SafeWork NSW's Largest Psychosocial Blitz (October–November 2026): What Inspectors Check and What Workers Can Report

To mark World Mental Health Day, SafeWork NSW began a six-week program of proactive inspections focused on psychosocial hazards, which it calls its largest-ever compliance operation on psychological harm. Inspectors are visiting businesses across all industries state-wide, with the stated aim of improving compliance with psychosocial risk-management duties. Six weeks from 9 October runs to about 20 November 2026.

Three details matter. First, the regulator added 20 psychosocial-focused inspectors this year, so this is a standing capability, not a one-off. Second, a May–June 2026 program visited more than 200 workplaces and issued more than 80 improvement notices, and this operation includes repeat visits to check those notices were acted on. Third, demand is rising: 20.5 per cent of all requests for service to SafeWork NSW now raise psychosocial harm. The four industries asking for the most help are construction, education and training, healthcare and social assistance, and retail.

Amendments to the NSW Work Health and Safety Act 2011 that commenced on 1 July 2026 require a business to comply with a relevant approved code of practice, or to manage the hazard in a way that gives an equivalent or higher standard of safety. For psychological health the relevant code is the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice. Until July, codes were evidence of what is reasonably practicable; now departing from one without an equivalent control is itself a compliance problem. Our guide to the 2026 NSW WHS reforms covers the amending Act in detail.

That is what the inspectors are testing. SafeWork Commissioner Janet Schorer said inspectors "will be looking for evidence psychosocial risks are being actively managed", including how organisations identify hazards "arising from the design and management of work", and that organisations "should be able to demonstrate how they identify risks, consult with workers and take action to prevent psychological harms before they occur".

Working from the Code and the regulator's statements, a visit will typically test whether the business can produce:

• a written identification of psychosocial hazards for its work, covering the Code's list: high and low job demands, low control, poor support, lack of role clarity, poor organisational change management, inadequate reward and recognition, poor organisational justice, traumatic events, remote or isolated work, poor physical environment, violence and aggression, bullying, harassment including sexual harassment, and conflict;
• a risk assessment that considers duration, frequency and severity, and how hazards combine;
• control measures that address the design of the work (rosters, workloads, staffing, systems) rather than only resilience training or an EAP;
• evidence of consultation with workers and any health and safety representatives about the hazards and controls, as the WHS Act requires;
• a review process: incident and complaint data, exit interviews, absence trends, and what changed as a result;
• for workplaces visited in May–June, proof that the improvement notice was complied with by its due date.

Employers can run the psychosocial risk self-assessment to see how a file would hold up, and the psychosocial hazard checker to map the Code's hazard list to a specific role.

You do not have to wait for an inspector to arrive.

• Raise it internally first where it is safe to do so: with your supervisor, a health and safety representative, or through the consultation process. Put it in writing and keep a copy. The safety complaint triage tool helps you decide which route fits.
• Call the Psychosocial Advisory Service on 13 10 50. SafeWork NSW set it up so workers and businesses can get guidance before an issue escalates into harm. It is not a complaint; it is advice.
• Lodge a request for service through the SafeWork NSW website or on 13 10 50 if the hazard is not being managed. The regulator says psychosocial requests already make up one in five of everything it receives.
• If the hazard is bullying, the Fair Work Commission's stop-bullying order route runs in parallel with WHS, and a psychological injury may ground a workers compensation claim.
• You are protected from discriminatory or coercive conduct for raising a WHS issue (Part 6 of the WHS Act) and from adverse action under the Fair Work Act for exercising a workplace right.

• 9 October to about 20 November 2026: the inspection operation, all industries, with repeat visits to workplaces that received notices in May–June.
• 18 November 2026: SafeWork NSW psychological health and safety seminar for small business.
• Since 1 July 2026: the code-of-practice compliance duty under the amended WHS Act.

Other states are watching. Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations have applied since 1 December 2025, and every jurisdiction now has psychosocial regulations or a code. The NSW operation is the first time a regulator has described a psychosocial inspection program as its largest compliance exercise, and the 80 notices from the first round show it is prepared to use enforcement tools, not only guidance. Our national overview of psychosocial hazards compares the state rules.