Employers in New South Wales will now have to manage risks associated with mental health hazards in workplaces that can lead to harm for workers under new regulations released this week.

In a move designed to implement recent changes to the national model workplace health and safety regulations, the New South Wales Government has amended its regulations to recognise psychosocial risks in the workplace and to require employers to take all reasonably practical steps to manage, avoid or mitigate these.

According to the newly revised regulation, psychosocial hazards are aspects of work situations which can cause stress and lead to physical or psychological harm.

Such hazards can stem from the way tasks or jobs are designed, managed and supervised; the workplace environment (e.g. physically hazardous) and/or the plant equipment at work; or workplace relations, interactions or behaviours.

Common psychosocial hazards include excessive workload or unreasonable job demands; monotonous or highly repetitive work; exposure to traumatic events; role conflict or lack of role clarity; low levels of job control; workplace conflict; inadequate support or unreasonable behaviour from managers, supervisors or co-workers; workplace violence; bullying; physical or sexual harassment; inadequate recognition and reward; hazardous physical environments; isolated or remote work; poor or unfair management of organizational policies and procedures, allocation of work resources or management of job performance; poor organisational culture and inadequate consultation or communication when undertaking organisational change.

The newly amended regulation requires employers to implement suitable control measures to ether eliminate or minimise risks from these hazards as much as practicable.

According to a code of practice developed by Safe Work NSW, steps to mitigate psychosocial risk involve identifying potential hazards; assessing and prioritising any hazards and risks; and monitoring and reviewing to ensure the effectiveness of measures which are in place.

Control measures can include eliminating or minimising risk through effective design of jobs or tasks, safe systems of work and effective supervision, instruction and training (refer code for details).

The amendment comes amid growing awareness about mental health challenges in workplaces.

In construction, mental health charity Mates in Construction says that workers in the sector are six times more likely to die from suicide than from workplace accidents.

Natasha Mann, head of Safe Work NSW, said the amended regulations will provide greater clarity on obligations along with guidance on potential control measures.

“Psychosocial risks and hazards can cause a stress response leading to psychological or physical harm,” Mann said.

“They can stem from the work itself in the way it is designed and managed, from hazardous working environments, equipment use and social factors in the workplace,” Mann said.

“The new regulations require businesses to, as far as reasonably practicable, eliminate psychosocial risks and advise what should be considered when putting in place appropriate control measures.”