SafeWork NSW Announces New Psychosocial Risk Requirements: What It Means For Businesses
July, 2023
In July 2023, SafeWork NSW introduced one of the most significant changes to workplace health and safety in recent years, with psychosocial risks formally added to the NSW Work Health and Safety Regulation. This update recognises the substantial impact that work-related stressors, behaviour, environment and organisational factors can have on a worker’s physical and psychological wellbeing.
For many businesses, this change represents both a challenge and an opportunity. While managing psychosocial risks has always been a responsibility under the WHS Act’s duty of care requirements, the new regulations make these obligations clearer, more explicit and subject to greater scrutiny.
What Are Psychosocial Risks?
Psychosocial risks arise from the way work is designed, organised or managed, as well as workplace behaviours and interactions. Examples include:
High job demands
Low role clarity
Poor support or supervision
Bullying or unreasonable behaviour
Traumatic events or high emotional demands
Conflict, poor communication or team dysfunction
Remote or isolated work
Poor organisational change management
These risks have been linked to anxiety, burnout, reduced performance, high turnover and increased compensation claims.
What The Regulatory Change Means For Businesses
Under the updated Regulation, businesses are now required to:
Eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks, as far as is reasonably practicable, using the same risk management process applied to physical hazards.
Identify and assess these risks by consulting with workers, reviewing incidents, analysing workloads and understanding organisational pressures.
Implement control measures that address the source of psychosocial hazards rather than focusing on individual resilience alone.
Monitor and review controls, ensuring they remain effective and responsive to workplace changes.
Provide training and information so that workers and leaders understand what psychosocial risks are and how they can be identified and managed.
SafeWork NSW has also publicised that inspectors may now directly examine how organisations are managing psychosocial hazards, increasing the likelihood of compliance activities in this area.
Long-Term Implications For Organisations
The introduction of psychosocial risk regulations signals a clear shift in how workplace safety is viewed in Australia. Psychological wellbeing is now recognised as a core part of WHS compliance, not a standalone HR initiative.
Over the coming years, businesses can expect:
Greater scrutiny from regulators
Increased employee expectations around wellbeing and safe workload design
A stronger emphasis on respectful behaviour, leadership capability and communication
More complex investigations where psychosocial factors contribute to incidents
The need for training that supports supervisors and managers in understanding their obligations
Organisations that invest early in education, systems and practical tools will place themselves ahead of these changes and reduce both legal and operational risks.
How You Train Can Support Your Business
At You Train, we provide practical training that helps organisations understand and meet their WHS obligations, including the new psychosocial risk requirements. Our programs can support your team to:
Understand psychosocial hazards and their impact
Recognise early warning signs in real-world workplace situations
Implement effective risk control measures
Build leadership capability around communication, expectations and support
Strengthen workplace culture and reduce behavioural issues
Prepare supervisors and managers for their role under the updated Regulations
Training can be delivered on site, online or at your preferred location, with programs tailored to the specific needs of your business and industry.
If you would like to understand how these changes affect your organisation, or you want to prepare your staff and leaders for the updated regulatory landscape, You Train is ready to assist.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can support your organisation’s compliance and staff wellbeing.
