To Comply, You Must Buy, But Not Any More

After years of people across the safety industry asking the same very reasonable question of “why are legally referenced safety documents sitting behind a paywall?”, we have a win!

In mid-May, the Australian Government announced funding in the 2026–27 Federal Budget to support free public read-only access to Australian Standards referenced in Commonwealth, state and territory legislation.

The announcement was welcomed by the Australian Institute of Health & Safety, which has been advocating on the issue since 2018. And honestly, for many people working in safety, construction, engineering, events, facilities, compliance, and operations, this is a very long overdue announcement.

Because the reality is that for years workplaces have constantly been told:

• you must comply with Australian Standards
• you must follow Australian Standards
• your systems should align with Australian Standards
• your venue should meet Australian Standards
• your equipment should comply with Australian Standards

But then someone actually tries to access one and discovers it can cost hundreds of dollars for a single document. And if you need multiple standards? Suddenly you are looking at a bill running into the thousands.

Large corporations can usually absorb that cost. Small businesses often cannot.

Community organisations struggle.

Volunteer groups struggle.

Small event organisers struggle.

Independent contractors struggle.

And then people end up relying on outdated copies, screenshots, summaries, or somebody else’s interpretation because access itself becomes a barrier.

And that is where this whole conversation has always started feeling totally ridiculous.

Because if something is important enough to be referenced in legislation, contracts, permits, audits, procurement requirements, venue rules, engineering sign-offs, or enforcement notices, then surely people should be able to actually read it.

A lot of people also do not realise that Australian Standards themselves are generally not legislation.

They are technical documents developed through committees coordinated by Standards Australia. Those committees can include engineers, regulators, unions, manufacturers, technical experts, industry representatives, safety professionals, academics, and operational specialists.

The idea is to create agreed technical guidance and consistency across industries.

Some standards are voluntary.

Some become recognised as industry best practice.

Some are referenced through legislation or regulations.

Some are adopted into the National Construction Code.

Some become “deemed to satisfy” pathways.

Some are written directly into contracts and procurement requirements.

But operationally, many workplaces do not really care about the distinction between “mandatory” and “technically voluntary but practically expected.” Because if an inspector, auditor, venue, engineer, insurer, principal contractor, council, or client asks whether you complied with the relevant Australian Standard, most businesses are not going to argue semantics in the middle of a project or incident. They are simply going to try and comply.

And that is why the paywall issue has frustrated so many people for so long. Particularly in safety.

Because this is not niche information hidden away in a university archive somewhere. These standards influence real-world decisions involving:

• fire safety
• exits and egress
• temporary structures
• electrical safety
• fall prevention
• playgrounds
• crowd management
• accessibility
• emergency lighting
• hazardous substances
• lifting equipment
• public events
• gas systems
• amusement devices
• workplace design

and countless other areas that directly affect public and worker safety every single day.

Yet many people working in those environments have never actually been able to easily access the full documents themselves.

So instead, what often happens operationally is this:

• someone forwards an old .pdf
• somebody quotes one paragraph out of context
• people rely on toolbox talk versions of standards
• consultants paraphrase sections
• venues create their own interpretations
• or somebody says “I was told this is what the standard says”

And sometimes that information is accurate. Sometimes it is not. And that creates its own risk. Because there is a massive difference between genuinely understanding a requirement and simply relying on second-hand interpretations floating around the industry.

Now to be fair, developing standards properly is not cheap. It takes consultation, technical expertise, committee reviews, drafting, revisions, industry input, and ongoing updates. None of that magically appears for free and this article is not pretending otherwise. But there has always been a legitimate question sitting underneath all of this: Should safety-critical information that workplaces are expected to comply with be difficult or expensive to access?

A lot of people would argue ‘no’.

The line from the AIHS announcement probably says it best: “Standards that people are legally required to comply with should not sit behind a paywall.”

It is hard to argue with that logic.

And honestly, this will improve safety outcomes over time simply because more people will finally be able to directly access the source material themselves instead of relying on fragments, interpretations, or hearsay.

Will it solve every compliance problem in Australia? Of course not.

People will still misunderstand standards. People will still misapply standards.

People will still ignore standards.

And there will still be debates about what is mandatory versus what is guidance.

But removing a major access barrier is still significant. Particularly for smaller operators who are trying to do the right thing without massive compliance budgets sitting behind them.

For years, many industries have quietly accepted the strange contradiction that people could be legally expected to comply with documents they could not freely read. This announcement finally acknowledges how ridiculous that situation actually was. This feels like one of those rare moments where common sense may finally be catching up with compliance. Bring it on!