A Western Australian worker has just become the first individual convicted under the WHS Act 2020 and the implications reach every workplace in Australia.

Why This Case Changes Everything

In September 2025, a Perth Magistrates Court handed down a conviction that sent shockwaves through Australia's workplace health and safety landscape. For the first time under Western Australia's Work Health and Safety Act 2020, an individual worker (not a company, not a director, not an executive) was convicted of a workplace safety breach.

His name is Kyle Van Wyk. He pleaded guilty. He was convicted. And he now carries a criminal record.

There was no fine, but the court ordered him to complete 75 hours of community service and pay $3,556.70 in prosecution costs.

The financial number looks small, but the precedent it sets is enormous.

This is the case that proves WHS law is no longer someone else's problem. It belongs to every single person who sets foot on a worksite.

The Case at a Glance

Note on Case Details

WorkSafe WA has withheld the full incident details while related court proceedings against another party (almost certainly the employer/PCBU) are still pending. This means a second prosecution from the same incident is still working through the courts, a fact that reinforces just how seriously this incident was treated by the regulator.

What Was Kyle Van Wyk Charged With?

Van Wyk was charged under Sections 28 and 31(2) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA). Section 28 is the part of the Act that most workers don't realise applies to them personally. It sets out the duties every worker carries regardless of their role, seniority, or employment type.

Section 28 — The Worker's Personal Duty

Under Section 28, every worker must:

• Take reasonable care for their own health and safety

• Take reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other people at the workplace

• Comply, so far as they are reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction given by the PCBU

• Cooperate with any reasonable health and safety policies or procedures that have been notified to workers

Van Wyk was found to have breached multiple parts of this duty simultaneously:

• he failed in his own conduct,

• failed to follow instructions from the PCBU, and

• failed to follow known safety procedures.

His failures caused serious harm to another person.

Section 31(2) — The Category 2 Offence

Section 31(2) is a Category 2 offence under the Act. For a Category 2 charge to succeed, the prosecution must prove that the person's failure to comply with their WHS duty exposed another person to a risk of death, injury or harm to health.

In this case, it went further than exposure to risk, Van Wyk's conduct caused serious harm.

That is what elevated the charge and drove WorkSafe WA to prosecute a frontline worker rather than simply pursuing the employer alone.

⚠ This Is Not a Fine Story. It Is a Conviction Story.

A criminal conviction under the WHS Act 2020 stays with a person. It can affect future employment, licences, and working rights. Kyle Van Wyk did not pay a fine and walk away. He was convicted in a court of law — the same way someone is convicted of any criminal offence.

Why Was He Found Guilty?

The conviction rested on three overlapping failures that together resulted in serious harm to another person at the workplace:

• He did not take reasonable care that his own conduct would not harm others — his acts or omissions directly contributed to the harm

• He failed to comply with a reasonable instruction given by the PCBU — meaning he was told what to do, and he did not do it

• He failed to cooperate with the workplace's health and safety policies or procedures — procedures that had been communicated to him as a worker

Critically, the court accepted his guilty plea. Van Wyk did not fight the charges. He acknowledged that his conduct fell short of what the law required of him as a worker.

The fact that he had no prior history of WHS offences likely influenced the sentencing outcome, community service rather than imprisonment, but it did not spare him from conviction.

The Precedent: What This Means Now

Before 9 September 2025, there was a widely held assumption across Australian industry: WHS law is for companies and their bosses. Workers might have duties on paper, but in practice, the regulator goes after the employer.

Kyle Van Wyk's conviction dismantles that assumption entirely.

Here is what has changed:

1. Workers Are Duty Holders — Not Spectators

Section 28 has always existed. The Van Wyk case is the first time WorkSafe WA has followed through on it against a frontline worker under the WHS Act 2020. That changes the psychological and legal reality for every person working under someone else's direction in Western Australia, and sends a clear signal to regulators in every other state that it can be done.

2. 'I Was Just Doing My Job' Is Not a Defence

If instructions existed and you didn't follow them, that is a breach. If safety procedures were in place and communicated to you, ignoring them is a breach. The Act requires workers to comply with reasonable instructions and cooperate with reasonable procedures. Not knowing, not caring, or simply choosing not to are not defences once those systems were in place.

