A complete, editable plan for managing psychosocial risk in an ACT workplace: the plan and policy, the tools to identify and assess the hazards, a risk register, procedures for reports and incidents, and a way to check it is working.
The ACT Psychosocial Risk Management Plan is a complete, editable plan for managing psychosocial risk in an ACT workplace, for businesses in the ACT, and the WHS advisers and HR managers who support them. It is aligned to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (ACT), including the Regulation's psychosocial provisions, the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, with the Sexual and gender-based harassment Code of Practice, the Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT), and the positive duty under Commonwealth sex discrimination law. It includes the plan, a psychosocial policy and a cross-reference to the ACT Regulation and codes of practice; a hazard identification checklist, worker consultation survey and focus group guide; an Excel risk register and a control library for each hazard; and reporting, investigation and review tools, a sexual harassment prevention plan and a 90-day implementation plan. Everything is editable Word or Excel, delivered as an instant download.
Psychosocial hazards, such as high job demands, low job control, poor support, poorly managed change, bullying, harassment, violence and aggression, have to be managed like any other risk to health and safety. The ACT is a harmonised WHS jurisdiction, and its Work Health and Safety Regulation sets out how: a business must manage psychosocial risks, having regard to how often, how severely and for how long people are exposed, how hazards interact or combine, the design of the work and the systems of work, the workplace and any workers' accommodation, and workplace interactions or behaviours. The Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice gives practical guidance, and the Sexual and gender-based harassment Code of Practice guidance on that risk. This plan gives a small or medium business a practical way to do it, in one set of documents written to work together.
It follows the risk management process: plan, identify the hazards, assess and control the risk, respond to reports and incidents, and monitor and review. Each step has its tools: a hazard identification checklist to check against the code of practice, a work design walk-through, a worker consultation survey and focus group guide, an Excel risk register that assesses how often, how severely and for how long people are exposed, a control library built on the hierarchy of control, procedures for reports, investigations and traumatic events, guidance on notifying WorkSafe ACT, and a sexual harassment prevention plan built on the Commonwealth positive duty.
It is aligned to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (ACT), including the Regulation's psychosocial provisions, the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, with the Sexual and gender-based harassment Code of Practice, the Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT), and the positive duty under Commonwealth sex discrimination law. Consultation with workers and their health and safety representatives (HSRs) runs through every step. It uses the same hazards and the same approach as our psychosocial risk training: control the work, not the worker, and check that the controls work. Everything is editable Word or Excel, with a setup guide and a 90-day implementation plan. It is a framework to adapt and put into practice with your workers, not a substitute for doing so.
Delivered as one ZIP download. The files below are editable, and every Word document also comes as a PDF. Each download also includes Read Me First, a Product Overview, the Permitted Use Terms and Version Information (PDF).
