If you are a declared dam owner, Dams Safety NSW is responsible for monitoring your compliance with dams safety legislation. We identify non-compliance through audits or other information sources.
Dams Safety NSW exercises a range of proactive, planned compliance activities with declared dam owners, including:
- running a risk-based audit program with compliance priorities determined by dam consequence category and other risk factors
- risk-based inspections.
We will audit the policies, processes and procedures of declared dam owners according to a schedule based on compliance priorities. Audits can take the form of desktop or field audits, and we will create a report after each audit.
After your dam is audited, we will clearly communicate whether you need to change systems or practices.
Information from audits helps to:
- detect non-compliance in a timely manner
- determine level and trends in compliance
- identify where action may be needed to avoid or mitigate dam safety risks
- identify when and what type of education or enforcement may be needed
- assess and review the effectiveness of regulatory projects, education and information programs.
Compliance and enforcement activities
Dams Safety NSW takes a fair and transparent approach when responding to non-compliance in accordance with the Dams Safety Act 2015. We strive to be clear about our decision-making processes and outcomes and ensure procedural fairness. Our quarterly compliance and enforcement activity reports help declared dam owners and the community better understand the work we do to help ensure the safety of NSW’s declared dams.
Compliance and enforcement activity report: April-June 2024
Compliance and enforcement activity report: July-September 2024
Compliance and enforcement activity report: October-December 2024
Compliance and enforcement activity report: January-March 2025
Compliance and enforcement activity report: April-June 2025
Compliance and enforcement activity report: July-September 2025
Regulatory priorities for 2025-2026
Dams Safety NSW is committed to regularly reporting our regulatory priorities. We publish our priorities to increase transparency and community confidence in our regulatory activities and increase levels of voluntary compliance.
The following are our 2025-26 regulatory priorities.
The audit and compliance program is developed using a risk-based approach to ensure timely and efficient allocation of our resources. The program addresses our Regulatory Policy, legislative requirements and the AS/NZ ISO 19011:2019 guideline for auditing management systems.
Our 2025-2026 audit and compliance program will focus on:
- Annual Dams Safety Standards Reports desktop verification audits for Significant consequence category dams and the dams that were not audited (ADSSR verification) in past
- Operations & Maintenance Plans focusing on document content, inspection / maintenance and records (clause 9 and clause 27 of the Regulation):
- Dams with a mix of consequence category (i.e. high and significant CC)
- Dams that have not been previously audited
- Compliance with Emergency Exercise requirements for high-risk dams (clause 22 of the Regulation)
- Dams Safety Management System requirements focusing the dams not audited in past, if possible (clause 12 and clause 13 of the Regulation)
- New works audits – dams in design, construction, commissioning or decommissioning phase
Dams Safety NSW will also maintain an increased regulatory oversight of dams with a societal or individual risk known to be above the safety threshold, as defined in the Regulation.
We periodically review our compliance priorities to ensure they remain relevant and consistent with our Strategic objectives.
Dams Safety NSW seeks to increase voluntary compliance through a cooperative and collaborative approach. We recognise that engagement with declared dam owners is an important way to influence safety behaviours.
Our education program aims to empower, support and enhance the capability of dam owners to manage dams safely for the NSW community.
Dams Safety NSW seeks to increase voluntary compliance through a cooperative and collaborative approach. We recognise that engagement with declared dam owners is an important way to influence safety behaviours.
Our education program aims to empower, support and enhance the capability of dam owners to manage dams safely for the NSW community.
Our 2025-26 education program will focus on:
- asset management requirements for declared dams
- sectors of lower engagement satisfaction and/or involvement with DSNSW
- owners’ self-reported knowledge and skill gaps
- preparing risk reports for dam safety consultants
Our regulatory projects address emerging regulatory problems (or issues) that cut across Dams Safety NSW’s compliance and education programs or address particular events or risks.
We focus on solving problems that have the greatest impact on dam safety management and compliance and prioritise them according to the potential impact of the risk or problem to people and environmental and economic assets.
Regulatory projects define and investigate the root causes of a priority problem (like a lack of information on the capacity of the NSW consulting industry to produce risk reports) and then applying an appropriate mix of regulatory tools to try to fix it. This could include, for example, research, information and guidance, new policy requirements, incentives and enforcement actions. During and after a regulatory project, the impact of the new initiatives are measured to see if they are resolving the problem, or whether more changes need to be made. If a regulatory project is effective, its approach can become part of what we do as normal business.
Regulatory oversight committee
The Dams Safety NSW Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) ensures that there is appropriate internal oversight, accountability and consistency in regulatory decision-making within DSNSW, in accordance with the principles set out in the Regulatory Policy.
Dams Safety NSW’s (DSNSW) regulatory principles include a commitment to:
- taking decisions within an effective corporate governance process to maintain objectivity, independence, and integrity
- aiming for high levels of consistency in the decision-making process
- making decisions based on evidence
- taking regulatory action that is proportionate to the circumstances
- employing processes that provide procedural fairness and natural justice
- keeping appropriate records of regulatory activities so that decisions can be readily accessed and scrutinised.
The ROC provides the mechanism for DSNSW to review previous regulatory decisions to enable consistent decisions to be made.
The Terms of Reference document describes and determines how the ROC functions.
Enforcement
We take a graduated and proportionate approach to non-compliance, based on the severity and potential harm to people, the environment or property. Our approach to serious non-compliance also considers the declared dam owner’s culpability, co-operation and approach to the non-compliance, and the public interest.