New frontiers of psychosocial hazard reforms

In this article, we explore the new frontiers of psychosocial hazard reforms, including proposed notification obligations with respect to psychological injuries under the model work health and safety (WHS) laws, followed by a case study on the psychosocial hazards that can emerge from antisocial behaviour from individuals within the union movement.

New notification obligations

On 4 December 2025, the Model WHS Act was amended to implement a recommendation by Safe Work Australia to broaden notification obligations with respect to psychosocial hazards (among other things). The recommendation arose from a review commissioned by the federal safety regulator and was adopted by the Commonwealth, State and Territory ministers responsible for WHS laws in May 2021. In particular, Safe Work Australia recommended that notification obligations regarding safety incidents be reviewed to include notification of psychological injuries and capture incidents, injuries and illnesses emerging from new work practices and work arrangements.

The changes to the Model WHS Act will take effect in each State and Territory, and the Commonwealth, when amendments are made to the WHS Act in the particular jurisdiction and so duty holders should be on the lookout for changes in their jurisdiction.

What will be required of duty holders?

Once introduced, the WHS regulator in your jurisdiction will need to be notified when you become aware of workplace incidents resulting in psychological illness or injury, psychological illness or injury with a causal link to the workplace for which a worker is absent from work for 15 or more days and suicides and attempted suicides with a possible causal link to the workplace (i.e. occurs when a worker is on leave but ordinarily would be at work, occurs in the immediate vicinity of a workplace, occurs in work provided accommodation, occurs when a worker is wearing work uniform or when the worker had or has a psychological injury or illness arising from the conduct of the business).

If you are not already complying with the psychosocial risk management obligations that were introduced into the WHS regulations in most jurisdictions in mid-late 2022, with Victoria the last to introduce regulations in December 2025, this work needs to be completed, and staff trained on how it works within your safety management system. This will now need to be supplemented by ensuring that your reporting systems from both the safety function (with respect to incidents) and human resources regarding extended absences from work that are known to involve psychological injury or illness along with human resources investigations of workplace complaints where exposure to psychosocial risk is alleged, to assess whether the WHS regulator needs to be notified.

This increased visibility of WHS regulators over psychological injury and illness with a causal link to workplaces will, as a consequence, trigger investigations and require proper documentation relating to the notifiable injuries and illnesses and internal investigations to determine whether there is potential exposure to liability, and to manage the organisation’s response to any regulatory investigation.

In another article we explore an emerging area of psychosocial hazards that may trigger the notification obligations set out above.