Commonwealth Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work

A new Code of Practice to support mentally healthy workplaces is now in effect across Australia, reinforcing the importance of initiatives like the Australian Veterinary Association’s (AVA) THRIVE Cultivating Safe Teams (CST) pilot program.

The Work Health and Safety (Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work) Code of Practice 2024 provides practical guidance on how to prevent harm from psychosocial hazards at work including psychological and physical harm.

This short video outlines the 17 workplace psychosocial hazards and employer obligations to eliminate or mitigate these risks.

^{Watch the WHS Psychosocial Hazards video}

Bullying, harassment, job demands, isolated work and poor support are among the 17 workplace psychosocial hazards the code identifies, providing practical guidance on WHS duties, hazard identification and risk management.

Under the code, employers must eliminate risks so far as reasonably practicable or minimise them as much as possible. This is achieved by implementing the hierarchy of controls, which means implementing measures such as substitution, isolation and engineering before moving to less effective measures like administrative controls that depend on human behaviour. Workplaces must identify hazards, assess the risks, implement control measures to eliminate or minimise those risks and regularly review those measure to ensure they are effective. This approach can be found in the Work Health and Safety Regulations.

Monetary penalties under the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) will also increase annually from July 1, with penalties ranging from $78,000 to $3.3 million for individuals or body corporate.

Veterinarians can find out more about the new Code of Practice by visiting the Comcare website.

The AVA’s free member-only HR Advisory Service can also provide advice and resources for veterinary practices and employees.