Under the model Work Health and Safety Regulations, a person conducting a business or undertaking must identify psychosocial hazards, eliminate the risk so far as is reasonably practicable, and where elimination is not possible, minimise the risk using control measures. Since 1 December 2025 these duties have been enforceable in every Australian state and territory. From 1 July 2026, NSW businesses must comply with the approved Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work or demonstrate an equivalent standard.
Regulators expect control measures based on the actual risk profile of the work. Generic statements do not satisfy the duty, and higher-order controls that change the work itself are preferred over controls that ask the worker to cope. For emergency, safety and security services, this means the assessment must address the hazards that arise in your workplace rather than describing workplace stress in the abstract.
Psychosocial hazards specific to emergency, safety and security services
Emergency, safety and security work carries the most direct traumatic-exposure profile of any commercial sector. Workers attend incidents that other people are evacuated from, and exposure is cumulative rather than singular — the hazard is the accrual across a career, not any one shift. Violence and aggression from the public is an expected condition of the role, which paradoxically makes it under-reported, because reporting implies the worker could not handle the ordinary work. Night rosters demand sustained vigilance at the hours when human alertness is lowest. Lone patrol and single-officer deployment remove both support and witness. Enforcement roles also carry a specific structural problem: workers are asked to control behaviour without clear authority to do so, which produces conflict they cannot resolve.
The 17 psychosocial hazards covered
SafeWize emergency and security services kits include a separate risk assessment for each recognised psychosocial hazard, approximately 5 to 6 pages per hazard, with the hazard described in your industry's language, the risk rated, and controls selected and mapped to the hierarchy of controls. The full list is set out on the psychosocial kits page.
What documentation a regulator asks for
In a WHS investigation, documentary evidence determines the outcome. Inspectors typically ask for the psychosocial risk assessment, the control measures selected and their position in the hierarchy of controls, evidence of worker consultation, and records showing controls have been reviewed. A statement that the workplace culture is positive is not a defence and does not appear in an audit trail.
Authoritative sources
The obligations described on this page come from the model WHS Regulations and the psychosocial hazards Code of Practice. The primary sources are published by Safe Work Australia and the state and territory regulators:
Your regulator: SafeWork NSW · WorkSafe Victoria · WorkSafe Queensland · SafeWork SA · WorkSafe WA · WorkSafe Tasmania · WorkSafe ACT · NT WorkSafe · Comcare (Commonwealth)
SafeWize is not a regulator. The kits are compliance documentation, not legal advice. Always check the current requirements with the regulator in your jurisdiction.
