What are psychosocial hazards, and what must Victorian employers do under the new regulations?

What are psychosocial hazards under Victoria's new regulations?

A psychosocial hazard is any factor in how work is designed, managed or carried out — including workplace interactions — that could cause a worker psychological harm. Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 commenced 1 December 2025, giving employers specific legal duties to identify these hazards, control the risks and review those controls over time.

When did the new psychosocial hazards regulations start in Victoria?

The Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 commenced on 1 December 2025. They sit alongside the existing Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) rather than replacing it — Victoria's OHS Act already defines "health" to include psychological health, so the new regulations spell out exactly how employers must manage that duty for psychosocial hazards specifically (WorkSafe Victoria). A supporting Compliance Code: Psychological Health was published ahead of commencement to give practical guidance on meeting the new duties.

What counts as a psychosocial hazard?

Under the regulations, a psychosocial hazard is any factor in the work design, systems of work, management of work, the carrying out of the work, or personal or work-related interactions that may arise in the working environment and may cause an employee to experience a negative psychological response creating a risk to their health or safety (WorkSafe Victoria).

WorkSafe Victoria groups common psychosocial hazards into categories including:

• Low job control
• High or low job demands
• Poor support from supervisors or colleagues
• Poor organisational change management
• Poor organisational justice (inconsistent or unfair decisions)
• Low recognition and reward
• Low role clarity
• Poor workplace relationships, including bullying, sexual harassment, gendered violence and aggression
• Poor environmental conditions
• Remote or isolated work
• Exposure to violent or traumatic events

For a manufacturer, this can look like a machine operator on a permanently understaffed line with no control over pace (high demands, low control), a supervisor who never addresses reports of bullying between shift leaders (poor organisational justice), or a lone forklift driver doing night deliveries with no way to call for help (isolated work).

What do employers have to do?

The regulations set out a risk management process employers must follow, so far as is reasonably practicable:

1. Identify psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
2. Assess the risks associated with those hazards.
3. Control the risks — first by eliminating them, and if that's not reasonably practicable, by reducing them.
4. Review and revise controls when circumstances change.

The control step uses a hierarchy tailored to psychosocial risk rather than the traditional elimination/substitution/PPE model. If a risk can't be eliminated, employers must reduce it by altering the management of work, plant, systems of work, work design or workplace environment, and/or by using information, instruction or training. Information, instruction or training can only be used as the sole control where nothing else is reasonably practicable, and it must not be the predominant control in any combination (WorkSafe Victoria).

When must a business review its controls?

The regulations set specific triggers for reviewing and revising psychosocial risk controls, including:

• New or additional information about a hazard becomes available
• An employee reports a psychological injury or a psychosocial hazard
• A notifiable incident occurs involving one or more psychosocial hazards
• Before changing anything likely to affect psychosocial risk
• After receiving a request from a health and safety representative

(WorkSafe Victoria)

Do these obligations extend to contractors and labour hire workers?

Yes. The duties under the regulations relate to employees, independent contractors and labour hire workers, so a manufacturer using contract labour or agency staff on the shop floor needs to consider their psychosocial risk exposure too (WorkSafe Victoria).

Does this affect workers compensation claims?

No. The regulations don't change eligibility for workers compensation, which is governed separately by the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic). They only affect employer duties under the OHS Act 2004 (WorkSafe Victoria).

Where a safety practitioner fits in

Most manufacturers I work with already run into psychosocial hazards without naming them — a foreman who's been carrying an unmanageable workload for a year, or friction between two shift teams that nobody's formally logged as a safety issue. The regulations don't expect employers to eliminate every source of stress; they expect a documented process of identifying, assessing and controlling the risks that are reasonably practicable to address. Having a safety practitioner walk the floor and talk to your people is often the fastest way to surface what's actually going on before it becomes a WorkSafe notifiable incident or a workers compensation claim. If you want an outside view of where your business sits against the new regulations, book a site assessment.

FAQ

Do these regulations apply to small manufacturers? Yes. The duties apply to all Victorian employers, regardless of size, "so far as is reasonably practicable" — meaning what's expected of a five-person workshop differs from a 200-person plant, but the obligation to identify and control psychosocial hazards applies to both.

Is a written prevention plan compulsory? No. WorkSafe encourages employers to use a prevention plan template to guide their risk management process, but it isn't a mandatory document under the regulations.

What's the difference between the regulations and the compliance code? The regulations create the legal duties. The Compliance Code: Psychological Health is non-mandatory practical guidance that shows one way to meet those duties — following it isn't compulsory, but it can help demonstrate compliance.

This article is general information for Victorian manufacturers, not legal advice. Last updated: 10 August 2026.