Psychosocial risk assessment tool
A free, structured way to start your psychosocial risk assessment. Rate each common hazard for a team or role, and get a prioritised list of risks and practical controls to discuss with your workers.
Assess one group at a time, for example, night shift pickers.
Score = exposure (0 to 4) × severity (1 to 3) × current controls (1.0, 0.75 or 0.5), to a maximum of 12. Choose Never if a hazard isn't present.
1. Job demands
Sustained high or low physical, mental or emotional effort, such as heavy workloads, long hours or tight deadlines.
Example: Pick rates in a distribution centre that rise in peak season with no extra staff.
Not rated
2. Low job control
Little say over how or when work is done, such as tightly scripted or machine-paced tasks.
Example: Customer service calls with fixed scripts, call targets and no say in break times.
Not rated
3. Poor support
Not enough practical or emotional help from supervisors and colleagues, or not enough training, tools and information to do the job.
Example: A new aged care worker rostered alone on a night shift without an experienced buddy.
Not rated
4. Lack of role clarity
Uncertainty about tasks and standards, conflicting instructions, or frequently changing expectations.
Example: Council staff taking direction from two managers with different priorities.
Not rated
5. Poor organisational change management
Change that is poorly planned, poorly communicated or made without consulting the people it affects.
Example: A new rostering system introduced across depots with a week's notice.
Not rated
6. Inadequate reward and recognition
An imbalance between the effort workers put in and the recognition, feedback or reward they receive.
Example: Paramedics' extra effort through a surge in call-outs going unacknowledged.
Not rated
7. Poor organisational justice
Inconsistent, unfair or biased decisions and processes, or a lack of transparency in how they are made.
Example: Overtime and preferred shifts allocated without clear or consistent rules.
Not rated
8. Traumatic events or material
Witnessing, investigating or being exposed to events or material that cause fear or distress, such as death, serious injury or abuse.
Example: Emergency services workers attending fatal road crashes.
Not rated
9. Remote or isolated work
Work where help is hard to get because of location, time or the nature of the work, such as lone or night work.
Example: A council ranger working alone in a large rural area with patchy phone coverage.
Not rated
10. Poor physical environment
Hazardous or unpleasant conditions, such as extreme temperatures, noise, poor lighting or cramped spaces.
Example: Warehouse workers in a hot, noisy area through a summer heatwave.
Not rated
11. Violence and aggression
Being threatened, abused or assaulted by clients, customers, patients or members of the public.
Example: Customer service staff at a council front counter being verbally abused.
Not rated
12. Bullying
Repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed at a worker or group that creates a risk to health and safety.
Example: A team member repeatedly excluded from shift handovers and belittled in meetings.
Not rated
13. Harassment, including sexual harassment
Unwelcome conduct that offends, humiliates or intimidates, including sexual harassment and harassment based on personal characteristics.
Example: Unwelcome comments about a worker's appearance from a regular client.
Not rated
14. Conflict or poor workplace relationships
Frequent disagreements, rudeness or poor relationships between workers, or between workers and supervisors.
Example: Ongoing tension between day and night shift teams over unfinished work.
Not rated
Other hazard
Any other psychosocial hazard you have identified for this team or role.
Example: Job insecurity, fatigue from shift work, or intrusive monitoring of workers.
Not rated
Rate at least one hazard to see your results.
Training, wellbeing programs and counselling support people, but don't remove the hazard on their own. Start with changes to how work is designed.
Next steps
- Discuss the results with workers and health and safety representatives (HSRs).
- Agree controls, owners and dates.
- Review in 3 to 6 months, and after any incident.
Select your state or territory above to see the code of practice that applies to you.
Your answers are saved in this browser only, so you can come back to them. Nothing is sent to EMP.
Psychosocial risk assessment
Team, role or area: ________________________
Number of workers: ____
State or territory: ____
Assessor: ________________________
Date: ____________
Consulted: Not recorded
| Hazard | Exposure | Severity | Controls | Score | Level | Notes |
|---|
Training, wellbeing programs and counselling support people, but don't remove the hazard on their own. Start with changes to how work is designed.
Next steps
- Discuss the results with workers and health and safety representatives (HSRs).
- Agree controls, owners and dates.
- Review in 3 to 6 months, and after any incident.
Controls agreed, owners and dates:
Hazards from Safe Work Australia, Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work (2022). Printed from emponsite.com.au/tools/psychosocial-risk-assessment. General guidance only.
This tool gives general guidance only. It is not a substitute for an assessment by a qualified professional, or for consulting your workers as required under work health and safety law.
What is a psychosocial risk assessment?
