Queensland's psychosocial hazards code didn't create new obligations. It just caught up to them.

If you rolled out a psychosocial risk assessment when Queensland's Code of Practice first landed in 2022 or 2023 and haven't looked at it since, it's worth another look. The Code itself has just been updated, and it now formally expects two things your risk management may not have caught up with, even if your business technically has.

This matters most if you're in a sector where psychosocial risk is already high: aged care, disability and community services, and healthcare. It also matters for any Queensland employer with more than a handful of staff.

General information only. Read the full disclaimer.

What's actually changed

Queensland's Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022 commenced 1 April 2023 and is an approved code under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. Duty holders must comply with it, so far as reasonably practicable, or manage the hazard to an equal or higher standard by another method.

The Code has now been amended, with the changes taking effect from 1 September 2026, to update its references to issue and dispute resolution, and to sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment. Neither of these is a brand new legal duty. Both have already been law for a while. What's new is that the Code has finally been rewritten to reflect them. If your risk register, policies or training still point to the 2022 or 2023 version of the Code, you're working from an out of date benchmark.

Sexual harassment is a WHS risk, not just an HR one

Since September 2024, Queensland PCBUs have had to treat sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment as a psychosocial hazard, not a separate HR issue handled after the fact. Since March 2025, that's meant a written prevention plan wherever the risk is identified: one that names the hazard, documents the risk assessment, sets out control measures, and gets reviewed every time a report comes in.

The updated Code now builds this in as part of the core psychosocial framework, alongside things like workload, bullying and remote or isolated work. If your psychosocial risk register still treats sexual harassment as a conduct issue rather than a hazard to be assessed and controlled, that's the gap to close first.

Faster pathways for resolving WHS issues

The Code's issue and dispute resolution guidance has also been updated to reflect the 2024 changes. Health and safety representative matters, including training disputes and cease work directions, can now go straight to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission instead of sitting with a WHS inspector as the only decision maker.

Statutory timeframes for a provisional improvement notice are tight: currently 4 calendar days to remedy the contravention, 3 calendar days to request an inspector's review, and 14 calendar days to apply for internal review of that decision. For most employers this is a process change rather than a new obligation, but it changes how quickly a psychosocial hazard dispute can escalate if it isn't being managed internally. A consultation and issue resolution procedure that still describes the old pathway will confuse your health and safety representatives at exactly the point you need it to work well.

Why this is worth acting on, not just noting

Mental health conditions are the fastest growing category of serious workers' compensation claim in the country.

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025 (2023-24 data).

That's the commercial case for treating this as a live risk register rather than a compliance box ticked once. The regulatory case is now sitting right alongside it: the benchmark you're assessed against has moved.

We've written before about why running resilience training while leaving the workload untouched gets the order of operations backwards under this Code. The hierarchy of controls applies to psychosocial hazards the same way it applies to physical ones, and an updated risk register is where that starts.

What to check now

Where to check the latest position

The Code of Practice itself is the primary reference: Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022 (WorkSafe Queensland). For the sexual harassment specific obligations, see Sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment.

Current as at 28 September 2026. This is general information about work health and safety changes, not advice about your situation. If you want a hand reviewing your psychosocial risk register or prevention plan, that's exactly the sort of thing we do.

Book a free consultation, or get in touch at hello@happyhumans.com.au