Psychosocial hazards in Queensland: the code and regulations

What the regulator says

WorkSafe Queensland’s page for the code says it gives practical guidance on obligations that already existed, and gives examples of how to meet them. It says the code and the amended regulations commenced on 1 April 2023. It also says the regulator monitored and enforced the existing WHS Act before that date.

What is particular to Qld

Queensland’s position on codes is stated plainly: under Queensland WHS laws, codes of practice are enforceable. The regulator also publishes a page for each hazard type, including job demands, job control, poor support, organisational justice, remote or isolated work and traumatic events. Commonwealth employers are directed to Comcare instead.

A worked example

A project coordinator on a Gold Coast build is asked to cover three roles after redundancies. Her report talks about repeated overtime and skipped breaks, which is job demands. The person handling confidential reports sees the same pattern on other sites. The company adjusts rosters and role descriptions instead of treating each report as a one-off.

What a useful record looks like

Queensland’s long list of hazard types makes a decent checklist for anyone reading a batch of confidential reports. Rather than filing each as general misconduct, a company can ask which listed hazard it points to: demands, control, support, clarity, justice, relationships, isolation or traumatic events. Look at that over a quarter and you can see whether a roster change, a new supervisor or a restructure made things better or worse. It also gives the next conversation with managers something concrete to look at.

How Haznote handles it

Haznote keeps every report with its time and location, so patterns across sites become visible. Confidential reports go to the company’s confidential contact, who can see that pattern without it sitting in the site manager’s queue.