RW - foRWard Health & Wellbeing eMag - Feb26 - Flipbook - Page 44
Australia has moved from “nice to have” to
“must manage”
Across Australia, psychosocial hazards are now
昀椀rmly in the safety lane, not just the wellbeing lane.
Safe Work Australia’s guidance re昀氀ects the duty
under model WHS laws: PCBUs must manage the
risk of psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
At the Commonwealth level, there is also now
a dedicated Work Health and Safety (Managing
Psychosocial Hazards at Work) Code of Practice
2024, designed to support the amended WHS laws
and regulations around psychosocial hazards.
What good looks like:
a practical pathway to thriving
Think of a good psychosocial environment as a set of
conditions you build and maintain, like good lighting
or safe equipment. Here is a simple pathway that
aligns with how psychosocial risk is approached in
Australia and globally.
1) Start with good work design
Many psychosocial hazards sit upstream in work
design: unrealistic deadlines, role confusion,
chronic overtime, inadequate resources, constant
interruptions, poorly managed change.
If you want a quick gut check, ask:
• Is the workload doable in paid hours, most weeks?
• Do people know what good looks like in their role?
• Are priorities clear, or does everything feel urgent?
• When things change, do people get time, training,
and support?
Work design is where prevention lives.
