The OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations came into effect on 1 December 2025 to recognise that psychological health and safety is just as important as physical health and safety. The regulations introduce measures designed to support psychological health in the workplace but they do not change the way that principals and their Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) delegates undertake OHS risk management in schools.
Policy
This policy outlines the practical steps schools can take to proactively control and manage risks from psychosocial hazards while supporting psychological health and safety in all school workplaces. This policy is about obligations to employees, contractors and volunteers in the workplace. Student mental health and wellbeing is covered by the Mental Health in Schools policy.
Summary
- As with physical hazards, schools must take steps to control health and safety risks associated with psychosocial hazards. Schools are to use existing OHS processes to do this, which include these steps:
- Identify psychosocial hazards.
- Assess the risk of harm from these hazards.
- Control hazards to eliminate the risk where practicable, or to reduce the risk of harm as far as possible, without relying solely on the provision of information or training.
- Investigate any psychosocial incident or complaint and record corrective actions in eduSafe Plus.
- Provide staff with regular information and training on psychological health and safety including the Health, safety and wellbeing for school leaders delivered through the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership.
- Monitor and review controls at least annually.
- Keep records and communicate outcomes appropriately, maintaining confidentiality.
- Consult with staff and Health and Safety Representatives (HSR; where elected) on health and safety risks encouraging them to report hazards and incidents in eduSafe Plus.
- The department has identified the common psychosocial hazards and controls to be included in a school’s OHS risk register and has updated the pre-populated OHS risk register with this information.
- The Psychological health and safety procedure explains how to undertake these steps and should be referred to in conjunction with other OHS resources.
- School staff, volunteers and contractors also have an obligation to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and cooperate with OHS requirements.
- There are a number of department policies that schools must follow that provide controls for managing psychosocial risks, including sexual harassment, workplace bullying, managing and reporting school incidents.
- For specific information on preventing, managing and responding to health, safety and wellbeing risks posed by work-related violence and other unsafe behaviours in schools, refer to the Work-Related Violence in Schools policy, Workplace Bullying policy, School Community Safety Orders, Behaviour – Students and Sexual Harassment – Employees policy.
- For a full list of related policies please refer to the updated prepopulated OHS risk register, Psychosocial hazards and DE controls library in the Resources tab and the related policies section on this page.
Details
All employers, including schools, must provide and maintain a working environment for their staff that is safe and without risks to health, including psychological health, as far as is reasonably practicable1. By creating a workplace that provides psychological health and safety, schools contribute to improving the mental health and wellbeing of their staff, and also foster healthier environments for students and the wider school community.
There are a number of work-related factors that can influence workplace psychological health and safety. When these factors are managed well, it can lead to a range of positive outcomes for staff and workplaces, including:
- improved mental health and wellbeing
- reduced work-related stress, absenteeism and turnover
- enhanced morale, motivation and job satisfaction
- improved productivity
- positive impact on staff-student, staff-parent relationships and student learning outcomes
- increased staff engagement
- a decrease in the number or severity of mental injuries.
However, when not effectively managed, these factors can present psychosocial risks and have the potential to cause psychological distress, mental and/or physical injury.
Psychosocial hazards can result from how work is designed and managed, or from interactions between people at work. When these hazards are managed poorly, it may create a risk to health and safety.
Schools are dynamic and challenging work environments. While it is difficult to guarantee that a work environment will be completely free of psychosocial hazards, it is possible to take steps to mitigate and, manage psychosocial hazards effectively, and minimise harm.
An extensive list of common psychosocial hazards in schools can be found in Chapter 3 of the Procedure, Preventing and proactively managing psychosocial hazards. These include, but are not limited to:
- work-related violence or aggression
- high job demands
- sexual harassment
- workplace bullying
- exposure to traumatic events, information or content.
Roles and responsibilities in promoting psychological health and safety
Under the OHS Act 2004 and OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 , managing the risks related to psychological health and safety is a shared responsibility between the department, the principal or their delegate and school staff.
Department roles and responsibilities
The Health, Safety and Wellbeing policy outlines the department’s commitment to support, promote and protect the health, safety and wellbeing of all school staff.
As the relevant duty holder, the department (or school council, for school council employees) has primary responsibility for OHS in all department workplaces. This means providing and maintaining:
- safe systems of work, including policies for the way workplaces run and staff are managed
- safe workplace facilities and infrastructure
- resources that assist schools to deliver their duties under the OHS Act and related regulations
- oversight of the psychosocial risks having the greatest impact on schools and opportunities to improve the control measures available.
The department also provides a range of resources that enable principals and school staff to achieve psychologically healthy and safe workplaces and support their own wellbeing including the:
- Employee Wellbeing Support Services which provides free and confidential advice to proactively support Victorian government school staff wellbeing
- Principal health and wellbeing supports to protect and promote the mental and physical health and wellbeing of Victorian school principals
- OHS Advisory Service or Statewide OHS Services which can provide free general advice and hands-on support in relation to psychological risk management in the school. For enquiries email the respective contact in your school region: NEVR.OHS@education.vic.gov.au, NWVR.OHS@education.vic.gov.au, SEVR.OHS@education.vic.gov.au or SWVR.OHS@education.vic.gov.au
- Workplace Psychosocial Safety Service that provides specialist advice and hands-on support to identified school leadership teams presenting with a significant psychosocial risk school profile to implement controls. Schools who are experiencing more complex, high-risk environments will be contacted by the department. For enquiries email workplace.psych.safety@education.vic.gov.au
- Health, safety and wellbeing for school leaders, a full day program offered through the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. This training covers effective management of health, safety and wellbeing in schools, and development and maintenance of an OHS risk register. The Academy also offer other relevant programs including Principal , Preventing and Managing , and Trauma-Sensitive Practice in .