| File | Format | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| 90-Day Implementation Plan | Word (.docx) | A week-by-week plan for the first 90 days: who to involve, what to do first, and what should be in place by the end. |
| Setup Guide | Word (.docx) | What to adapt before use, in order: your organisation's details, who does what, your consultation arrangements with workers and HSRs, and every placeholder in the plan and its tools. |
| ACT Regulation and Code Cross-Reference | Word (.docx) | Maps the psychosocial provisions of the Work Health and Safety Regulation (ACT), and the topics the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice covers, with the Sexual and gender-based harassment Code of Practice, to the section of the plan, or the tool, that deals with it. |
| Psychosocial Policy | Word (.docx) | A short policy for the business to adopt and sign: its commitment, what it expects of managers and workers, and how to raise a concern. |
| Psychosocial Risk Management Plan | Word (.docx) | The plan itself: scope, roles and responsibilities, consultation with workers and HSRs, how hazards are identified, assessed and controlled, how reports are handled, and how the controls are monitored, reviewed and revised. |
| Data Sources Checklist | Word (.docx) | The information the business already holds (leave, turnover, complaints, incidents, workers compensation claims through your insurer, exit interviews) and what each can show about psychosocial risk. |
| Focus Group Guide | Word (.docx) | A facilitator's guide to a small-group discussion with workers: questions, ground rules, and how to record what is raised without identifying anyone. |
| Hazard Identification Checklist | Word (.docx) | A checklist of the psychosocial hazards, named as in our psychosocial risk training, covering every common hazard in the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, each with prompts on how it shows up in the work and space to record where it is present, and room to add others, such as fatigue, and to note how hazards combine. |
| Work Design Walk-Through Guide | Word (.docx) | A guide to walking through the work with the workers who do it: what to look for in job design, workload, support, change and working relationships. |
| Worker Consultation Survey | Word (.docx) | A short, anonymous worker consultation survey on the psychosocial hazards, with how to run it and report the results back to workers and HSRs. |
| Change Impact Assessment | Word (.docx) | Checks a planned change (a restructure, new system, new roster or relocation) for psychosocial risk before it is made, with consultation of workers and HSRs built in. |
| Control Library | Word (.docx) | The hierarchy of control for psychosocial risks, which the ACT Regulation applies to them: eliminate the risk first, then change the design and management of the work before relying on information, training, instruction and supervision. Example controls for each hazard, to adapt to your work rather than copy as they are. |
| Psychosocial Risk Register | Excel (.xlsx) | An Excel register of each exposure: the role or work area and who is exposed, how often, how severely and for how long, how hazards interact or combine, the consequence, the existing controls and whether they have been checked, the risk rating, further controls, owners, due dates and review. |
| Investigation Record | Word (.docx) | The record of a basic investigation: the concern raised, who was interviewed, the evidence, the findings, the outcome and the follow-up. |
| Reporting and Response Procedure | Word (.docx) | How reports are received, triaged and responded to, with a report form and a triage guide: confidentiality, support for the people involved, timeframes and record keeping. |
| Sexual Harassment Prevention Plan | Word (.docx) | A written plan to prevent sexual harassment and related unlawful conduct, built on the Commonwealth positive duty, with the Sexual and gender-based harassment Code of Practice and the ACT's Discrimination Act: the risks, the measures, who is responsible and how it is reviewed. |
| Traumatic Event Response Procedure | Word (.docx) | What to do after a traumatic event at work: immediate safety and support, who to tell, follow-up in the weeks after, and the return to normal work. |
| WorkSafe ACT Notification Guide | Word (.docx) | When an incident must be notified to WorkSafe ACT, including a sexual assault incident at the workplace, how to notify, and what to preserve, with a record of the notification. |
| Workplace Investigation Procedure | Word (.docx) | A short, generic procedure for a basic workplace investigation: planning, interviews, findings, outcome and follow-up. Serious or complex matters need specialist advice. |
| Annual Plan Review Checklist | Word (.docx) | A checklist for the yearly review of the whole plan: is it in use, are the controls effective, what has changed, and what to revise. |
| Officers' Due Diligence Report | Word (.docx) | A report for officers (owners, directors, senior managers): the main exposures, whether the controls relied on have been checked, accepted exposures, open matters by age, and the questions to ask. Facts, not a status colour. |
| Psychosocial Measures | Excel (.xlsx) | An Excel workbook of leading and lagging measures for psychosocial risk: where the data comes from, who reports it and how often, the trigger for action, and the trend. |
| Quarterly Review Meeting Agenda | Word (.docx) | An agenda for a quarterly review: the register, reports and trends, the results of control checks, actions due, and a decision on every item. |
Each folder is one step of the risk management process, and each tool feeds the next: what you find in the identify step goes into the risk register, reports and incidents feed back into it, and the review step checks the controls are working and revises them when they are not.