Psychosocial risks are risks to mental health from how work is designed and managed, such as high workload, poor support or exposure to traumatic events. A psychosocial risk assessment works through them the same way you would any other WHS risk:
- Identify the psychosocial hazards in the work.
- Assess how likely and how serious the harm could be, and how well current controls work.
- Control the risks, starting with changes to how the work is designed.
- Review the controls to check they're working.
At each step, consult the workers who do the work. They know where the pressure points are, and the law requires you to involve them.
The tool scores each hazard by multiplying exposure (never 0 to almost always 4) by the severity of harm (low 1 to high 3), then by a factor for current controls (none 1.0, some 0.75, effective 0.5). Scores run from 0 to 12:
| Score | Risk level |
|---|---|
| 0 | Not present |
| Under 3 | Low |
| 3 to under 6 | Medium |
| 6 to under 9 | High |
| 9 and above | Very high |
Some hazards make each other worse. High job demands with low job control, or either one with poor support, carry more risk together than separately, so the tool flags those combinations.
How to use the tool well
- One team at a time. A warehouse night shift and a customer service team face different hazards. Assess each group separately, and keep each result as its own record.
- Do it with workers, not about them. Fill it in with a group of workers and their health and safety representative (HSR), or use it to structure a team discussion.
- Back it up with data. Check your ratings against a survey, such as the free People at Work survey, and against incident reports, complaints, absenteeism, turnover and psychological claims.
- Record what you decide. Print or save the report, note the controls you've agreed, and set a review date.
Your answers save in your browser so you can come back to them. Nothing is sent to EMP.
The 14 common psychosocial hazards
The hazards in the tool come from Safe Work Australia's Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work (2022):
- Job demands
- Low job control
- Poor support
- Lack of role clarity
- Poor organisational change management
- Inadequate reward and recognition
- Poor organisational justice
- Traumatic events or material
- Remote or isolated work
- Poor physical environment
- Violence and aggression
- Bullying
- Harassment, including sexual harassment
- Conflict or poor workplace relationships
Use "Other hazard" for anything else that applies to the team, such as fatigue or job insecurity.
Your legal duties
Under work health and safety law in every state and territory, employers must:
- eliminate psychosocial risks, or if that isn't reasonably practicable, minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable
- consult workers, and their HSRs, on hazards, risks and controls
- review controls to make sure they're working, including after an incident or a change at work.
Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 started on 1 December 2025. They require Victorian employers to identify psychosocial hazards and control the risks, with WorkSafe Victoria's Compliance Code: Psychological health setting out how.
Since December 2022, the federal Sex Discrimination Act has also placed a positive duty on employers to take reasonable and proportionate steps to eliminate sexual harassment, rather than only responding to complaints. The Australian Human Rights Commission's guidelines explain what it expects.
The cost of getting it wrong is high. Mental health conditions made up 12% of serious Workers' Compensation claims in 2023–24, and these claims rose 161% in 10 years. The median claim paid $67,400 and involved 35.7 weeks off work, compared with $16,300 and 7.4 weeks for all serious claims (Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, 2022–23 medians).
When to get help
A self-assessment is a good start. Get a professional psychosocial risk assessment when:
- any hazard comes out High or Very high
- you have several sites or a large workforce, and need a consistent picture across them
- you've had recent psychological injury claims
- a regulator has issued a notice or is investigating.
EMP's Psychosocial Risk Assessment & Audit is led by registered psychologists. It combines confidential worker surveys, worker consultations and site observation into a prioritised action plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is a psychosocial risk assessment a legal requirement?
Employers have a legal duty to identify psychosocial hazards and eliminate or minimise the risks, so far as is reasonably practicable. The law doesn't prescribe a particular form, but a documented risk assessment is the clearest way to show you've met that duty. In Victoria, the Psychological Health Regulations set out specific steps.
How often should I review it?
Review it at least every 3 to 6 months while you're putting controls in place, and straight away after an incident, a complaint, a psychological injury claim or a significant change at work, such as a restructure or a new roster.
Can I use this tool as my risk assessment?
It's a structured starting point. A complete psychosocial risk assessment also needs real consultation with workers and HSRs, and evidence such as survey results, incident and complaint data, absenteeism and turnover. Use the report to record your ratings and agreed controls, alongside that evidence.
Who should complete it?
Someone who knows the work well, such as a manager, WHS adviser or HR partner, together with the workers who do it and their HSR. Completing it alone at a desk misses the hazards only workers can see.
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Need a formal psychosocial risk audit?
EMP assesses psychosocial and physical risks together, using confidential worker surveys, worker consultations and site observation, and gives you a practical action plan.