Editorial update: 2 October 2026. Commencement wording, jurisdictional boundaries and training-control requirements updated. National-employer guidance revised 3 October 2026.
Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 commenced on 1 December 2025. Employers should now assess whether their arrangements meet the applicable requirements.
Resource: Compliance Code: Psychological health (WorkSafe Victoria, 2025)
TLDR: Check out our video, get the core insights quickly!
What’s new: Clear, explicit duties to identify psychosocial hazards, implement higher-order controls (design/system/environment/management changes), and review those controls.
Who it applies to: All Victorian employers (and contractors they direct or influence).
Commencement date: 1 December 2025.
How to show compliance: Follow the risk cycle (identify → assess → control → review), consult employees/HSRs, prioritise higher-order controls, and document decisions, actions, and reviews.
Cross-jurisdictional fit: Use a common organisational framework with local requirements for each operation. Model codes require local approval, and Victoria has specific OHS psychological-health requirements. See the national-employer guidance below.
The regulations make it explicit that psychological health is OHS. Employers must:
Identify psychosocial hazards in the work design, systems, environment, management of work, and interactions.
Control the risks so far as reasonably practicable, prioritising higher-order changes over low-level admin fixes.
Consult employees and involve HSRs (where present) throughout.
Review and revise controls when things change, issues are reported, or controls aren’t working.
Keep records that evidence the above.
Common hazards include: high/low job demands, low control, low support, poor role clarity, poor organisational justice (perceived unfairness), poor change management, bullying, harassment (including sexual harassment), conflict, aggression/violence (including from customers), exposure to traumatic events or distressing material (vicarious trauma), remote/isolated work, and adverse environmental factors (noise, heat, poor ergonomics). Treat these exactly as you would physical hazards: identify, assess, control, and review.
The hierarchy of control applies here too. Design/system/environment changes come before administrative controls like policy and training.
Examples of higher-order controls:
Rebalance workload and headcount; redesign job roles; set realistic deadlines.
Improve scheduling and staffing to avoid chronic overtime.
Change supervision structures; remove or correct toxic conduct.
Engineer environmental improvements (layout, noise, security measures, safe rooms).
Administrative controls (supporting, not leading):
Policies, awareness, and training (e.g., anti-bullying, respectful behaviours).
EAP and coaching.
Procedures and reporting pathways.
Information, instruction or training may be used alone only where none of the specified changes to management of work, plant, systems of work, work design or the workplace environment are reasonably practicable. When combined with other controls, information, instruction or training must not be the predominant control. See WorkSafe Victoria’s control requirements.
Employers must consult employees, and involve HSRs where they exist, during hazard identification, control selection, and reviews. Use practical methods: confidential surveys, focus groups, toolbox talks, OHS committee, suggestion channels. For contractors under your influence, consult them too.
Review controls when:
You change work design, systems, or structures.
New information arises (surveys, incidents, complaints).
Employees report psychosocial hazards or injuries.
Notifiable incidents occur.
A control obviously isn’t effective.
An HSR requests a review.
Keep a cadence (e.g., quarterly/biannual), plus event-based reviews.
A common organisational framework can coordinate hazard identification, consultation, control decisions and review across your workplaces. It must be adapted to the legal requirements applying to each operation. A national policy or survey does not establish compliance in every jurisdiction.
Safe Work Australia develops model WHS laws and codes. A model code must be approved in a jurisdiction to have legal effect there; check the applicable legislation and regulator guidance rather than assuming the 2022 model psychosocial code applies unchanged everywhere. Western Australia, for example, publishes its own Psychosocial hazards in the workplace code of practice.
Victoria uses its OHS framework and psychological health regulations. Its control requirements include specific limits on information, instruction or training: these may be used alone only where none of the specified changes to management of work, plant, systems of work, work design or the workplace environment are reasonably practicable. When controls are combined, information, instruction or training must not be predominant.
For a national consulting review, agree the sites, worker groups, applicable jurisdictions, evidence sample and decisions in scope. Ask how the findings will connect local requirements with work design, consultation, control owners and review arrangements. Record unresolved questions and any need for specialist legal advice. The duty holders retain responsibility for their obligations and authorised control decisions.
Our psychosocial risk assessment and control buyer guide explains how to assess the consulting scope, evidence and deliverables beyond a staff survey.
General guidance; check current requirements for your operations. Sources: Safe Work Australia on model codes and local approval, WorkSafe WA’s psychosocial hazards code and WorkSafe Victoria’s risk-control requirements.
The WorkSafe Victoria Compliance Code translates legal duties into concrete actions and examples, and if you follow it, you’re taken to have complied with the law to the extent the code covers those duties.
The Code provides:
Step-by-step risk management (identify → assess → control → review).
Consultation guidance (including practical techniques for different workplace sizes).
Dozens of worked examples and control ideas by hazard type.
Prompts and checklists (e.g., hazard identification aids).
Record-keeping expectations (what to document, when, and why).
