Workload and psychosocial hazards: Office of the Children’s Guardian – members know your rights
27 May 2026
The PSA continues to receive reports from members regarding excessive workloads, increasing work demands and ongoing workplace pressures impacting staff health, safety, and well-being.
These issues may constitute psychosocial hazards under Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation and the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice.
Under section 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, employers and persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU’s) have a primary duty of care to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, including their psychological health.
What members should do
Step 1: Raise the issue in writing
Advise your manager that workload pressures are creating a WHS risk and impacting your ability to safely perform your duties.
Step 2: Request action
Request:
- consultation,
- a workload/psychosocial risk assessment,
- and measures to reduce the risk.
Step 3: Lodge a WHS report
Where workload pressures are impacting health, safety or safe service delivery, members should consider lodging a hazard or incident report through the workplace WHS reporting system.
Examples may include:
- too much to do in a set time or with insufficient workers or other resources
- unachievable task deadlines, expectations, or responsibilities
- unpredictable shifts or hours of work, shift structures or rosters that do not allow adequate time for workers to recover.
- frequent cognitively difficult work
- multiple tasks that require repeated rapid switching between each to complete them, so it is difficult to concentrate.
- where there is sustained or frequent exposure to emotionally distressing situations
- tasks that require workers to consistently display emotions they do not genuinely feel, such as in customer service roles
- tasks and decisions that are safety critical and that may have a series impact on the health and safety of workers and others
Step 4: Keep records
Keep copies of:
- emails,
- incident reports,
- overtime worked,
- missed breaks,
- staffing concerns,
- and management responses.
Step 5: Contact the PSA if unresolved
Where there has been inaction or inadequate action taken by management, members should contact the PSA.
Please ensure you:
- clearly identify the department or workplace the issue relates to,
- provide copies of responses received from managers,
- provide any incident or hazard report reference numbers,
- and quote the collective case number: C10018864 when contacting the PSA Member Support Centre.
Important
When raising WHS concerns, it is important to clearly identify the hazard (the thing that has the potential to cause harm), the likelihood of that hazard occurring, and the potential harm that the hazard is likely to cause.
For example: “Current workloads and work demands are creating a psychosocial hazard and ongoing risks to health and safety, such as fatigue, stress, and inability to safely complete required duties. This has the potential to cause an injury and may result in time off work.”
This approach is consistent with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the Managing Psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice (SafeWork NSW), which can be viewed HERE. The code requires persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) to identify, assess, and eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
The PSA can raise any unresolved workload concerns through the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) with the employer.
The PSA may also make enquiries through the JCC regarding long-term vacant positions and roles that have not been backfilled for extended periods, particularly where ongoing vacancies may be contributing to workload pressures.
Where appropriate, trained HSRs may also consider further WHS actions, including Provisional Improvement Notices (PINs)
Contacts