Understanding Victoria’s New Psychological Health Regulations: What Disability and Family Support Organisations Need to Know
Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 came into effect on 1 December 2025.
The regulations introduce specific requirements for employers to manage psychosocial risks in the workplace, recognising psychological health as an important part of workplace safety.
These obligations apply to all Victorian workplaces, including organisations operating in the disability, family support, early intervention and broader social and community services sectors.
Employer obligations under the regulations
Under the regulations, employers must, so far as reasonably practicable, identify psychosocial hazards and eliminate the risks associated with those hazards.
Where elimination is not reasonably practicable, employers must reduce the risk so far as reasonably practicable.
This may involve altering:
Work design
Systems of work
Management of work
The workplace environment
Employers may also use information or training as part of their risk management approach. This is where Bernadette Glass & Associates assists.
Employers are also required to review and, if necessary, revise any implemented risk controls, and ensure that control measures are properly installed, used and maintained.
Psychosocial hazards
The regulations define psychosocial hazards as factors arising from:
the design of work
systems of work
management of work
the carrying out of work
interactions within the working environment
that may create a risk to an employee’s psychological health or safety.
For organisations in the disability and social support sectors, these regulations reinforce the importance of maintaining safe and sustainable workplaces for practitioners working in complex and demanding environments.
For organisations interested in exploring practitioner wellbeing further, see our Insure Against Burnout – Wellbeing at Work webinar.
