Laws are changing in Victoria: Time to become AVA CST AWARE

27 Nov 2025

From 1 December 2025, new Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations will come into effect in Victoria and will directly impact veterinary practices across the state.  

The Regulations strengthen the occupational health and safety (OHS) framework and recognise that psychosocial hazards are just as harmful as physical hazards. They will also provide clearer guidance to employers on their obligations to protect employees from psychological injury. The Regulations focus on risk management and create specific obligations for Victorian employers to identify psychosocial hazards and control risks. 

How CST AWARE helps you comply 

The AVA Cultivating Safe Teams (CST) AWARE program will directly assist veterinary practices meet these obligations.  

  • Employers must consult with their employees on health and safety matters that directly affect or are likely to directly affect them 
  • Employers must identify psychosocial hazards in the working environment 
  • Employers must use the hierarchy of control to eliminate or control psychosocial hazards 

By being part of the CST AWARE program you will learn how the hierarchy of control works and  hear examples of how it is applied in the veterinary workplace. It also uses anonymous collaborative tools to help identify the hazards that employees experience in their own workplace. 

Taking up CST AWARE now allows practices to get ahead of the changes, demonstrate due diligence, and show their teams that psychological health is valued as highly as physical safety.​ 

By acting early – engaging staff, mapping psychosocial hazards and implementing higher order controls – clinics can reduce the risk of psychological injury, claims and turnover while meeting the new legal standard.  

But, CST Aware not only raises awareness on how to make work SAFE it also highlights the importance of strengthening protective factors that are inherent in veterinary work and increasing psychological safety amongst the team to make veterinary work GREAT too. 

Register your expression of interest to join the AVA’s CST AWARE Program, here.