NSW launches psychological safety strategy with $5.6m in support

The SafeWork NSW strategy sets out how the regulator will help employers manage psychosocial risks and meet their duty to prevent psychological harm. Funding will support programs delivered through the Black Dog Institute and Transitioning Well for small and medium businesses.

The programs target small businesses, which account for most NSW employers and generally have fewer resources and less capacity to manage workplace mental health. Minister for Small Business Steve Kamper said NSW had roughly 850,000 small businesses employing 1.7 million people, or about 43 per cent of the state's private sector workforce.

Workplace mental ill health is estimated to cost Australian businesses up to $39 billion annually through lost participation and productivity. Mr Kamper said the government needed to work with businesses to provide appropriate programs and advice, and that addressing psychosocial risks protected both workers' health and businesses from these losses.

SafeWork NSW consulted workers, unions, businesses and health and safety professionals from government agencies while developing the strategy. Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis said workers had a fundamental right to return home safe, both physically and mentally. She called for a shared effort to make workplaces psychologically safer and backed SafeWork taking action where workplaces remained unsafe.

Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson said cost-of-living pressures, natural disasters and COVID-19 had affected the workforce. She identified emergency services, nursing and law enforcement as frontline industries where workers may face greater risks, and said the strategy aimed to strengthen workplace mental health support.

Ms Jackson said people in every industry deserved respectful and psychologically safe workplaces. She also stressed the importance of employers and workplaces doing everything they could to prevent psychological harm.

Acting Deputy Secretary SafeWork NSW Trent Curtin said large businesses and government agencies at high risk of psychological injuries could expect compliance checks. He said SafeWork NSW would issue improvement notices, prohibition notices or formal regulator warnings, and may prosecute workplaces for repeated non-compliance or serious breaches of WHS laws.

Mr Curtin said psychologically healthy and safe workplaces were not only an obligation under Work Health and Safety regulations but could also reduce business costs associated with absenteeism and presenteeism. He described presenteeism as staff attending work while under stress or experiencing mental health issues, and cited an estimated annual cost of $1,680 per employee.

How Blue Safe can help: Our free WHS self-check can help you review your approach to workplace health and safety, including psychosocial risks, and identify areas that may need attention. Take the free WHS self-check