Refer to Further expert health, safety and wellbeing supports for additional supports and information.
Principal or delegate roles and responsibilities
As the appointed delegate of the Secretary to the department, the principal (or their delegate) has responsibility to implement and uphold safe practices for staff in their school according to department guidance. Principally, by using the department’s prepopulated OHS risk register to implement, plan, and review relevant controls for risks and hazards.
Leaders play a critical role in shaping the psychological health and safety culture in a workplace. The principal or their delegate must, in consultation with school staff, and HSRs (where elected), identify, assess, control, monitor and review psychological health and safety risks and hazards relevant to the school’s particular environment. The principal or their delegate must be aware of and respond to new and existing hazards raised with them as per the OHS Risk Planning and Management policy.
It is also a leader’s role to:
- demonstrate a commitment to recognise and take steps to manage psychosocial risk in the workplace and foster staff health, safety, and wellbeing
- manage the conduct of employees, contractors, and volunteers, especially where the conduct is creating a psychosocial hazard for other employees
- consider staff health, safety, and wellbeing in school planning and reporting processes, in consultation with staff
- ensure staff are informed about how to identify hazards and report concerns and protections from victimisation should they choose to report or raise a concern
- provide staff with the resources they need to complete their role tasks and participate in school-related activities
- engage and consult staff in the risk management process and ensure consideration of feedback about the effectiveness of existing processes and risk controls.
School staff roles and responsibilities
While at work, school staff, and contractors and volunteers, must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and the safety of others who may be affected by the things they do or fail to do. School staff must support ongoing prevention and management of psychological health and safety by:
- co-operating with actions of the principal or their OHS delegate to comply with OHS requirements
- reporting hazards, risks and incidents in the workplace using eduSafe Plus (staff login . Contractors or volunteers must report these to the principal or delegate to log them in eduSafe Plus on their behalf
- contributing overall in a positive manner, as much as possible, towards fostering a psychologically health and safe working environment, including following any policies, information or instruction provided.
Key requirements to enable a psychologically healthy and safe workplace
In line with existing OHS risk planning and management requirements, principals or their delegates must take steps to identify psychosocial hazards in the school, implement effective controls, and monitor and review risk controls in consultation with school staff who are or are likely to be affected, and HSRs (where elected).
Principals or their delegates must maintain an OHS risk register that includes:
- 5 common and high-impact psychosocial hazards that every school must include in their risk register:
- work-related violence or aggression
- workplace bullying
- sexual harassment
- exposure to traumatic events
- high job demands
- other psychosocial hazards relevant to the school environment
- a combination of controls that will be most effective in controlling the risk, starting with those that remove the hazard completely. Where that isn’t possible, focus on safety measures that reduce the risk of harm as much as possible.
It is also recommended that they continue to:
- encourage all staff to report psychosocial hazards, incidents and near misses in eduSafe Plus (staff login and role model this behaviour by logging one’s own experiences of psychosocial hazards as a staff member
- communicate and demonstrate to school staff controls in place to manage psychosocial risk in the school, for example by sharing the school’s OHS risk register with staff
- continue to communicate the mental health supports available to staff.
The Psychological health and safety procedure contains detailed, practical information about how schools can meet these key requirements.
Related definitions
Mental or psychological health
A state of mental wellbeing that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and wellbeing that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in (World Health Organisation, ). For the purposes of the OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations, any references to ‘health’ in the OHS Act include psychological health.
Mental or psychological injury
Defined by WorkSafe Victoria, and under section 3 of the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013, as an injury that:
- causes significant behavioural, cognitive or psychological dysfunction
- is diagnosed by a medical practitioner in accordance with the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
Psychological health and safety
A framework for employers to take all reasonable care for ensuring the mental health and wellbeing of their staff is protected during the course of their work, and that all staff can enjoy a workplace free from psychological injury and harm. Note that ‘psychological health and safety’ is a broader concept than ‘psychological safety’, which refers to a team culture of speaking up without fear of consequences.
Psychosocial hazards
Factors in the way that work is organised, designed or managed, or in interactions between people in the workplace, that may cause an employee to experience a negative psychological response and create a risk to their health and safety.
Related policies
- Behaviour – Students
- Complaints, Misconduct and Unsatisfactory Performance
- Flexible Work
- Health, Safety and Wellbeing
- Inclusive Workplaces
- Medical Advisory Service
- Mental Health in Schools
- Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Management in Schools
- OHS Consultation and Communication
- OHS Risk Planning and Management
- Principal Health and Wellbeing
- Managing and Reporting School Incidents (Including Emergencies)
- Respectful Behaviours within the School
- Respectful Workplaces
- School Community Safety Orders
- Sexual Harassment – Employees
- Workers’ Compensation
- Workplace Bullying
- Work-Related Violence in Schools
Relevant legislation, regulations and compliance codes
- Compliance code: Psychological – WorkSafe Victoria
- Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004
- Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017
- Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025
- Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013
Notes
1 WorkSafe Victoria, Compliance Code: Psychological Health, 1st edn, 2025, 6.
Reviewed 02 December 2025