Glad You Asked #4 - Are you a Category 1 Employer in NSW? Don’t wait for a notice to find out.
You might be a Category 1 employer in NSW and not know it until a worker's injured, a claim's underway, or an inspector asks to see your return to work program. The "we've got something saved somewhere" approach doesn't hold up well under scrutiny. Usually the problem isn't that nothing exists, it's that what exists wasn't built for Category 1 or doesn't reflect how RTW actually works in your business.
Are you Category 1 or Category 2?
You're Category 1 if any of these apply:
Your basic tariff premium is over $50,000/year
You're self-insured
You're insured by a specialised insurer and employ 20+ workers
Everyone else is Category 2. However, both need a documented RTW program within 12 months. the difference is how much is required, and how much help you get.
Category 2: just use the free template
State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) provides a free standard RTW program for Category 2 employers. It's fit for purpose, free, and genuinely all most Category 2 businesses need. Grab it, tailor it, consult your workers, done. You can find a link to the template here.
Category 1: no template, on purpose
Unfortunately, there are no fill-in-the-blanks option here. Instead you get Guidelines (minimum content requirements) and a self-audit checklist. Your program has to align with your insurer's injury management program, name your RTW coordinator and their authority, connect to your WHS policies, set out worker consultation, and cover injured-worker dismissals under NSW law and be reviewed every two years.
Who enforces it, and what it costs
SIRA makes the rules under section 52 of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998, which means this is a legal obligation, not guidance. SafeWork NSW inspectors enforce it on the ground and can issue improvement notices.
Get it wrong, and:
It's an offence. Failing to establish or display a compliant RTW program is a breach of section 52.
Related duties carry hard penalties. Failing to provide suitable employment to an injured worker, carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units, currently $5,500.
Your premium wears it. The scheme is experience-rated, so poor return to work outcomes and a failure to provide suitable work feed straight into a higher workers compensation premium, year after year. Often the most expensive consequence.
It surfaces at the worst possible time. A deficient program rarely gets noticed when things are calm. It gets noticed when you're already managing a claim, a complaint or an inspector. Complaints can be referred to the Independent Review Office, SIRA, and escalated to SafeWork NSW.
The AI shortcut that backfires
Paste a prompt into a general AI tool and you'll get something that looks like a compliant program in minutes. The problem: it doesn't know your insurer's injury management program, won't flag NSW-specific gaps, and won't tell you what's missing. It may read compliant but it isn't. That gap between "looks right" and "is right" is exactly where a non-compliance notice finds you.
What to actually do
Option 1: Fully customised program, built with us — tailored to your insurer, structure and risk profile. Best for complex operations or higher-risk sectors.
Option 2: Our expert-built Category 1 template — structured around SIRA's requirements, with guided prompts for the parts that need tailoring. Less risk than a blank page, far cheaper than a custom build.