NSW launches Silica Worker Register with 28-day registration deadline
15 Oct 2025•BlueSafe Team•Source: SafeWork NSW
The NSW Government has launched a Silica Worker Register to track the health of workers undertaking high-risk processing of crystalline silica substances. Businesses must register affected workers as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 28 days of starting work.
The registration requirement falls under the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Silica Worker Register) Regulation 2025. It applies to persons conducting a business or undertaking whose workers carry out high-risk processing of crystalline silica substances, including tasks such as cutting, drilling, grinding and polishing.
Inhaling very fine crystalline silica dust can cause diseases including silicosis. Workers in mining, construction, tunnelling and engineered stone industries face the greatest risk. NSW has recorded 516 silicosis cases and 36 deaths from the disease since 2017.
SafeWork NSW inspectors have carried out more than 5,200 silica-related workplace visits since 2018. Across that period, the regulator issued 2,496 improvement notices, 181 prohibition notices and 33 penalty notices relating to silica dust across industries. More than 100 inspections have also taken place at Sydney metropolitan tunnelling sites since January 2024.
Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis said the register would help target high-risk areas, minimise exposure, inform health screening services and improve workers’ health outcomes. She said it built on measures including the engineered stone ban, the Tunnelling Dust Safety Taskforce, a dedicated SafeWork NSW Silica unit and a recent $2.5 million investment in the icare Lung mobile clinic.
SafeWork NSW Commissioner Janet Schorer said workers undertaking high-risk processing could be exposed to respirable crystalline silica dust, which can cause silicosis and lung cancer. She described the register as a way to support health monitoring and detect changes in workers’ health as early as possible. Schorer also called on businesses to understand their legal obligations to register workers undertaking high-risk processing at their workplaces.
Schorer said SafeWork NSW continued to work with industry on compliance with existing safety standards for crystalline silica. Icare CEO Geniere Apin said the register was an important step in strengthening workplace safety and that icare was working with SafeWork to help employers meet their obligations and protect workers’ health.
AWU NSW Branch Secretary Tony Callinan said silicosis could take years to develop, making exposure tracking and workers’ health a long-term concern. He welcomed the announcement but said strong enforcement and proper medical follow-up were needed to support it.
Information about registering workers and the details employers must provide is available on the silica worker register notification page on SafeWork NSW’s website.
How Blue Safe can help: Our WHS platform can help businesses organise registers, training records and inspections as part of their ongoing safety management. It supports internal record-keeping but does not replace registration with SafeWork NSW. See Blue Safe WHS software