A report asks a body to look; it does not hand your case over to it. WorkSafe WA says it investigates for its own purposes, not on behalf of the person who complained, and Comcare says it does not advocate for individuals or mediate between parties.
Which concern goes where
Each row is one body’s own instruction for its own state or territory. A row for one state does not tell you how another state does it; for those, start from Safe Work Australia’s list of regulators.
| The concern | Where | Who takes it |
|---|---|---|
| A hazard or unsafe work at a workplace | Every state and territory | The work health and safety regulator for that state or territory; Comcare under the Commonwealth Act, where anyone can raise a concern. |
| A death, serious injury or illness, or dangerous incident at work | NSW | SafeWork NSW, which says to call it immediately, no matter the day or time, on 13 10 50. |
| A shock or tingle from an appliance or a tap | Queensland | Your electricity distributor, straight away, at any hour; the Electrical Safety Office lists the distributors on its shocks page. Energex: 13 19 62. Ergon Energy: 13 16 70. Essential Energy: 13 20 80. Rio Tinto at Weipa: 1800 820 711. |
| Any electric shock, or property damage from an electrical incident | Western Australia | The law requires it to be reported. Building and Energy lists the network operators to call, and takes the report itself on freecall 1800 678 198, at all hours, if you don’t know the operator. |
| An electrical incident | Victoria | Energy Safe Victoria, on 1800 000 922 or its incident form. |
| Unlicensed or dangerous electrical work | Queensland | The Electrical Safety Office. |
| A gas leak or gas emergency | Victoria | The emergency number on your gas bill, at any time, and 000 straight away if there is a fire or emergency. |
| A fuel gas accident, incident or near miss | Western Australia | Both the gas supplier and Building and Energy. |
| A home gas installation that breaks the rules but poses no safety risk | Victoria | The Building and Plumbing Commission. Where there is a safety risk, Energy Safe Victoria is the lead agency. |
| An unsafe or non-compliant pool | Queensland | The local council, at any time. A tenant should also tell the landlord. |
| A pool safety inspector breaching their code of conduct | Queensland | The QBCC, through its portal or on its PDF form. |
| A building certifier’s conduct | Queensland | The QBCC, on its complaint form, with the declaration signed and witnessed. |
What each body can, and cannot, do for you
Each of these bodies says on its own page where its job stops. Knowing that before you report saves a wasted wait.
WorkSafe WA
Can: take enforcement action if it finds a breach, such as an improvement or prohibition notice or a prosecution, as its report unsafe work page explains.
Cannot: investigate every complaint, or investigate on your behalf.
Comcare
Can: monitor and enforce the Commonwealth Act, and reply within 5 business days to say what it may do and whether another agency could help.
Cannot: advocate for individuals, give legal advice, mediate, or remove alleged bullies from a workplace. It points disputes about termination, pay and conditions to the Fair Work Ombudsman, discrimination and harassment to the Australian Human Rights Commission, and violence that may be a crime to the police.
Energy Safe Victoria
Can: take complaints about the safety or technical compliance of gas, electricity and pipelines, including anonymous ones. If you are unhappy with how it handled yours, you can ask it for an internal review, or go to the Victorian Ombudsman.
Cannot: deal with billing, customer service, quality of work, or contract and money disputes, which other agencies handle.
The QBCC, on certifiers
Can: investigate written complaints, take disciplinary action, audit certifiers’ work, enforce their code of conduct, and keep the public register.
Cannot: regulate the contract between a certifier and the people who engaged them, order a refund of certification fees, or take a complaint against a company rather than an individual certifier. Its investigation typically leaves out how a certifier communicates, such as not answering emails.
The evidence each body asks for
| Body | What it asks for |
|---|---|
| Energy Safe Victoria | As much factual information and evidence as it needs to understand the problem, including the outcome you want. |
| The QBCC, on a pool safety inspector | The names of any witnesses, supporting documents and photographs. |
| The QBCC, on a building certifier | Evidence and reasons, such as engineer’s reports, inspection certificates, the approval notice and documents, and photographs. |
| SafeWork NSW | The workplace’s address and where in it the problem is, exactly what the issue is (working at heights or plant, for example), and the name and address of whoever controls the workplace. |
Staying anonymous, and what it costs
Several bodies accept reports without a name, and they describe the same trade-off. Energy Safe Victoria deals with anonymous complaints on their merits, but may not be able to investigate if it cannot contact you. SafeWork NSW says its inspectors will not reveal who made a request to the workplace parties involved without consent, and that if you stay anonymous an inspector cannot ask you for more or tell you the result. WorkSafe ACT takes anonymous reports, and asks for contact details only if you want a response.
Two protections for workers
Under the Commonwealth’s Work Health and Safety Act 2011, raising a safety concern with the business, an inspector, a health and safety representative or another worker is a prohibited reason for discriminatory conduct such as dismissal (sections 104 to 106), and if an issue stays unresolved any party to it may ask the regulator to send an inspector (section 82); your state’s own Act applies, so check with your regulator.
What that inspector may then do is set out in the guide to what a WHS inspector can do.