The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) (OHS Act), imposes obligations on all employers in Victoria to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for their employees, so far as reasonably practicable.

The new Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 (Regulations) will take effect on 1 December 2025 and will place additional duties on employers to identify, control and review psychosocial hazards in the workplace, thereby elevating them to the same level and seriousness of physical hazards.

The Regulations align Victoria with all other Australian jurisdictions that have steadily introduced and enforced psychological health and safety requirements.

Purpose

The objective of the Regulations is to supplement the OHS Act by requiring employers to take specific steps in respect of the identification of psychosocial hazards, control of the risks associated with those hazards, and review of the available risk control measures.

Psychosocial hazards are work-related factors that risk causing an employee to experience negative psychological responses while in the working environment. These negative responses can include cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses or any symptoms associated with them. Psychosocial hazards can include but are not limited to:

• aggression or violence;
• bullying;
• exposure to traumatic events or content;
• gendered violence;
• high job demands;
• low job control;
• low job demands;
• low recognition and reward;
• low role clarity;
• poor environmental conditions;
• poor organisational change management;
• poor organisational justice;
• poor support;
• poor workplace relationships;
• remote or isolated work; and
• sexual harassment.

Employer duties

Employers now owe specific duties to their employees to identify psychosocial hazards, control any risks associated with psychosocial hazards, and review and revise risk control measures in specific circumstances. These duties are owed by labour hire service providers and extend to independent contractors as well as employees, so far as the employer has control over their work. Employers should also take steps to consult with employees in respect of the new obligations under the Regulations and involve any applicable health and safety representatives when identifying psychological hazards.

If it is not reasonably practicable for an employer to eliminate all risks associated with a particular psychosocial hazard, it must reduce the risks by altering:

• the management of work;
• the plant;
• the systems of work;
• the work design; or
• the workplace environment.

If none of these control measures are reasonably practicable, then the employer can use information, instruction or training exclusively to control the risks. This requires employers who have previously relied on training and instruction to review their current work processes and alter them should there be more effective ways to reduce psychosocial hazards in the workplace.

Further, an employer must regularly review any control measures they have implemented to control the risks associated with any psychosocial hazard and revise them, if necessary, in the following circumstances:

• before alterations are made to work processes or systems that could change the psychosocial risk;
• if new information becomes available about the psychosocial hazard;
• if an employee or person reports a psychological injury or hazard;
• after a notifiable incident involving a psychosocial hazard;
• if the risk control measures do not appropriately control the hazard’s risks; or
• after receiving a health and safety representative’s request.

To ensure compliance with the above duties, employers should consult the WorkSafe Psychological Health Compliance Code (the Code) which outlines actions employers can take to comply with the Regulations. While abiding by the Code is not mandatory per se, it is admissible in Court as evidence regarding what is known about a psychosocial hazard and may be relied upon by Courts in determining whether an employer’s practices comply with the Regulations.

Penalties

Non-compliance with the Regulations may constitute a breach of the OHS Act and employers should expect WorkSafe to increase its regulatory and prosecutorial activity over the next few years as it implements and enforces this new regime. Depending on the severity of the breach, penalties could be imposed of up to $1.7 million for companies or $350,000 for individuals.

If you are concerned about your business’ compliance with these upcoming legislative changes, please contact our Workplace Relations and Safety specialists for assistance.

This article was written by Tony Lawrence, Partner, Nick Zavattiero, Solicitor, and Shea Williams, Law Graduate.