Central Safety Group Melbourne

New psychological hazard regulations

There is clearly a great deal of interest in this topic judging by the turnout. It was also invaluable to have Tracey speaking to us, because she was a representative for Ai Group on a working group that reviewed WorkSafe Victoria’s proposed OHS Amendment (Psychological Health) Regulations.

She expressed frustration that jurisdictions are forming their own codes rather than adopting the National Code. However, we have seen this occur with other hazards, so I suppose it is not that surprising.

Ai Group have a few concerns about the draft Victorian regulations. The first is about the heirarchy of controls, where information, instruction and training are the lowest order control. While this is appropriate for physical hazards, such as manual handling, it is not really applicable for psychological hazards in their view.

Another issue is the section on Prevention Plans: Ai Group has asked for much more detail to be given about those, because the draft code gives scant guidance on this topic.

They are also concerned about reporting requirements, including the need to report twice a year as well as the notion of notifiable incidents. While it is self-evident that Tracey is speaking on behalf of employers, I would love to hear the employees' and union perspective on this, as I suspect they would have very different views.

Public comment on the proposed regulations closed on 31 March, but you can read the initial proposed draft along with 79 submissions here: https://engage.vic.gov.au/proposed-psychological-health-regulations

During discussion after the presentation Tracey gave us a timeline for the legislation: penalties will not come into effect until 2024; the Regulations are due to be released in July 2022, while the Compliance Code is due in October 2022. For the latter there will be just 2 weeks allowed for public comment, so keep an eye out for that.

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Tracey Browne

Date & Time: Tuesday 12 April 2022 at 12:00pm 

PLEASE NOTE: ONLINE ZOOM Event:

Speaker: Tracey Browne, Manager - National Safety & Workers' Compensation Policy and Membership Services, Ai Group

Topic: New psychological hazard regulations

Victoria has developed draft regulations for psychological health, and work is happening at the national level to develop Model WHS Regulations on this topic. What responsibilities will employers have under this new legislation? How might it affect the workplace? Will it have an impact on workers compensation?
These and other issues will be discussed in a zoom presentation at midday on 12 April by Tracey Browne, Manager, National Safety & Workers' Compensation Policy and Membership Services at Australian Industry Group (Ai Group).
Tracey is currently representing peak national employer organisation Ai Group on a working group reviewing WorkSafe Victoria’s proposed OHS Amendment (Psychological Health) Regulations, which were released for public comment closing on 31 March 2022. Tracey also represents industry as a member of Safe Work Australia, who are developing the Model Regulations and supporting Code of Practice.
The new WorkSafe regulations reflect the existing requirement in the Act to manage both physical and psychological health and safety. WorkSafe considers that they will provide clearer guidance to employers on their obligations to protect workers better from mental injury.
After her presentation Tracey will invite questions and discussion.

About the speaker:
Tracey Browne joined the national employers’ representative Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) in 2001. She has been their Manager of National Safety & Workers' Compensation Policy and Membership Services for the past 14 years.
Tracey’s role includes representing employer views and interests to governments, regulators and other relevant bodies, when legislative and policy changes are being considered. She is also responsible for information, advice and training in relation to safety and workers' compensation for Ai Group membership and staff.
Before joining AiG, Tracey worked in OHS and workers compensation roles in industry and lectured on safety and workers compensation at Ballarat University.

Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 11 April 2022.  When booking, please ensure you select the April Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.

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