Posts: psychosocial risks

New employees to the workforce require appropriate supervision while they build new skills and to ensure that they work in a safe manner. The obligation to ensure the safety of new workers also extends to ensuring their psychosocial safety, including the psychosocial risks of bullying.

Employers have work health and safety obligations to eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks in the workplace so far as is reasonably practicable. These risks can often arise from hazards such as workplace conflict or poor workplace relationships.

Earlier this month, SafeWork NSW announced a three-year work health and safety strategy focusing on psychological health and safety.

Under work health and safety legislation, persons conducting a business or undertaking have duties to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable the health and safety of workers in the workplace. It is also accepted that workplace bullying is a risk to health and safety of workers which needs to be managed as any other health and safety risk.

Employers have work health and safety obligations to eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks in the workplace so far as is reasonably practicable. These risks arise from psychosocial hazards including conflict or poor workplace relationships.