WHS Update: Managing psychosocial hazards in the workplace

Although Work Healthy and Safety regulations are mainly managed on a state level, there has been an increasing focus on managing psychosocial hazards in the workplace. This has brought about legislative changes and guidelines that affect all states and territories. These changes are especially important as they apply to all workers at every level of your organisation.   

This blog post will provide an overview of psychosocial hazards, as well as actions you must take to stay compliant.  

What are psychosocial hazards?  

There has been a growing body of evidence to suggest that psychosocial hazards present immense risks to workers across every level of an organisation.  

A psychosocial hazard is any work-related hazard that can cause psychological or physical harm. Some examples of psychosocial hazards include:  

• work demands  
• inadequate reward and recognition  
• poor organisational change management  
• lack of support at work  
• poor or unsafe work environment  
• traumatic events 
• violence and aggression  
• remote or isolated work  
• bullying, harassment, discrimination  
• workplace conflicts

What actions should providers do to manage psychosocial hazards?  

To manage psychosocial hazards in their workplace, providers must:  

• have a robust risk management system in place to identify and manage psychosocial risks  
• ensure you have mechanisms in place to review and maintain effective risk management strategies  
• review all work health and safety regulations, guidelines, and legislation for your state/territory 
• update your policies, processes and documents (e.g. risks register) to incorporate information about the management of psychosocial hazards
• where required, run training with all workers to ensure understanding and create a supportive culture that encourages workers to report psychosocial hazards 
• where required, discuss psychosocial hazards with your HR team and your Worker Compensation insurer.  

State-specific information  

Refer to the table below to access further resources specific to your state/territory: