The ACT's peak union body has called on Access Canberra to explain a drop in penalties and warnings handed to employers after its merger with the territory's workplace inspector.
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WorkSafe ACT figures show a fall in prohibition, infringement and improvement notices since 2013-14, a trend Unions ACT secretary Alex White has blamed on the merger in 2015.
"It is clear the merger of WorkSafe into Access Canberra has failed workers' safety," he said.
Mr White's comments came as workers and unions rallied on Thursday in Dickson to demand the ACT government set up an independent work safety authority.
Unions ACT wants WorkSafe overhauled and says it has been weakened since joining Access Canberra.
"The ACT currently has Australia's weakest and most ineffectual safety regulator," Mr White said.
But Access Canberra deputy director-general Dave Peffer said issuing notices was not the best measure of workplace safety.
"In fact, such regulatory tools are often used after things go wrong," he said.
"We don't take regulatory action to boost numbers, nor should we. We do it when there is a required and proportionate need to do so. This judgment call is made by experienced WorkSafe ACT inspectors in the field, undertaking inspections every day.
"Due to these factors, numbers can fluctuate."
Prohibition notices dropped from 195 in 2013-14 to 58 last year, improvement notices fell from 832 to 140, and workplace inspectors are handing out fewer infringement notices compared to four years ago.
Mr White said while the number of compliance activities and workplace visits had decreased, serious injuries had risen in Canberra by 333 to 2931 in the two years to June 2016.
ACT government workplace safety and industrial relations director Michael Young said the injury figures quoted by Unions ACT did not account for changes in the size of the workforce.
Safe Work Australia's latest report showed the rate of serious injury was stable at a historic low of 10.7 per 1000 workers in 2015-16, he said.
Another measure of worker safety that Mr Young said was a more accurate reflection of workplace injuries, lost time injury frequency rates, reached a low of 0.26 for every $1 million in wages earned that year.
"This represents a reduction of almost 19 per cent in the serious injury frequency rate over a three year period," he said.
