Are psychosocial hazards a legal obligation in Australia?

Yes. Model WHS Regulation 55 requires a PCBU to identify psychosocial hazards, eliminate the risk so far as is reasonably practicable, and otherwise minimise it using control measures. Psychosocial regulations or codes now operate in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (under prevention of workplace psychological injury requirements), Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT, the Northern Territory and the Commonwealth (Comcare). The AHRC Positive Duty under the Sex Discrimination Act adds a separate proactive prevention obligation for sexual harassment and sex-based harassment.

How do you conduct a psychosocial risk assessment?

Identify hazards through consultation, incident and complaint data, absence and turnover patterns and survey data; assess the duration, frequency and severity of exposure and how hazards interact; control risks starting at work design rather than individual resilience; then review controls after incidents, restructures or changes to work.

What is the difference between psychosocial safety and psychological safety?

Psychosocial safety is a work health and safety concept: the systematic management of hazards in work design and management practice that can cause psychological harm. Psychological safety is a team climate concept: the shared belief that it is safe to speak up, question or admit a mistake. Psychological safety is one protective factor within a broader psychosocial risk management system.

ISO 45003:2021 is the international guidance standard for managing psychosocial risk within an occupational health and safety management system. It is not certifiable on its own, but it provides an internationally recognised framework that aligns closely with Australian regulator expectations.

Who is responsible for managing psychosocial hazards?

The PCBU holds the primary duty. Officers, including directors and executives, hold a personal due diligence duty under section 27 of the WHS Act. In practice, day-to-day control sits with people leaders, whose own management behaviour is both a potential hazard and a primary control, which is why leader capability is the highest-leverage intervention.

Does psychosocial hazard training satisfy the WHS duty on its own?

No. Training is an administrative control and sits low in the hierarchy of controls. It is effective only when combined with work redesign, resourcing decisions, consultation and governance. Awareness training alone will not demonstrate that risk was eliminated or minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.

Culture+Enquire

Resource · Australia

Psychosocial hazards in the workplace: the Australian guide.

Psychosocial hazards are aspects of work design, work systems, management practices and workplace relationships that can cause psychological or physical harm. Under model Work Health and Safety Regulation 55, Australian employers must identify psychosocial hazards, eliminate the resulting risk so far as is reasonably practicable, and otherwise minimise it. This guide sets out the 17 hazards named in the Safe Work Australia Code of Practice, the duties that apply in each jurisdiction, how to run a psychosocial risk assessment, and the controls regulators expect to see.

Psychosocial safety training for leaders →Psychosocial risk advisory

The 17 psychosocial hazards, and what controls them.

Safe Work Australia's Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work identifies the hazards below. Most workplaces carry several at once, and their interaction — not any single hazard — usually drives psychological injury claims.

The 17 psychosocial hazards recognised by Safe Work Australia, with examples and typical controls
Hazard	What it looks like	Typical control
High job demands	Sustained workloads, time pressure, emotionally demanding work or long hours beyond what workers can reasonably manage.	Review workload allocation, resourcing and deadlines; monitor overtime and after-hours activity.
Low job demands	Work that is under-stimulating, highly repetitive or requires prolonged vigilance with little variation.	Rotate tasks, broaden role scope, build in variation and development.
Low job control	Little say over how, when or in what order work is done, including rigid monitoring.	Increase autonomy over methods and sequencing; consult workers on scheduling.
Poor support	Inadequate practical assistance, supervision, tools, training or emotional support from managers or colleagues.	Set supervision expectations, equip leaders to notice and respond to distress.
Lack of role clarity	Unclear, inconsistent or conflicting expectations, accountabilities and reporting lines.	Document role scope and decision rights; recheck after restructures.
Poor organisational change management	Change that is poorly planned, poorly communicated or imposed without consultation.	Consult early, communicate the rationale and timeline, support leaders through transition.
Inadequate reward and recognition	Effort and skill that go unacknowledged, or recognition applied inconsistently.	Build fair, transparent and timely recognition practices.
Poor organisational justice	Unfair, inconsistent or non-transparent decisions and procedures, including in performance management.	Standardise decision processes; provide appeal and review pathways.
Traumatic events or material	Exposure to death, serious injury, abuse, violence or distressing content as part of the work.	Limit and rotate exposure, provide trauma-informed supervision and post-incident support.
Remote or isolated work	Work performed away from support and assistance, including help in an emergency.	Check-in protocols, communication technology, emergency response planning.
Poor physical environment	Hazardous, uncomfortable or poorly maintained conditions such as noise, heat or unsafe premises.	Address the physical hazard; consult workers on environmental conditions.
Violence and aggression	Abuse, threats or assault from customers, clients, patients or the public.	Design-out risk, define escalation pathways, train and debrief frontline teams.
Bullying	Repeated unreasonable behaviour directed at a worker or group that creates a risk to health and safety.	Behavioural standards, early intervention, capable leaders and safe reporting.
Harassment, including sexual harassment	Unwelcome sexual conduct or harassment based on a protected attribute.	Meet the Positive Duty: prevention systems, bystander capability, trauma-informed response.
Conflict or poor workplace relationships	Unresolved interpersonal conflict, exclusion or hostile team dynamics.	Equip leaders to address conflict early; restore team norms after incidents.
Poor workplace relationships between workers and management	Low trust, punitive supervision, or leaders who dismiss concerns raised by workers.	Consultation mechanisms, speak-up pathways, leader capability development.
Inadequate systems and job insecurity	Faulty equipment, inadequate systems of work, or uncertainty about ongoing employment.	Fix systems of work; communicate honestly about role and contract security.

What the law requires, state by state.

New South Wales

WHS Amendment Regulation 2022 plus the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work.

Queensland

Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022, compulsory since April 2023.

Victoria

OHS general duties, WorkSafe Victoria psychosocial guidance and proposed psychological health regulations.

Western Australia

WHS (General) Regulations 2022 and the WorkSafe WA psychosocial hazards code.

South Australia, Tasmania, ACT, NT

Model WHS Regulation 55 adopted with aligned regulator guidance.

Commonwealth

Comcare scheme duties for Commonwealth employers and licensees.

Officers — including directors and executives — hold a separate personal due diligence duty under section 27 of the WHS Act. Where the hazard is sexual harassment or sex-based harassment, the AHRC Positive Duty imposes a further proactive prevention obligation enforceable by the Commission.

How to run a psychosocial risk assessment.

Step 1
Identify
Consult workers and HSRs, and triangulate incident, complaint, absence, turnover, exit and survey data. Consultation is a legal requirement, not a research preference.
Step 2
Assess
Weigh duration, frequency and severity of exposure, how hazards combine, and which cohorts carry more exposure — frontline, shift, isolated or client-facing workers.
Step 3
Control
Start at work design: workload, rostering, role clarity, decision rights and management practice. Training and wellbeing supports sit lower in the hierarchy of controls.
Step 4
Review
Re-test controls after incidents, restructures and new work. A control that workers say is not working is not a control.

A workplace culture review (see our step-by-step guide to the psychosocial risk assessment method) or trauma-informed focus groups are often the most defensible way to gather identification-stage evidence where the hazards involve conduct, conflict or harassment.

Why leader capability is the control regulators look for.

Most psychosocial hazards are created, amplified or contained by day-to-day management behaviour: how workload is allocated, how change is communicated, how conflict is handled, and how a leader responds the first time someone discloses distress. That makes people leaders both a hazard source and a primary control. Our psychosocial hazards and safety training with trauma-informed leadership builds that capability for Australian managers, and pairs with psychosocial risk advisory for the system-level controls, and board and executive briefings for officer due diligence. Organisations formalising the system usually align it with ISO 45003.

Download the Psychosocial Safety Blueprint →

Hazard management in practice