Managing psychosocial hazards in Australian workplaces
Psychosocial hazards are the parts of work that can cause psychological harm: how work is designed and managed, the conditions people work in, and the interactions they have. Australian work health and safety law treats them like any other hazard. This guide sets out what that means in practice.
The legal duty in brief
Under the model work health and safety laws, a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that workers and others are not exposed to risks to their psychological or physical health and safety. The WHS Regulations in most jurisdictions now include specific requirements for psychosocial risks. In the model laws a duty-holder must:
- identify reasonably foreseeable hazards that could give rise to psychosocial risks
- eliminate those risks so far as is reasonably practicable
- if elimination is not reasonably practicable, minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable
- maintain control measures so they remain effective
- review, and if necessary revise, control measures.
Officers, such as directors and senior executives, have a separate duty of due diligence to make sure the organisation complies. Victoria regulates the same ground under its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. The codes of practice by state guide covers how each jurisdiction implements the duty.
The 14 common psychosocial hazards
Safe Work Australia's model Code of Practice, Managing psychosocial hazards at work (July 2022), lists common hazards to consider. The list is not exhaustive, and the code notes that how hazards are grouped matters less than a shared understanding of what is happening.
| Hazard | Examples from the model code |
|---|---|
| Job demands | Sustained high mental, physical or emotional effort; excessive time pressure; shifts that do not allow time for sleep and recovery. |
| Low job control | Little say over how or when work is done; tightly scripted or machine-paced work. |
| Poor support | Inadequate practical and emotional support from managers and colleagues, or inadequate training, tools and resources. |
| Lack of role clarity | Uncertain, frequently changing, conflicting or ambiguous responsibilities and expectations. |
| Poor organisational change management | Insufficient consultation, support, information or training during change. |
| Inadequate reward and recognition | Little positive feedback, an imbalance between effort and recognition, underused skills. |
| Poor organisational justice | Inconsistent, unfair or discriminatory decisions and application of policies. |
| Traumatic events or material | Exposure to seriously injured or deceased people or natural disasters; reading, hearing or seeing accounts of traumatic events; supporting victims or investigating traumatic events. |
| Remote or isolated work | Long travel times, or limited access to help, resources or communications. |
| Poor physical environment | Unpleasant or hazardous working environments. |
| Violence and aggression | Violence, threats or aggressive behaviour from co-workers, customers, patients or clients. |
| Bullying | Repeated unreasonable behaviour towards a worker or group that creates a risk to health and safety. |
| Harassment, including sexual harassment | Harassment based on personal characteristics, and sexual harassment. |
| Conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions | Interpersonal conflict, disparaging or rude comments, or inappropriate exclusion from work activities. |
Some jurisdictions adapt the list. Comcare's 2024 Commonwealth code, for example, identifies 17 hazards, adding fatigue, intrusive surveillance and job insecurity.
Hazards rarely act alone. The model code notes that a single hazard such as workplace violence can cause serious harm by itself, but in most cases harm comes from a combination, either in a single instance or over time with repeated or prolonged exposure. Some workers face higher risk, for example those with limited experience, barriers to understanding safety information, perceived barriers to raising concerns, or previous exposure to a hazard.
The four-step process
- Identify hazards. Talk to workers, review incident, complaint and leave data, observe how work is actually done, and use a structured, anonymous survey. The psychosocial hazard survey page explains why anonymity and small-group suppression matter.
- Assess risks, if necessary. Understand how serious the harm could be and how likely it is. The model code notes this step may not be needed where the risks and controls are already known.
- Control risks. Eliminate risks where reasonably practicable; otherwise minimise them with the most effective controls available, favouring changes to how work is designed and organised over individual-level measures such as training or resilience programs.
- Review control measures. Check that controls are working as planned, and change them if not. Review requires measuring something before and after.
When choosing controls, the model code says a PCBU must have regard to all relevant matters, including the duration, frequency and severity of exposure, how hazards interact or combine, the design of work and systems of work, the workplace environment, workplace interactions and behaviours, and the information, training, instruction and supervision provided.
Consultation is not optional
A PCBU must consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with workers who carry out work for the business and who are, or are likely to be, directly affected by a health and safety matter, and with health and safety representatives where they exist. For psychosocial hazards, workers usually know where the problems are long before a risk register does.
Traumatic events deserve particular attention
For emergency services, health, corrections, child protection and similar work, traumatic events or material is often the defining psychosocial hazard, and it cannot be designed out of the job. Control shifts to managing the duration, frequency and severity of exposure, supporting people afterwards and watching accumulation over time. See the cumulative trauma guide and the guide to tracking potentially traumatic events.
What good records look like
Regulators, courts and coroners ask the same questions afterwards: what did you know, when, what did you do, and how did you check it worked? Keep contemporaneous records of hazard identification, consultation, risk assessments, the controls chosen and why, and the reviews that tested them. In New South Wales, where section 26A has made approved codes enforceable since 1 July 2026, and in Queensland, which has had an equivalent provision since 1 July 2018, those records are also how an organisation shows it complied with the code or met an equivalent standard; see the section 26A readiness briefing.
Where CaseNote fits
CaseNote helps with part of this cycle: an anonymous 24-item hazard survey across eight categories, aligned to ISO 45003, with small groups suppressed; trauma exposure tracking and follow-up for trauma-exposed roles; and de-identified reporting with an append-only audit trail. It does not implement controls for organisational hazards such as workload or change management. People and governance do that; the survey shows where to direct the effort.
Related guides
Sources
- Safe Work Australia, Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work (July 2022).
- Comcare, Psychosocial hazards, and the Work Health and Safety (Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work) Code of Practice 2024 (Cth), F2024L01380.
- SafeWork NSW, Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work (May 2021).
- WorkSafe Victoria, Compliance code: Psychological health, and the Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 (Vic).
This guide is general information, not legal, clinical or professional advice. Check current legislation and guidance with the relevant regulator, and seek professional advice for your circumstances. CaseNote is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any organisation named in this guide.