A complete, editable plan for managing psychosocial risk in a NSW 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 NSW Psychosocial Risk Management Plan is a complete, editable plan for managing psychosocial risk in a NSW workplace, for businesses in NSW, and the WHS advisers and HR managers who support them. It is aligned to the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards and its code on sexual and gender-based harassment, the Work Health and Safety Act and Regulation (NSW), and the positive duty under Commonwealth sex discrimination law. It includes the plan, a psychosocial policy and a NSW Code cross-reference; a hazard identification checklist, worker survey and focus group guide; an Excel risk register and a control library for each hazard; and reporting, investigation and review tools, 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. In NSW, the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work sets out how. 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 drawn from the NSW Code and Safe Work Australia's guidance, a work design walk-through, a worker survey and focus group guide, an Excel risk register that assesses how often, how intensely and for how long people are exposed, a control library, procedures for reports, investigations and traumatic events, guidance on notifying SafeWork NSW, and a sexual harassment prevention plan built on the Commonwealth positive duty.
It is aligned to the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards and its code on sexual and gender-based harassment, the Work Health and Safety Act and Regulation (NSW), and the positive duty under Commonwealth sex discrimination law. 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 and every placeholder in the plan and its tools. |
| NSW Code Cross-Reference | Word (.docx) | Maps each part of the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards, and the NSW code on sexual and gender-based harassment, to the section of the plan, or the tool, that deals with it. |
| Psychosocial Policy | Word (.docx) | A short policy for the organisation 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, how hazards are identified, assessed and controlled, how reports are handled, and how the plan is monitored and reviewed. |
| Data Sources Checklist | Word (.docx) | The information the organisation already holds (leave, turnover, complaints, incidents, workers compensation, 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, drawn from the NSW Code and Safe Work Australia's guidance and named as in our psychosocial risk training, each with prompts on how it shows up in the work and space to record where it is present. |
| Work Design Walk-Through Guide | Word (.docx) | A guide to walking through the work with the people 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. |
| 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 built in. |
| Control Library | Word (.docx) | The hierarchy of control for psychosocial risks, work design before procedures, and example controls for each hazard, with support arrangements kept separate, 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 intensely and for how long, how hazards 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. |
| SafeWork NSW Notification Guide | Word (.docx) | When an incident must be notified to SafeWork NSW, how to notify, and what to preserve, with a record of the notification. |
| Sexual Harassment Prevention Plan | Word (.docx) | A prevention plan for sexual harassment and related unlawful conduct, built on the Commonwealth positive duty: 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. |
| 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 do next. |
| 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.
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 (NSW) requires a business to manage psychosocial risks like any other risk to health and safety, and the NSW WHS Act requires it to follow the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work, or to manage the risks to an equivalent or higher standard. 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.
The Work Health and Safety Regulation (NSW) requires a business to manage psychosocial risks like any other risk to health and safety and, where eliminating a risk is not reasonably practicable, to minimise it using the hierarchy of control measures. In choosing controls it must consider matters including the duration, frequency and severity of exposure, how hazards interact or combine, the design of the work, the systems of work, and workplace interactions or behaviours. The WHS Act also requires a business to follow an approved code of practice that applies, such as the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work, or to manage the risk to an equivalent or higher standard. The plan is built on that process.
It should cover the whole risk management process: who is responsible and how workers 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. 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 New South Wales and refers to the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice, the NSW Work Health and Safety Act and Regulation, and SafeWork NSW. There are versions for every other state and territory, and for Comcare. The positive duty to prevent sexual harassment is Commonwealth law and applies across Australia.
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. Sexual harassment is also a psychosocial hazard under NSW WHS law, with its own SafeWork NSW code of practice on sexual and gender-based harassment, so the risk register and the reporting procedures cover it too.
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. 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.