Mentally Healthy Workplaces: Meeting Your Legal and Leadership Obligations

WorkPlacePLUS
Sep 29
3 min read

Why Psychological Safety Matters

Psychological health and safety is vital to a productive, respectful workplace, and employers have a duty to create safe, inclusive environments where workers feel valued and supported.

Bullying, discrimination, and harassment, including sexual harassment, are recognised psychosocial hazards that can cause serious harm to employee mental health.

What is psychological health?

National Legal Framework for Psychosocial Safety

In recent years, Australia has strengthened its legal framework to better protect employees from psychosocial risks:

Respect at Work Act 2022 – Introduced a positive duty on employers to take proactive steps to eliminate discrimination, workplace sexual harassment and victimisation.
Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act 2022 – Extended the time limit for sexual harassment complaints from six to 24 months, and empowered the Fair Work Commission to issue compensatory orders.
WHS Amendments (2023) – Updated the Model Code of Practice: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work, setting out how employers must identify and manage risks to psychological health.

Together, these reforms require employers to review their workplace practices, engage employees in consultation, and take meaningful action to prevent harm.

Victoria’s New OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations – Effective 1 December 2025

From 1 December 2025, Victoria’s new OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations will bring the state into alignment with the national model WHS laws, making psychosocial risk management a legal obligation for all Australian employers.

Under the new regulations, employers must:

Identify and assess psychosocial hazards such as bullying, harassment, job stress, and poor role clarity.
Implement and review control measures to reduce psychological health risks.
Update WHS policies to include psychosocial risk management.
Provide leadership and manager training to ensure supervisors can recognise and address psychosocial hazards early.

Looking after employees’ mental wellbeing is just as important as preventing physical injuries. Both are essential to building a safe, sustainable workplace.

Employer responsibilities

Taking Action – Mentally Healthy Workplace Reviews

Employers should take a consultative WHS risk management approach to ensuring your workplace is equipped to manage the risk of psychosocial hazards in the workplace, including but not limited to bullying, discrimination, workplace sexual harassment and victimisation.

Risk management is a stepped process of identifying hazards, assessing risks, controlling those risks and then reviewing the efficacy of control measures over time or in response to an event.

How WorkPlacePLUS Can Help

WorkPlacePLUS can facilitate a Mentally Healthy Workplace Review for your organisation and support you to meet your employer obligations. We offer various implementation options such as:

Outsourced - An experienced WorkPlacePLUS consultant conducts the Mentally Healthy Workplace Review and provide clear, practical and independent support to help you manage any risks or hazards.

Empowered – Your managers, supervisors, HR team and WHS representatives undertake our Mentally Healthy Workplace Training which includes psychosocial risk management and how to respond to a psychological safety complaint or claim.

WorkPlacePLUS can also conduct an Independent Workplace Investigation into claims related to psychosocial hazards in the workplace, including but not limited to bullying, discrimination, workplace sexual harassment and victimisation.

To prevent early signs of employee mental stress from escalating, consider utilising our Employee Assistancce Program (EAP) and tools for workplace wellness.