Australia-first, built for global workplace regulation.
Every market handles psychosocial risk differently. Here’s how each one treats it — and where the direction of travel is the same.
1 December 2025
Every Australian state and territory now has explicit, enforceable obligations to manage psychosocial hazards — with specific rules on how risks must be identified, assessed, controlled and reviewed. Victoria was last, on 1 December 2025, under its own OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025.
This is not a new duty. The obligation to manage risks to psychological health has always existed under the general duty in section 19 of the WHS Act. What changed is that the benchmark became enforceable.
- From 1 July 2026, NSW businesses have a duty to comply with approved Codes of Practice under the WHS Act 2011 (NSW) — or provide a standard equivalent to or higher than the Code (s26A).
- Regulators no longer need to prove harm occurred; falling short of the Code may itself constitute a breach.
- Higher-order controls — work design and management practices — are required. Training alone is not sufficient as a primary control.
2015
The Stress Check Programme has been mandatory for workplaces of 50 or more employees since 2015.
The mandate exists now; universal scope is what’s new. Japan is the only one of these markets that mandates a measurement instrument.
- The amended Industrial Safety and Health Act (promulgated May 2025) extends it to all workplaces regardless of size, with a proposed effective date of April 2028.
Nov 2023
The Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-Being at Workplaces (MOM, SNEF and NTUC) was issued on 20 November 2023 as recommendations for employers.
The Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-Being at Workplaces is a set of recommendations — explicitly not legally binding. Employers are strongly encouraged, not compelled. Singapore does not have an enforceable psychosocial duty equivalent to Australia’s.
- The Code of Practice on WSH Risk Management was expanded in 2021 to explicitly cover mental well-being.
- The 2022 Code of Practice on Chief Executives’ and Board of Directors’ WSH Duties refers to directors allocating resources to workplace mental well-being.
- Approved Codes are not laws, but courts may consider compliance with them.
No fixed date
Managing psychosocial risk is a legal requirement under Framework Directive 89/391/EEC: employers must assess and manage all workplace risks, and EU-OSHA explicitly extends this to psychosocial hazards.
The Framework Directive does not explicitly use the terms “psychosocial risk” or “work-related stress”. The extension to psychosocial hazards comes through EU-OSHA guidance and the social-partner framework agreements. Implementation varies significantly by member state.
- The extension is supported by the social-partner framework agreements on work-related stress (2004) and on harassment and violence at work (2007).
- Implementation varies significantly by member state — some have detailed binding legislation, others general legislation.
Plus Ultra provides decision-support and evidence — not legal advice, and not a compliance verdict. The WHS duty of care remains with the employer, as it should.
Four steps, not one.
Safe Work Australia’s model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work (July 2022) sets out the process — identify the hazard, assess the risk, control it, then review whether the control worked.
A point-in-time survey answers the first step. The remaining three need a record that continues after the survey closes: what you found, what you did about it, when you last reviewed it, and whether it moved.
That’s the trail Plus Ultra keeps. You choose the controls; we hold the record and show whether they worked.
The mechanisms differ. The direction doesn’t.
The mechanisms differ from market to market, but the direction of travel is the same everywhere: psychosocial risk is becoming something employers must measure, act on, and evidence.
Validated instruments
BAT-23, WHO-5 and the Edmondson scale, implemented faithfully.
A minimum group of 10
Team-level data appears only once at least 10 people have responded; the floor lives in the database, not a setting.
Audit-ready evidence
Hazards, controls in hierarchy order, review currency — an export a WHS officer can read.