Psychosocial hazards in the NT: regulations from July 2023

What the regulator says

NT WorkSafe says a PCBU has a legal responsibility to manage psychosocial hazards and risks. It says the 1 July 2023 regulations spell this out to help PCBUs identify and control them. It defines psychosocial hazards as anything at work that may cause psychological or physical harm. It notes they’re often overlooked because they’re less obvious than other hazards.

What is particular to NT

The local data is specific: for the 2021 to 2022 period, 12.6 per cent of workers’ compensation claims in the Northern Territory were for psychological injuries. NT WorkSafe sends readers to the model Code of Practice rather than a territory code, and its pages separate PCBU responsibilities, worker responsibilities, and sections on bullying and harassment and work-related violence.

A worked example

A roadworks crew in a remote Top End community works long stretches away from home. A worker raises that two colleagues have stopped speaking to each other, and the tension is affecting safety on the grader. The report goes to the confidential contact, who talks to the crew leader about rotating roles and check-ins between shifts.

What a useful record looks like

Distance and heat shape psychosocial risk in the Territory: long drives, remote camps, seasonal pressure and workers far from family. A report made in a place with no signal is saved on the phone and sent when it can be. Whoever reads it sees when and where it was made. That helps separate a one-off bad week from a pattern tied to a place or a roster. It also shows whether the same crew or camp keeps appearing in reports.

How Haznote handles it

Haznote records the report with its time and location, even offline, and routes a confidential report to the company’s confidential contact. It keeps the record; the response is the company’s.