3. Individual Criminal Records Are Now a Real Risk

Companies get fined. Workers can now get convicted. A criminal conviction under the WHS Act 2020 is not an administrative penalty, it is a criminal outcome with lasting consequences. It can affect employment history, professional licensing, and rights to work in certain roles. The 75-hour community service order Van Wyk received reflects his personal circumstances and guilty plea. The legislation allows for imprisonment.

4. The Employer Prosecution Is Still Coming

WorkSafe WA withheld the incident details because related proceedings against another party are still pending. This tells us the regulator pursued both the individual worker and the employer. Both are in the courts. Safety failures of this severity attract consequences up and down the chain of responsibility, not just at the top.

What Every Worker Needs to Understand Right Now

If you work for someone, on tools, in a yard, on a site, in a warehouse, in a vehicle, you have personal WHS duties.

Not your employer's duties. Your duties.

Here is what that means in practice:

• Know your procedures. Read and understand your workplace's safety policies and procedures. Ignorance is not protection.

• Follow reasonable instructions. When your employer or supervisor gives you safety instructions, follow it. If you believe it is unsafe, raise it through the proper channels. Do not simply disregard it.

• Look out for those around you. If you see a hazard or a risk, report it. Your duty to take care extends to others around you, not just yourself

• Ask if you are unsure. Ask questions if you are unsure about a task. The WHS Act requires you to act 'so far as reasonably able’ which means doing what a reasonable person in your position would do, including seeking clarification.

• Document safety concerns. Document your concerns. If you raise a safety issue and it is not addressed, record it. This protects you and contributes to the overall safety of the workplace.

What Every PCBU and Employer Needs to Do

This case does not reduce PCBU obligations, it adds a layer of accountability that now runs through your entire workforce. If WorkSafe WA was willing to prosecute a worker, they will equally pursue you for failing to build the systems that prevent these situations.

Here is where to focus:

• Worker duty awareness. Your induction processes must make Section 28 duties crystal clear to every new worker from day one.

• Document and communicate. Safe Work Method Statements, procedures, and safety policies must be communicated, signed off, and regularly reviewed, not filed away.

• Enforce and record. Supervisors and team leaders must enforce compliance with safety instructions and document any instances of non-compliance.

• Manage non-compliance formally. If a worker fails to follow instructions or cooperate with safety procedures, address it formally. Record it, counsel the worker, and escalate if it continues.

• Train on worker duties specifically. Conduct regular toolbox talks that specifically address worker duties under the WHS Act, not just company obligations.

The Broader Picture — Where This Fits

The Van Wyk case does not exist in isolation. WorkSafe WA has dramatically increased its enforcement activity since the WHS Act 2020 came into force in March 2022.

The prosecution summaries published on WorkSafe WA's website show a consistent pattern: companies are being fined in the hundreds of thousands, officers are being prosecuted alongside their businesses, and now individual workers are being convicted.

Australia's model WHS laws were designed to create a chain of accountability, from the highest levels of a business down to every person at work. This conviction is the first time that chain has been pulled all the way to the ground in WA. It will not be the last.

For the Queensland workforce, including Synergy Safety Solutions' clients across construction, council operations, and industrial sectors, this WA precedent carries a clear warning.

The laws are substantively the same. The regulatory intent is the same.

What WorkSafe WA has shown is what Queensland's regulators are equally empowered to do.

The Bottom Line

Kyle Van Wyk's conviction is a line in the sand.

For years, workers have been told they have WHS duties.

For years, many assumed those duties were theoretical. They are not.

Serious harm happened. A person was hurt. A worker, not just an employer, was held personally responsible in a court of law. He now has a criminal conviction. And somewhere in Western Australia, the employer is still waiting for their own day in court.

Safety is not a form you sign at induction. It is not a poster on the wall. It is a daily obligation that belongs to every single person at work, from the CEO to the person holding the tools. That is what the WHS Act has always said.

Kyle Van Wyk's conviction is what it looks like when those words are enforced.

Need to Review Your WHS Obligations?

Synergy Safety Solutions provides WHS compliance assessments, worker duty training, SWMS development, and workplace consultation services across Queensland.

If this case has raised questions about your workplace's safety systems, for you as a worker or as a business, get in touch. The best time to get your house in order is before something goes wrong.

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Disclaimer: This blog post is for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. The case details referenced are drawn from WorkSafe WA's published prosecution summary (September 2025). For legal advice specific to your circumstances, consult a qualified WHS lawyer.