Coinciding with World Mental Health Day 2026, SafeWork NSW has commenced a further program of proactive visits across the State focused on identifying and addressing psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
The six-week compliance operation is SafeWork NSW’s largest yet targeting psychosocial harms.
Across the State, inspectors will be visiting businesses across all industries.
Their focus will be on improving compliance with psychosocial risk management obligations.
Addressing psychosocial harms is a continuing regulatory priority for SafeWork NSW, which this year added 20 psychosocial-focused inspectors across its operational footprint with specific expertise to enhance the Regulator’s capacity in this area of workplace safety.
This latest compliance operation is off the back of a statewide compliance program focused on psychosocial hazards during May and June this year.
During that compliance program, SafeWork NSW inspectors visited more than 200 workplaces across a range of industries and issued more than 80 improvement notices relating to psychosocial hazards and risk management.
This latest compliance operation will include repeat visits to monitor compliance with the notices issued.
SafeWork NSW continues to receive an increasing number of psychosocial related requests for service (RFS), with 20.5 per cent of all RFS received raising issues of psychosocial harm.
The top four industries seeking psychosocial assistance are construction, education and training, healthcare and social assistance, and retail.
SafeWork NSW now operates a Psychosocial Advisory Service (PAS) where callers are invited to contact 13 10 50 to seek guidance and advice. The PAS supports workers and businesses resolve issues before they escalate into harm.
Reforms to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 which came into effect on 1 July 2026 introduced new legislative requirements for businesses to comply with relevant codes of practice, or to manage hazards and risks in a different way that is equivalent or higher than the standard required under the code.
This includes the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, which provides practical guidance on identifying, assessing and controlling psychosocial risks to help businesses meet their work health and safety obligations.
Workers who have concerns about workplace health and safety and wish to lodge a request for service can find information on the SafeWork NSW website or call SafeWork NSW on 13 10 50.
The code of practice is on the SafeWork NSW website.
SafeWork NSW is hosting a psychological health and safety seminar on 18 November.
For details, visit the event page.
SafeWork Commissioner Janet Schorer said:
“Creating psychologically safe workplaces starts with good work design, supportive leadership and workers feeling safe to speak up about concerns.”
“Inspectors will be looking for evidence psychosocial risks are being actively managed, including how organisations identify hazards arising from the design and management of work.
“Organisations should be able to demonstrate how they identify risks, consult with workers and take action to prevent psychological harms before they occur.
“Psychological harms are as damaging as physical harm and can contribute to psychological injury, physical injury, reduced wellbeing, lost productivity and harm to workers if left unmanaged.
“SafeWork NSW inspectors will be visiting worksites across the State reinforcing this message and providing businesses with the resources they need to identify, manage and monitor psychosocial risks in the workplace.”
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