Safe Work finds UNE staff were 'exposed to serious risk to health', orders university to remedy breach of Work, Health and Safety Act by December

The damning finding is contained within an improvement notice issued to the university by the state government body, which rules UNE breached the Work, Health and Safety Act.

The notice orders the university to remedy its contravention of the act by December 16, or else face hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential fines.

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The university has also been ordered to display a copy of the notice in a prominent place, at or near the workplace.

In its improvement notice, SafeWork NSW finds that employees "have been, and continue to be" overworked, set unreasonable timeframes, granted "poor procedural justice", and that "recommendations have either not been implemented or are not effective".

A spokesperson for UNE said the institution "acknowledges the directions made by SafeWork NSW under their improvement notice."

"UNE is working closely with SafeWork NSW to implement all the recommendations made, including adhering to the SafeWork Code of Practice," she said.

"Interim Vice-Chancellor Simon Evans is deeply committed to ensuring UNE has a strong and safe workplace culture and this has been his primary focus since being appointed to the role.

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"UNE is in the process of engaging a specialist external firm to undertake a comprehensive, independent review of UNE's workplace culture.

"The purpose of the review is to investigate and enhance the mechanisms that ensure UNE is a safe workplace.

"UNE is in the process of forming an advisory group, comprising members of UNE staff, that will support the engagement process for this review."

National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) UNE branch president Craig Johnson said the notice validated years of warnings by the union.

The notice explicitly cites union surveys of workers, as well as university surveys, reports from affected workers, and an independent review, as evidence for its ruling.

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"It's good to know that SafeWork are taking the mental health and wellbeing of university staff seriously. This confirms what the NTEU have been indicating for many months now, that there is a major crisis of wellbeing at the university," he said.

Mr Johnson said the university needs to undertake "genuine consultation" in order to make itself a safe workplace by December.

A union survey released this year found that more than a quarter of staff reported symptoms indicative of severe or extreme depression, anxiety or burnout. The survey also found that 29 per cent of respondents reported experiencing workplace bullying on a daily basis.

The SafeWork NSW finding comes after Vice Chancellor Brigid Heywood stepped aside from the role, after she was charged with assaulting a minor at a women's day event in Armidale, earlier this year.

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