WorkSafe Victoria · Psychological Health Regs 2025
A psychosocial improvement notice looks the same. The substance is different.
An improvement notice for psychosocial risk is issued under the same section of the OHS Act as any other notice. But what it requires you to do, and what an inspector looks for at reinspection, is shaped by three specific regulations most employers haven't worked with before. This page explains them, and the gap that puts most businesses on the wrong side of one.
Notice · Quick Spec
Notice power
s.111 OHS Act 2004
General duty
s.21 OHS Act 2004
Specific regs
Reg 14 · 15 · 16
Regulations
OHS (Psych Health) 2025
Operative from
1 Dec 2025
Compliance window
Set by inspector
Reinspection
Automatic
DOC-VIC-PSY-001 · REV 2026-06
The Psychological Health Regulations 2025 commenced 1 December 2025. WorkSafe Victoria has clear inspector guidance, and notices issued under these regulations test for things most employers haven't built systems for yet.
ALERT · REF-REG-2025
Section A · Legal stack
What an inspector actually cites
A psychosocial improvement notice doesn't sit on a single provision. It stacks three: the inspector's power, the employer's general duty, and the specific regulation that defines how that duty must be met for psychosocial hazards. Read in that order, the notice makes sense.
SPEC-LEG-001 · OHS Act 2004 + Psych Regs 2025
The three layers of a psychosocial notice
LAYER 01
Section 111 — Power to issue improvement notice
OHS Act 2004. The inspector's legal authority to issue the notice. Triggered when the inspector reasonably believes a person is contravening, or has contravened, a provision of the Act or the regulations. This is the source of the notice itself.
LAYER 02
Section 21 — Duties of employers to employees
OHS Act 2004. The general duty: an employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risks to health. Health includes psychological health under s.5(1). This is the underlying duty the regulations operationalise.
LAYER 03
Regulations 14, 15, 16 — The way you comply
OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025. These define how an employer complies with the s.21 duty in relation to psychosocial hazards. The notice will cite the specific regulation contravened. Notes within each regulation state "Act compliance — section 21" — meaning a failure to comply with the regulation is a failure of the s.21 duty.
Section B · The difference
Why a psychosocial notice plays out differently
In form, a psychosocial improvement notice is identical to one issued for a physical hazard. In substance, it tests three things most businesses haven't built systems for. These are the gaps that turn into notices.
01
The work-factor blind spot
Most allegations get investigated through an HR or conduct lens — who said what, did it happen, can it be substantiated. The investigation closes when the behavioural element can't be proved. The work-factor contributors — workload, role clarity, support, change management — never get probed. That gap is what an inspector will return to.
02
Reg 15's unusual control hierarchy
Reg 15 requires elimination first, then alteration of work design, management of work, systems of work, plant, or workplace environment. Training and information sit at the bottom — and cannot be the predominant control measure. Most employer responses are policy + training. That doesn't meet the regulation.
03
Reg 16's six review triggers
Reg 16 lists six circumstances that require an employer to review and, if necessary, revise risk control measures. A report of psychological injury is one. A reportable incident is another. Most employers don't have a system that recognises these triggers, let alone evidence of acting on them.
04
No proactive visibility
Reg 14 requires identification of psychosocial hazards, so far as is reasonably practicable — before they cause harm. Most workplaces only become aware of a psychosocial hazard when an employee complains or a claim arrives. By then, the inspector's question is: what were you doing to identify this earlier?
Section C · The three regulations
Reg 14, 15 and 16 — what they actually require
Every psychosocial improvement notice cites at least one of these three. Read each regulation as written, then read what an inspector is actually looking for at reinspection.
14
SPEC-REG-014 · IDENTIFICATION
Identification of psychosocial hazards
Direct text · Reg 14
"An employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, identify psychosocial hazards."
Identification is a proactive duty. It applies whether or not anyone has complained, lodged a claim, or raised an issue. The employer must have a method of finding psychosocial hazards before they cause harm — through consultation, observation, review of work design, analysis of available data, and engagement with workers.
Inspector lens · REF-IN-014
An inspector will ask what your hazard identification method is — how it runs, who's responsible, and what it has identified. If the only answer is "we wait for someone to raise it", that's not identification. Consultation with workers under Part 4 of the Act is the most defensible starting point.
15
SPEC-REG-015 · CONTROL OF RISK
Control of risk — the hierarchy
Summarised · Reg 15(1)–(4)
Eliminate risk so far as reasonably practicable. If elimination is not reasonably practicable, reduce risk by altering the management of work, plant, systems of work, work design, or workplace environment — or by information, instruction or training, or a combination. Training and information must not be the predominant control measure.
Reg 15 sets a specific hierarchy. The regulation makes clear what must come first: alteration of work design, management of work, systems of work, plant, or workplace environment. Information, instruction or training are available only where altering work is not reasonably practicable, or as part of a combination — and even then, training cannot be the predominant measure.