Before you adopt it, adapt the plan to:
Before you use it
You need to manage psychosocial risks, and a written plan is the clearest way to show how you do it. The Work Health and Safety Regulation (ACT) requires a business to manage psychosocial risks like any other risk to health and safety, and the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice gives practical guidance on how. Your duties are met by managing the psychosocial risks in your actual workplace, so far as is reasonably practicable, in consultation with your workers. The plan sets out how you do it and who does what, and gives you the records that show it.
It should cover the whole risk management process: who is responsible and how workers and their HSRs are consulted, how the hazards are identified, how each risk is assessed (how often, how intensely and for how long people are exposed, and how hazards combine), the controls, changing the work before relying on training or support, how reports and incidents are handled, and how the controls are checked and the plan reviewed. This plan has a part for each, with the tools to do it: a hazard identification checklist, a consultation survey, a risk register, a control library, reporting and investigation procedures, a sexual harassment prevention plan, and quarterly and annual reviews.
No. No plan can do that on its own. Your duties are met by managing the psychosocial risks in your actual workplace, so far as is reasonably practicable, in consultation with your workers and their HSRs. The plan gives you the structure and the tools to do that, and a record that you have. Using the plan does not by itself make a workplace compliant with WHS laws. It supports the work of managing psychosocial risk; it is not legal advice.
Yes. It is written for workplaces in the Australian Capital Territory and refers to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT), the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (ACT), the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, the Sexual and gender-based harassment Code of Practice, the Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT), the Workers Compensation Act 1951 (ACT) and WorkSafe ACT. ACT public servants are not covered by the Workers Compensation Act: they are covered by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth) (the Comcare scheme), under which the ACT Government has been a licensed self-insurer since 1 March 2019, and follow their agency's workers compensation claims and rehabilitation procedures. The positive duty to prevent sexual harassment under Commonwealth sex discrimination law applies across Australia.
Yes. There is a Psychosocial Risk Management Plan for every state and territory and for Comcare: the NSW plan is written to the NSW Work Health and Safety Act and Regulation and the SafeWork NSW codes of practice, the Victorian plan to Victoria's own occupational health and safety laws, and the Queensland, Western Australian, South Australian, Tasmanian, ACT and Northern Territory plans to each one's WHS laws and codes. The Comcare plan is for Commonwealth agencies and other workplaces under the Commonwealth WHS laws. An organisation with workers under more than one WHS law needs the plan for each. See the psychosocial risk management plans.
The Work Health and Safety Regulation (ACT) requires a business to manage psychosocial risks like any other risk to health and safety: identify the hazards, eliminate the risks so far as is reasonably practicable or, if that is not reasonably practicable, minimise them, and review the controls. The general rules for managing risk apply, the hierarchy of control included: change the design and management of the work before relying on information, training, instruction and supervision. In deciding on controls it must have regard to all relevant matters, including the duration, frequency and severity of exposure, how hazards interact or combine, the design of the work, the systems of work, the design, layout and conditions of the workplace and of any workers' accommodation, the plant, substances and structures at the workplace, workplace interactions or behaviours, and the information, training, instruction and supervision given to workers. The Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice gives practical guidance. The plan is built on that process.
The Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, in force in the ACT from 27 November 2023, and the Sexual and gender-based harassment Code of Practice, in force from 11 November 2024, both approved under the ACT's Work Health and Safety Act and published on the ACT Legislation Register. The register lists the other approved codes, such as the general codes on managing risks and on consultation. The Act does not separately require you to follow an approved code, but a court can use one as evidence of whether a duty was met and of what is reasonably practicable. You can manage the risks another way if it gives the same or a better standard of health and safety, and record how. The plan's cross-reference maps the topics the psychosocial code covers to the plan and its tools.
Usually, yes. A plan only works when managers and workers know what psychosocial hazards are, how to report them and what to do with a report. The Psychosocial Risk training packages cover that at every level, from awareness for all workers to leadership, practitioner and executive governance, and use the same hazards and approach as the plan. The Implementation Toolkit adds deeper tools, such as role-based risk assessment and control verification, and the toolbox talks cover single hazards such as bullying, sexual harassment, aggression, lone work and fatigue. See the Psychosocial Risk training packages.
