Victorian Government Introduces New Rules To Protect Workers’ Mental Health
On Friday 21st February 2025, the Allan Labour Government announced that it will introduce new regulations which strengthen how psychosocial hazards are managed in Victoria. These regulations are anticipated to be released in October 2025, taking effect on 1st December 2025. More information about the regulations can be found here.
This will align Victoria with many other Australian states and territories, who have introduced similar regulations, including Western Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland. The Commonwealth has also introduced regulations on managing psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
These changes are in response to recommendations which were made by the Boland Review, the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Mental Health.
What are the regulations for?
These regulations introduce new protections for workers’ mental health, re-enforcing the right to a safe workplace. They aim to strengthen workplace health and safety laws to address mental health more directly.
At Safe Space Legal we conduct a significant number of independent workplace investigations. Anecdotally, we are seeing an increase in the number of allegations where workers’ psychological safety has not been prioritised, which has resulted in employees being emotionally or psychologically harmed.
There has been an increase in work-related mental injuries in Victoria, with 18% of all new WorkCover claims in 2023-24 including these kinds of allegations. This represented a 2% increase from 2022-23 and a 9% increase since before 2009.
Deputy Premier and Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC, Ben Carroll, stated “Psychosocial hazards and mental injuries impact wellbeing and productivity across our community and economy, and it makes sense to do everything we can to prevent them.”
He also stated, “Mental injuries can have a devastating impact on workers’ health, careers, and personal lives. It’s crucial that employers do everything possible to reduce the risks – just as they must control the risks of physical injury.”
What are psychosocial hazards?
Psychosocial hazards are risks in one’s environment that have the potential to cause harm. This includes factor that can negatively impact mental health, well-being and overall job satisfaction. In the workplace, this is often things that can cause stress, including:
- Bullying
- Sexual harassment
- Aggression
- Violence
- Exposure to traumatic events
- Poor support systems,
- Overwhelming and unrealistic job expectations
- Lack of role clarity
How will this affect employers?
New obligations will be placed on employers to identify and control psychosocial hazards within the workplace.
A Compliance Code will be released to guide employers on how to meet their obligations under the new regulations, and extra guidance will be provided on introducing prevention plans, which can help identify strategies to identify and control psychosocial hazards.
Victorian employers already have a duty of care to protect their employees from psychological harm. These obligations will go further and mean that employers must treat psychosocial hazards in the same manner that they do physical hazards.
Employers need to ensure that they are compliant with their obligations under these new regulations. They need to ensure that they have policies and procedures in place to identify and address psychosocial hazards in the workplace and ensure that all allegations of psychological harm are investigated in a trauma-informed manner.
How can Safe Space Legal help?
The team at Safe Space Legal have extensive experience working with employers across Australia to support and strengthen their safeguarding practices and we frequently conduct independent workplace investigations. Safe Space Legal conduct investigations into allegations of psychosocial hazards, including sexual harassment and bullying, and all investigations are conduced in a trauma-informed manner.
Safe Space Legal provides the following services to ensure employers meet their legal obligations to safeguard employees:
- Conducting independent investigations which are compliant with relevant state and territory legislation and regulations.
- Ensuring that complaints handling and reporting processes are compliant with legal obligations and are trauma informed.
- Assistance and support to respond to allegations of workplace health and safety breaches.
- Delivering training to ensure employers and employees are aware of their legal obligations in respect to workplace bullying and harassment.
Contact office@safespacelegal.com.au or call (03) 9124 7321 to organise a complementary discussion in relation to your organisation’s child safety and safeguarding needs.