Victoria’s new health and safety changes and why organisational design now matters even more than before
- artmcgee
- Dec 3
- 2 min read
Victoria’s updated OHS Regulations came into effect on Monday. While all states and territories already require businesses to manage psychosocial as well as physical hazards, Victoria now goes a step further. Employers must manage psychosocial hazards through how work is organised and delivered.
This shift brings organisational design firmly into focus. In this environment, design becomes not only a performance tool, but a practical compliance tool as well.
What are psychosocial hazards?
Psychosocial hazards include things as broad as:
High workloads and role pressure
Poor job clarity or organisational change
Low support from leaders or peers
Exposure to conflict, bullying or unreasonable behaviours
Remote and hybrid work challenges
Vicarious trauma and emotionally demanding roles.
What needs to be done about them?
Under the new requirements, businesses must identify psychosocial hazards and eliminate them, or reduce the risk, by altering:
Management of work
Systems of work
Work design
Workplace environment
Plant.
Information or training alone is no longer sufficient unless these more direct controls genuinely aren’t practical.
While Victoria calls this out specifically, if you employ workers in other states it would be wise to treat psychosocial hazards in much the same way. Why? Because most psychosocial hazards emerge through how work is set up. So it follows that if you want to control the risk, you need to look at the source.
Where organisational design becomes essential
When you look at the types of hazards listed in the new regulations, many of them don’t come from a single moment or incident. They emerge though:
Unclear roles
Bottlenecks and rework
Uneven workloads
Constant firefighting
Limited support or decision pathways
Poorly managed change.
These aren’t just cultural issues. They’re structural issues.
Good organisational design removes pressure points before they turn into harm. It creates clarity, guardrails and predictability, while laying the foundation for healthier relationships. Even small shifts can make a meaningful difference: adjusting responsibilities, simplifying workflows, strengthening leadership support or reshaping teams so work can flow more sustainably.
How we can help
We are organisation design experts, not compliance specialists. We understand how to balance the needs of an effective workplace with the needs of your people, while helping you meet your regulatory requirements cost effectively.
We tailor our support to the scale and complexity of your organisation, identifying key psychosocial risks, determining the most effective controls and guiding you through how best to implement them.
Reach out today to explore a tailored solution to meet your workplace needs.
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