Inspector lens · REF-IN-015
A response that consists primarily of policy updates and training rollout will not satisfy a Reg 15 contravention. The inspector wants to see evidence that work design, workloads, systems, supervision arrangements, or the workplace environment have been altered. If those weren't altered, the response is incomplete.
16
SPEC-REG-016 · REVIEW
Review of risk control measures — the six triggers
Reg 16 lists six circumstances that require an employer to review and, if necessary, revise risk control measures. A health and safety representative can also request a review on reasonable grounds. This regulation is the most common citation in the notices currently being issued — because review systems are rarely built and rarely evidenced.
16(1)(a)
Before any alteration to a thing, process or system of work likely to change psychosocial risks.
16(1)(b)
New or additional information about a psychosocial hazard becomes available.
16(1)(c)
An employee — or a person on behalf of an employee — reports a psychological injury or psychosocial hazard.
16(1)(d)
After a Part 5 incident occurs that involves one or more psychosocial hazards.
16(1)(e)
For any other reason, the risk control measures do not adequately control the risks.
16(1)(f)
After receiving a request from a health and safety representative.
Inspector lens · REF-IN-016
Reg 16 is procedural and evidentiary. An inspector will ask: when was the last review, what triggered it, who was involved, what was revised, and how was it consulted on. If a worker reported a concern and no review followed — that's a contravention on its face.
Section D · Hazard categories
Psychosocial hazards — behavioural and work-related
The Psychological Health Regulations define a psychosocial hazard as any factor in work design, systems of work, management of work, the carrying out of work, or personal or work-related interactions that may cause negative psychological responses. The examples listed in Reg 4 split naturally into two groups. A notice may reference one or both.
Group 1
Behavioural factors
Hazards arising from interpersonal conduct directed at workers. Typically investigated through HR or conduct processes — but the work-factor contributors must also be probed for the response to satisfy Reg 15.
B-01
Aggression or violence
B-02
Bullying
B-03
Sexual harassment
Group 2
Work-related factors
Hazards arising from how work is designed, organised and managed. These are the systemic factors that most behavioural investigations leave unexamined — and the source of most psychosocial notices.
W-01
High job demands
W-02
Low job control
W-03
Low job demands
W-04
Low recognition and reward
W-05
Low role clarity
W-06
Poor environmental conditions
W-07
Poor organisational change management
W-08
Poor organisational justice
W-09
Poor support
W-10
Poor workplace relationships
W-11
Remote or isolated work
W-12
Exposure to traumatic events or content
Section E · Pathway to a notice
How a psychosocial notice typically arises
The most common pathway isn't a single dramatic event. It's an allegation that gets investigated through one lens, closed for lack of evidence, and never followed up through the other lens. The gap between the two is where the notice lives.
PATH-01
Concern raised
A worker reports behaviour, conduct, or a work-related concern — informally, formally, or via an HSR.
PATH-02
HR investigates the behaviour
The matter is treated as a conduct or grievance issue. Witnesses are interviewed; the behaviour is probed.
PATH-03
Behaviour can't be substantiated
Evidence is mixed or contested. The investigation closes. The complaint is filed.
GAP
Work-factors never probed
Workload, role clarity, support, supervision, change management — none of it is investigated. Reg 16 review never triggered.
PATH-04
WorkSafe notified
A second complaint, a claim, or a referral brings WorkSafe in. The inspector asks what was reviewed under Reg 16.
Section F · Response protocol
How to respond to a psychosocial improvement notice
A response that satisfies the notice and survives reinspection looks different from a behavioural investigation outcome. Here's the sequence.
01
Map the contravention to Reg 14, 15 or 16
Read the notice. Identify which regulation has been cited. Each one requires different evidence at reinspection — identification systems for Reg 14, control measures for Reg 15, review records for Reg 16.
02
Categorise the hazard — behavioural, work-related, or both
A behavioural notice without a work-factor review is rarely satisfied. A work-factor notice without consultation is rarely satisfied. Both lenses almost always apply — even when the trigger looked behavioural.
03
Investigate the work-factor contributors
Beyond the HR file. Look at workload, supervision, role clarity, support, decision-making authority, change processes, and team relationships. This is the step that's almost always missing — and the step inspectors look for.
04
Apply Reg 15 in the right order
Document elimination first. Where elimination isn't reasonably practicable, document alterations to work design, management of work, systems of work, or environment. Training and information sit at the bottom — and never as the predominant control.
05
Run a Reg 16 review — and document it
The notice itself is a Reg 16(1)(b) trigger (new information about a psychosocial hazard). A formal review of existing controls, what they failed to control, and what's been revised is the evidence the inspector expects.
06
Consult — workers, HSR, committee
Under Part 4 of the Act and Reg 9 of the Psych Regs, employees and any HSR must be involved. Document the consultation: what was shared, when, with whom, and what was taken from it.
Got to the bottom?
Get the full guide.
Inside a Psychosocial Improvement Notice.
Inside a Psychosocial Improvement Notice.
A two-page reference covering the six sections, Regs 14, 15 and 16, and the inspector's perspective on what each part is signalling. Free download.
↑ Back to the form