New Psychosocial Hazard Laws For Real Estate
O*NO! Your team seems stressed, tensions are rising, and sick leave is creeping up—but it’s just part of a busy workplace, right? Not necessarily.
Psychosocial hazards—like excessive workload, bullying, or lack of support—aren’t just bad for morale; they’re now a legal risk. With workplace health and safety laws evolving to address mental well-being, businesses must ensure they’re not unknowingly creating environments that harm employees.
So, what exactly counts as a psychosocial hazard, and what are your legal responsibilities? Let’s break it down.
What are psychosocial hazards?
Psychosocial hazards are aspects of work that can cause both psychological and physical harm. These hazards stem from how work is designed and managed, the work environment, workplace interactions, and even the tools and equipment used on the job. Unlike physical hazards, which may be easier to identify—such as a slippery floor or faulty machinery—psychosocial hazards often manifest through stress, burnout, or unhealthy workplace dynamics.
Some common psychosocial hazards include:
Unrealistic deadlines and excessive workload
Job insecurity or lack of career progression
Poor management support or toxic leadership
Workplace bullying, harassment, or conflicts
High-stress environments, like dealing with aggressive customers or traumatic incidents
Fatigue from long hours, shift work, or lack of breaks
Lack of role clarity
Poor organisational change management
Remote or isolated work
Intrusive surveillance
Poor physical environment
Sexual Harassment
Inadequate award recognition
Lack of role clarity Poor organisational
The impact? Psychological injuries like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and sleep disorders—or even physical harm, like chronic illness or fatigue-related accidents. Given the significant impact on both employees and business performance, managing psychosocial hazards isn’t just a legal obligation—it’s a crucial part of fostering a healthy and productive workplace.
The New WHS Laws on Psychosocial Hazards
A new Code of Practice— the Work Health and Safety (Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work) Code of Practice 2024—is now in force across the Australia. This Code sets out practical steps for businesses to identify, manage, and prevent psychosocial hazards in the workplace, ensuring workers are protected from both psychological and physical harm.
While this Code isn’t a law itself, it’s a legally recognised guide or code on how to meet WHS obligations under the WHS Act and the WHS Regulations. In short, if you follow the Code, you’re more likely to be compliant with your legal duties—and if you don’t, you may have a hard time proving you’ve met your obligations.
Your Duties as a Business Owner Under the Code
If you’re running a business, you now have a clear legal duty to eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks in your workplace—just like you would for physical risks. Under the new WHS Regulations, this means taking reasonably practicable steps to ensure your workers (and anyone else on-site) aren’t exposed to risks that could impact their mental or physical health.
So, what does that actually look like? As a person conducting a business, your key obligations now include:
Identifying foreseeable psychosocial hazards – This means looking at your workplace and asking: Are workloads unreasonable? Is there a risk of bullying? Are workers exposed to traumatic events? If these risks exist, you need to act.
Eliminating risks where possible – If a hazard can be removed entirely, it should be. For example, if poor job design is causing excessive stress, restructure the role or add extra support.
Minimising risks if elimination isn’t possible – If you can’t eliminate a hazard, you must reduce its impact as much as possible. For instance, if customer aggression is an issue, training staff in de-escalation and providing security measures could help.
Maintaining control measures – It’s not enough to set and forget. You need to ensure that whatever measures you put in place actually work and remain effective over time.
Reviewing and revising control measures – Workplaces evolve, and so do risks. If your current approach isn’t cutting it, you must make adjustments to keep the environment safe.
When deciding what control measures to put in place, you need to consider things like:
How often and how severely workers are exposed to risks
How different psychosocial hazards interact (e.g., a high-pressure role combined with poor support)
Job design, workload, and management practices
The workplace layout, access to facilities, and safe means of entering & exiting the workplace (if applicable)
Workplace culture, interactions, and behaviours
The info, training and supervision provided to staff
If you hire workers, direct or influence their work, or manage a workplace, these duties apply to you. This includes anyone agency owners and real estate principals. Even if you’re not directly employing staff—say, you’re working with contractors or have people visiting your office or a site—you still need to manage psychosocial risks for everyone who could be affected.
What Does ‘Reasonably Practicable’ Mean?
When it comes to managing psychosocial hazards, the law requires businesses to do what is reasonably practicable—but what does that actually mean?
In simple terms, it’s about balancing risk and effort. You need to take action that is reasonably able to be done, considering factors like:
How likely the hazard is to occur – Is this a one-off issue, or a regular problem?
How serious the harm could be – Could it lead to stress, burnout, or even long-term mental health conditions?
What solutions exist – Are there effective ways to remove or reduce the risk?
What you know (or should know) about the risk – If a hazard is well-documented, you can’t ignore it.
The cost of controls vs. the level of risk – Cost matters, but it’s not an excuse to do nothing. The higher the risk, the more you need to invest in fixing it.
In some cases, a simple and low-cost fix—like setting clearer job expectations or improving team communication—may be enough. But if the risk is serious, you may need multiple control measures to properly manage it. The goal is to keep lowering the likelihood and severity of harm until there’s nothing more that can be reasonably done.
