then has to make it part of its own law. Victoria would decide separately.
That puts any national heat regulation beyond this summer.
For builders, the question is how heat gets judged on site
Residential sites carry the same duty as major projects, often with smaller crews. Roof work, framing in direct sun and work in enclosed roof spaces fill a long summer. The cost of heatwaves on building sites is already part of that picture.
Heat duties run across the site. A builder and the subcontractors on that site can each hold duties for the same work, and the model Act requires duty holders who share a duty to consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other.
A threshold model would draw a line that everyone on site could see. A risk based regulation would sharpen the general duty builders already carry, with more defined steps and records. The debate now is which of those Australia chooses, and our Building Better guide will track it as the strategy takes shape.
Until then, the duty on site this summer is the one that already exists. It does not come with a number.
Follow The Good Builder for updates as the strategy develops, and tell us how heat is managed on your sites.
Frequently asked questions
No. The model WHS laws do not set a temperature at which work must stop. Businesses must manage the risk of working in heat so far as is reasonably practicable, under the primary duty and regulation 40 of the model WHS Regulations.
Recommendation 20 of the review, published on 19 October 2026, calls for a national climate strategy that includes new model regulations on extreme heat, air quality and vector borne diseases, progressed as a priority. The review also recommends a construction industry code of practice and names construction among the outdoor industries that would benefit from heat advice.
Not yet. The review does not draft the regulation, but it points to the ILO’s suggestion of following countries that have legislated heat stress indicators, temperature thresholds and protective measures. The ACTU wants thresholds; the Civil Contractors Federation opposes a single temperature trigger.
No. The recommendations sit with WHS ministers. Any new model regulation would need to be drafted, agreed and then adopted by each state and territory before it applied. Victoria sits outside the model WHS framework.
Under the model WHS laws, workers can stop work they reasonably believe is unsafe, and trained health and safety representatives can direct that unsafe work stop. That applies to heat as it does to other hazards.
Related articles
- Workplace Deaths Hit 222 as National WHS Review Puts Construction Codes on the Priority List
- The Hidden Cost of Heatwaves on Building Sites
- Building Better Guide
Last updated: 10 November 2026. Regulatory position reflects Safe Work Australia publications at that date.
General Information Only: The content we publish is provided for general informational and educational purposes. It is not legal or work health and safety advice and should not be relied on as such. Work health and safety duties vary between jurisdictions. Contact your state or territory regulator, or seek independent advice, before acting on anything in this article.
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