In December 2025, two workers, including a 15-year-old, died on building sites in Queensland within a period of 24 hours.
Cases such as these have prompted Queensland's workplace safety regulator to escalate its scrutiny of the construction industry to a level not seen in years.
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) has been running rolling compliance campaigns across construction sites statewide since mid-2025, with inspectors auditing high-risk workplaces for mobile plant safety, traffic management, and falling object risks. The campaigns are ongoing into 2026, and enforcement action is soon to follow.
While there remain issues in other areas, construction makes up a large part of the problem. According to Safe Work Australia's Key WHS Statistics 2025, construction accounted for 12% of all serious workers' compensation claims nationally in 2023-24, making it the second-highest industry for serious claims behind health care and social assistance. In 2024 alone, 37 construction workers were killed on the job nationally, representing 20% of all workplace fatalities in Australia.
What triggered the crackdown
The compliance campaigns were a long time coming.
On 1 December 2025, Beau Bradford, a 15-year-old concreter, was killed at a Surfers Paradise building site when a heavy object fell from a concrete pump truck. The very next day, Kimura Dixon, 45, a father of eight, was crushed by a collapsing retaining wall at an apartment block construction site in West End, Brisbane. His 19-year-old stepson was trapped under the rubble for 90 minutes.
Workers had raised safety concerns about the West End retaining wall three weeks before it collapsed. At least one worker reported seeing the wall move. It’s just unfortunate that no preventative action was taken.
In 2023, according to Safe Work Australia, Queensland’s workplace fatality rate was higher than the national average. Where the national average saw 1.4 deaths per 100,000, Queensland sat at 1.8.
What inspectors are looking for
The WHSQ’s Compliance and Field Services Proactive Compliance Program 2024-2027 operates within specific task areas.
In mid-2025, the focus was on mobile plant and traffic management, targeting how construction sites manage the interaction between pedestrians and heavy equipment. In early 2026, the campaign shifted focus to falling objects, covering crane lifts, scaffolding, formwork, elevated work platforms, precast panels, and general material storage.
Inspectors are on the lookout for hazards, safe systems of work, and compliance with WHS legislation. Where breaches are found, enforcement action follows. The tools available to inspectors include prohibition notices (which stop work immediately), improvement notices (which require issues to be fixed within a specified timeframe), and infringement notices (which impose fines for non-compliance).
Scaffolding has been a persistent weak point. WorkSafe Queensland data from 2021-22 showed 1,265 enforcement notices were issued for scaffolding contraventions alone, including 338 prohibition notices. Common failures include missing components, gaps between the scaffold and the building, and routine inspections not being carried out.
Also read: From Tragedy to Transformation: How Queensland's Worst Work Accidents Changed Safety Laws Forever
New reporting rules from February 2026
From 1 February 2026, Queensland streamlined how construction safety incidents are reported. QBCC licensees now only report incidents to WHSQ, removing the previous requirement to report to both the QBCC and WHSQ.
Penalties for failing to report serious incidents to WHSQ have also increased, from 80 to 100 penalty units.
The change removes a layer of bureaucracy, but it also concentrates enforcement power. WHSQ is now the single point of accountability for construction incident reporting in Queensland.
What non-compliance means for injured workers
Here is where the crackdown connects to something practical for anyone who works on a building site.
If a worker is injured on a construction site that is later found to be non-compliant with safety laws, that non-compliance can become central to a compensation claim.
Under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld), injured workers are entitled to statutory workers' compensation regardless of who was at fault. But a separate avenue exists for workers who can show their employer was negligent.
A common law claim for damages allows an injured worker to seek additional compensation for full loss of earnings (past and future), pain and suffering, and ongoing medical and rehabilitation costs. To succeed, the worker must show their employer breached their duty of care and that this breach caused the injury.
Evidence of safety non-compliance, such as a prohibition notice, a failed audit, or a documented history of safety complaints, can support that claim. If inspectors have already identified the breach, an injured worker can use this as a jumping-off point, reducing delays.
Recent amendments to Queensland's workers' compensation laws have also increased penalties for employers who fail to meet rehabilitation and return-to-work obligations. The maximum penalty for dismissing a worker primarily because of their injury has risen to 500 penalty units ($83,450).
What injured construction workers can actually do
If you have been injured on a construction site in Queensland, there are steps you can take to protect your position.
First, report the injury to your employer in writing and lodge a WorkCover claim within six months of the date of injury. Keep copies of everything: medical certificates, incident reports, photographs of the site, and any safety concerns you raised before the injury occurred.
If you believe the injury happened because of unsafe conditions, missing safety equipment, or a failure to follow safety procedures, that context matters. It may form the basis of a common law claim for damages, which, as mentioned above, sits on top of standard WorkCover entitlements.
The time limit for a common law claim in Queensland is three years from the date of injury. But evidence degrades, witnesses move on, and sites change. Acting early can make a big difference to the success of your claim.
The bigger picture
Queensland's construction industry employs hundreds of thousands of workers, most of whom go to work and return home safely.
Yet a familiar pattern persists. Concerns are raised, dismissed or delayed, and eventually someone is injured, or worse.
The compliance campaigns now underway aim to interrupt that pattern early by identifying risks before they become tragedies.