Yes, a short, generic one: how to plan a basic workplace investigation, conduct interviews, reach findings and record the outcome, with a record template. It suits straightforward matters. For a serious, complex or contested matter, or one that may lead to dismissal, use an experienced investigator or get legal advice.
Yes. It includes a sexual harassment prevention plan built on the positive duty under Commonwealth sex discrimination law, which requires employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sexual harassment and related unlawful conduct, as far as possible. The ACT's WHS laws do not require a written prevention plan, but one is the clearest way to show what you have done. Sexual harassment is also a psychosocial hazard under those laws, and the Sexual and gender-based harassment Code of Practice gives guidance on managing the risk, so the risk register and the reporting procedures cover it too. A sexual assault incident at the workplace must be notified to WorkSafe ACT. Sexual harassment is also unlawful under the Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT), which has a positive duty of its own: organisations and businesses must take reasonable and proportionate steps to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment and unlawful vilification. For most businesses that duty applies from 11 April 2027. Complaints can be made to the ACT Human Rights Commission. The plan's policy and procedures are written with that in mind.
Someone who knows the organisation and can make decisions about how the work is done: often the owner or a senior manager, with a WHS or HR adviser, consulting workers and their HSRs. The setup guide and the 90-day implementation plan set out what to do, and in what order.
The plan is licensed for internal use by the purchasing organisation. A WHS or HR adviser can set it up for a client that has bought it; using it with other clients needs our written permission. The simplest way is for each client to buy its own copy, which you then adapt with them.
Yes. Every document is supplied in Word (.docx) or Excel (.xlsx), so you can add your logo, change the wording and adapt it to your workplace. The copyright notice must stay.
Yes. The plan must be adapted to your organisation, your work and the hazards you find, in consultation with your workers, before it is adopted. The setup guide lists what to change, and the 90-day implementation plan the order to do it in.
Yes. Every price in the store includes GST, so $449.00 is the total, including $40.82 GST. Your receipt is a tax invoice showing the GST.
As a ZIP download. Card purchases can be downloaded straight away from the confirmation page and by a link we email you. Download links expire after 14 days for security; you can request a new one at any time.
Yes. Use Request an Invoice to order through your normal procurement process, with a purchase order number and quantities if you need them. The files are released once payment is confirmed.
Yes, across your own organisation. The documents are licensed for internal use by the purchasing organisation. A consultant, labour hire business or training provider supplying them to clients needs separate written permission.
Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law are not affected. See the Refund Policy for how we handle a document that is faulty, not as described, or not what you ordered.
Licence and legal information here is general. It may not be correct in your jurisdiction: please check with your local WHS or OHS regulator.
Ordering for a business or several sites? Request an invoice. Other questions: contact us.
The plan sets up the process; training gives managers and workers what they need to use it. The Psychosocial Risk packages cover every level, and the toolbox talks brief the team on one hazard at a time.
All four training packages and the Implementation Toolkit.
A practical introduction for every worker: what psychosocial hazards are, how work creates exposure, and how to raise a concern.
For supervisors and managers who shape how work is designed, allocated and checked every day.
A full day on role-based risk assessment, control selection, critical controls and verification.
For executives and directors: oversight, assurance and the questions that test whether controls are working.
Editable assessment, response, recovery and review tools organised by the four PRRR stages.
For every worker: what bullying and harassment are, what they are not, and how to raise a concern or support a colleague.
For every worker: what sexual harassment is, the employer's positive duty to prevent it, and how to report it or support someone who has experienced it.
For workers who deal with customers, clients, patients or the public: recognising warning signs, staying safe, and reporting every incident.
For workers who are on their own or a long way from help: what can go wrong, and the communication and check-in controls that bring help quickly.
For every worker, and especially shift workers and long-hours workers: what causes fatigue, how it affects safety, and what the business and worker each do about it.