Psychosocial hazards often overlap—so reducing one risk (like excessive workload) can also help with others (like burnout and job dissatisfaction). That’s why a proactive approach is always the best strategy.
Cost does come into play, but only after assessing the severity of the risk and the available solutions. If eliminating or minimising a risk would be grossly disproportionate to the level of harm, then it may not be required. That said, cost alone is never a valid reason to ignore a hazard. If a high-cost solution isn’t practical, a business must still find a less expensive but effective way to reduce the risk.
Duties of Company Officers
If you're a company director, departmental secretary, or senior officer, you have a duty to exercise due diligence to ensure your business complies with its WHS obligations—especially around psychosocial hazards. Here's what you need to do:
Stay informed by keeping up-to-date with psychosocial work health and safety matters.
Understand the operations of the business and the psychosocial hazards and risks associated with those operations.
Ensure the business has the necessary resources and processes to eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks.
Make sure the business has systems in place for receiving and responding to information about incidents and psychosocial hazards.
Ensure compliance with WHS duties and obligations under the WHS Act and Regulations.
Verify that resources and processes are being used effectively to manage psychosocial risks.
Duties of Staff
As a worker, it’s your responsibility to take reasonable care of both your own physical and mental health and safety, as well as to ensure that your actions don’t negatively impact the health and safety of others around you. This includes following any reasonable health and safety instructions that are provided to you, as far as you’re able to. Additionally, you should cooperate with any health and safety policies or procedures that have been communicated to you. By doing your part, you contribute to creating a safer, healthier workplace for everyone.
Consultation
You must consult with your workers about any work health and safety (WHS) matters that may directly affect them—so far as is reasonably practicable. If you and your team already have agreed procedures for consultation, make sure you follow those when discussing health and safety issues.
When you consult effectively with your workers, it not only boosts decision-making on safety matters but also helps reduce work-related injuries and illnesses. Workers are often in the best position to identify tasks or aspects of their jobs that expose them to psychosocial hazards, and they might have practical suggestions for how to tackle these risks. For instance, they might offer ideas to improve work design in a way that minimizes psychological harm. Involving your workers in this process can lead to better solutions and a safer, healthier workplace for everyone.
Practical Steps Employers Can Take
Identify Psychosocial Hazards Early
Conduct regular risk assessments to spot potential issues like excessive workloads, workplace bullying, or job insecurity.
Encourage open communication so workers feel safe reporting concerns.
Consider the unique risks faced by different groups, such as young workers, culturally diverse employees, and remote staff.
Take Action to Eliminate or Minimise Risks
Eliminate hazards where possible (e.g., removing unnecessary job stressors).
If elimination isn’t possible, implement reasonable controls, such as:
Providing clear job descriptions to prevent role confusion.
Training managers to identify and respond to workplace conflict.
Offering employee assistance programs (EAPs) for mental health support.
Train Your Team
Ensure leaders and managers understand their role in preventing psychosocial hazards.
Provide regular training on workplace behaviour, conflict resolution, and stress management.
Make sure new hires are introduced to your policies from day one.
Monitor & Review Your Controls
Regularly review whether your measures are working—don’t assume a one-time fix is enough.
Adjust your approach if new hazards emerge (e.g., increased work demands, workplace changes).
Ask for worker feedback—they’ll tell you what’s working and what’s not.
Keep Records & Stay Informed
Document everything—risk assessments, control measures, training sessions, and worker consultations.
Stay up to date with legislative changes to ensure ongoing compliance.
Seek Legal Advice When in Doubt
Psychosocial hazards are complex—getting legal advice early can save you from bigger issues later.
A lawyer can help you:
Understand your duties under the new WHS laws.
Develop and review workplace policies to ensure compliance.
Respond to worker complaints or legal claims before they escalate.
Key Takeaways
Psychosocial hazards are now a legal risk – Workplace stressors like excessive workloads, bullying, and poor management aren’t just bad for morale—they can lead to WHS breaches and legal consequences if not properly managed.
Businesses must follow the 2024 Code to identify, assess, and control psychosocial risks. While not law itself, failing to comply can make it harder to prove legal obligations were met.
Businesses have a duty to eliminate psychosocial hazards where possible and minimize them if elimination isn’t feasible. This includes improving job design, providing mental health support, and fostering a positive workplace culture.
Employers must regularly consult with workers, provide training, and review risk control measures to ensure a safe and compliant work environment. Keeping records of actions taken helps demonstrate compliance with WHS laws.
Your Next Steps
Need help navigating workplace laws? Whether it’s drafting agreements, managing compliance, or training your team, we’ve got you covered. Let’s make sure your workplace is legally sound and stress-free.
Boring legal stuff: This article is general information only and cannot be regarded as legal, financial or accounting advice as it does not take into account your personal circumstances. For tailored advice, please contact us. PS - congratulations if you have read this far, you must love legal disclaimers or are a sucker for punishment.