The Victorian Government committed to introduce regulations to address psychological health in May 2021.
This is a major and important change to the occupational health and safety (OHS) landscape. It is perhaps one of largest changes to OHS for a very long time.
The proposed regulations recognises that safe workplaces include the need to minimise psychological harm to workers; and that psychological injuries are as harmful as physical injuries.
The proposed regulations strengthen existing occupational health and safety requirements in Victorian workplaces which have long been designed to cater to risks that could cause physical harm to workers.
WorkSafe was tasked with preparing the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Psychological Health) Regulations.
The Union does have some reservations about the proposed new regulations. For example, there are some concerns around the limited number of reportable matters. The Union also has concerns about the thresholds needed before a workplace review is triggered.
While these are important issues for the Union, they do not negate the fact that the proposed regulations are quite significant and a massive step in the right direction to ensuring workplaces are just as safe from psychological injury as they are from physical injury.
The proposed regulations are now available for public comment.
Members can get more information about the proposed regulations along with details on how to make a submission at: Proposed OHS Amendment (Psychological Health) Regulations | Engage Victoria