Optional prevention plans (templates) for complex hazards like bullying or sexual harassment.
Link: Compliance Code: Psychological health (Edition 1, 2025)
Brief leadership and supervisors
Explain the requirements in force since 1 December 2025 and the responsibilities of each role.
Set expectations: psychological health = safety = compliance.
Allocate a senior owner (e.g., HR Director or HSE Lead) and a cross-functional working group.
Update your system and policies
Embed psychosocial risks into your safety management system (policy, procedures, risk register).
Ensure you have current bullying/harassment and sexual harassment policies with clear reporting and consequences.
Add psychosocial hazards to incident/hazard reporting and induction.
Map your current risks
Run a confidential baseline survey and/or targeted workshops.
Review HR/OHS data (absenteeism, turnover hotspots, complaints, overtime).
Identify high-risk roles (e.g., high customer aggression, vicarious trauma, 24/7 operations).
Consult and co-design controls
Involve employees and HSRs in interpreting results and shaping responses.
Use multiple methods: committee, focus groups, anonymous channels, 1:1s.
Implement higher-order controls first
Work design: balance workload; clarify roles; adjust rosters; set realistic deadlines.
Systems of work: escalation paths; de-escalation protocols; two-person attendance for high-risk tasks; triage customer interactions.
Environment: security screens, safe rooms, duress alarms, ergonomic improvements.
Management: expectations for supportive supervision; consequences for misconduct; fair and timely complaint handling.
Add supporting admin controls (policies, training, EAP) after the above.
Strengthen reporting and response
Provide multiple, safe channels to report psychosocial issues (including anonymous).
Train HR/leaders on trauma-informed responses and fair investigations.
Communicate non-retaliation and close the loop with reporters.
Train the right people, the right way
All staff: what psychosocial hazards are, expected behaviours, how to report, available supports.
HSRs/Committees: hazard ID techniques, consultation, review triggers.
Document everything (your evidence trail)
Hazard ID results (surveys/workshops), consultation notes, risk assessments.
Control decisions (with rationale), implementation dates, owners.
Training records and communications.
Review logs: what you checked, what changed, outcomes.
Monitor and improve
Set review cadences (e.g., quarterly) and event-based triggers.
Track indicators (overtime hours, complaint trends, sick leave, turnover).
Report progress to the executive/board.
Tip for SMEs: “Reasonably practicable” scales to your size/resources. Start simple: talk with your people, fix obvious work design issues, set behaviour standards, and keep notes.
Alignment with the Compliance Code (the easiest pathway to “deemed compliance”).
A live risk register showing psychosocial hazards and higher-order controls.
Consultation evidence (minutes, surveys, HSR involvement).
Implemented changes to work design/systems/environment—not only training.
Review records tied to triggers (reported issues, change, incidents, HSR requests).
Induction and refresher training that includes psychosocial health.
Clear reporting pathways and fair response processes (with non-retaliation).
If you can tell the story—we identified → we consulted → we changed the way work is done → we reviewed and improved—and back it with documents, you’re in strong shape.
Check the psychosocial risk-control requirements applying in each jurisdiction where you operate.
Always involve HSRs where they exist.
Ensure officers understand their due diligence expectations (particularly in WHS jurisdictions).
Keep a single national psychosocial framework with local addenda for state nuances.
When did the regulations commence, and who do they cover?
They commenced on 1 December 2025 and cover all Victorian employers (across industries and sizes), including contractors under your management or control.
What should employers do right now?
Brief leaders; update your SMS and policies; baseline your risks with surveys/data; consult employees/HSRs; implement higher-order controls; set up safe reporting; train managers and staff; document; review.
Is training or EAP alone enough?
No. Training/EAP are supporting measures. If reasonably practicable higher-order controls exist (e.g., rebalance workload, redesign tasks, fix culture), you must prioritise those.
How do we show compliance?
Follow the Compliance Code, keep a psychosocial risk register, show higher-order controls, evidence consultation and reviews, and retain records.
Do we need formal prevention plans or routine reports to WorkSafe?
Prevention plans aren’t mandatory, but they’re useful for complex hazards (bullying, sexual harassment). No new routine reporting requirement, but you must manage and document risks and notify serious incidents as per normal OHS rules.
We’re a small business—what’s “reasonably practicable” for us?
Scale your approach to your risks and resources. Fix obvious work design issues, set behaviour standards, consult, and keep simple records. Use WorkSafe templates and the Code.
This isn’t about posters and webinars, it’s about how work is designed and led. Start now, fix what you can, and document the journey. Assess the effectiveness of your current controls and address gaps under the requirements in force since 1 December 2025.
Helpful link: Compliance Code: Psychological health (WorkSafe Victoria, 2025)
Equip workers and managers to recognise psychosocial hazards, report concerns and respond appropriately. Explore practical, role-specific training for individuals and organisations—designed to support, not replace, your broader psychosocial risk controls.