Employers Are You Prepared If An Employee Reports Psychosocial Hazards In Your Organisation To WorkSafe Victoria?

Victoria’s Psychosocial Health Regulations have been in force for over 6 months now coming into effect on 1 December 2025.

We refer to our previous Update on this topic in December 2025 where we noted a key takeaway for employers was to be able to demonstrate to WorkSafe Victoria that they have in place safety management systems which align with the new requirements and help promote compliance with those requirements.

The Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 (the Regulations) require employers in Victoria to identify psychosocial hazards and control risk, so far as is reasonably practicable. Importantly, reliance on information, instruction and/or training will not constitute compliance with the employer’s duty unless the employer has applied the de facto hierarchy of control, focusing on elimination of risks, and considering the employer’s management, systems and design of work.

It is not sufficient to simply rely on existing Sexual Harassment, Bullying and Discrimination polices your organisation may have on hand. This alone will not demonstrate compliance with the Regulations.

Has your organisation identified the psychosocial hazards in your particular workplace? Have you turned your mind to hazards such as high job demands, poor organisational change management, or poor workplace relationships?

The next step is to assess the risk which could affect different employees in your organisation differently.

What control measures is your organisation implementing to control the psychosocial hazards and risks?

Employers should also note that an employee at any time can report psychosocial hazards to WorkSafe Victoria by telephone. They can then detail to an advisor over the phone the specifics of the hazard or WorkSafe Victoria will send them a hazard form for completion. The reality is a disgruntled employee looking to exit your organisation could well utilise this reporting mechanism if your organisation has not taken appropriate steps to comply.

WorkSafe Victoria is currently visiting businesses to check what steps your business has taken to eliminate or control as far as is reasonably practicable psychosocial hazards.

To avoid Provisional Improvement Notices or heavy financial penalties employers are expected to take a proactive approach. Engaging a legal provider to assist your organisation through the process contemplated by the Regulations will assist with showing your organisation takes compliance with these Regulations seriously.

In addition to avoiding the negative consequences of non-compliance astute leaders will appreciate the long term financial and other benefits of compliance with the Regulations. Psychosocial injury is the fastest growing type of injury in every state and territory of Australia and the cost of psychological injury claims are significantly more costly than physical injury claims. Median compensation for serious mental health claims is more than three times higher than for physical injuries. Psychological injuries result in substantially longer time away from work with workers with a serious psychological injury experiencing a median of approximately 35 to 36 weeks off work compared with around 8 weeks for other serious workers’ compensation claims.