Better Regulation is progressing a series of amendments to the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017, which start on 1 October 2022.
They will implement recent amendments to the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulation.
Among the amendments is a requirement to address psychosocial risk and hazards. This was a recommendation in the 2018 Marie Boland Review and the 2020 Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report.
Psychosocial risks are any risks to the health and safety of a worker or other person arising from a psychosocial hazard. Under the model WHS Regulation psychosocial hazards are those that cause psychological harm arising from or relating to any of the following:
- the design or management of a work environment
- a work environment
- plant at a workplace
- workplace interactions or behaviours.
Persons conducting a business undertaking (PCBU) must manage psychosocial risks in accordance with their general duties to manage risks to health and safety under the model WHS Regulation. PCBUs will now be required to implement control measures that eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks as far as reasonably practical.
In determining the appropriate control measures to implement, PCBUs must consider the following matters:
- the duration, frequency, and severity of the exposure of workers and other persons to the psychosocial hazards
- how the psychosocial hazards may interact or combine
- the design of work, including job demands and tasks
- the systems of work, including how work is managed, organised, and supported
- the design and layout, and environmental conditions, of the workplace, including the provision of safe means of entering and exiting the workplace, and facilities for the welfare of workers
- the design and layout, and environmental conditions, of workers’ accommodation
- the plant, substances, and structures at the workplace
- workplace interactions or behaviours
- the information, training, instruction, and supervision provided to workers.
Further information is available here:
Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work | Safe Work Australia
Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work | SafeWork NSW
