Psychosocial risks in medical practices – when an inspector calls 

New

Tuesday, 14 Jul 2026

You have received a call from a workplace health and safety inspector.  An employee has complained about her unreasonably high workload and your practice’s failure to protect her from aggressive patients.  

The inspector wants to meet with you to discuss the complaint and your systems to assess and manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace.  They have asked you to have relevant documents ready for the meeting. 

Psychosocial safety 

Work health and safety legislation requires employers to proactively take steps to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of staff. 

In recent years, regulators have published specific guidance and codes of practice to employers on managing psychosocial hazards in the workplace. 

A psychosocial hazard is anything at work that could harm a person’s mental health. It can come from how work is designed or managed, the work environment, the tools or equipment used, or interactions and behaviours in the workplace.  

Regulators have taken an educative approach when handling complaints about psychosocial hazards.  However, there is a growing expectation that practices will manage these psychosocial hazards effectively – and there can be consequences if they do not. 

Systems to assess and manage risk  

The inspector can ask what your practice has done to identify, assess, manage and review workplace risks, and whether you consulted staff in this process. You may need to produce your prevention plan (risk assessment) and supporting documentation. 

Having these systems in place before a complaint is made, rather than scrambling to establish them afterwards, puts your practice in a much stronger position. 

WorkSafe Victoria recently published a helpful guide and a template for a prevention plan. You can find it at WorkSafe – Prevention plans for psychosocial hazards. 

Let us consider the risks of dealing with aggressive or violent patients as an example. 

1. Identify the potential hazards 

Identify the safety hazards. These could include: 

• patients making unreasonable complaints 
• patients yelling at staff
• patients threatening staff with a weapon. 

2. Assess the risk  

Assess the likelihood and impact of each risk. For example: 

• it is likely that staff will need to manage unreasonable complaints and angry patients: but the impact will usually be limited to stress and discomfort (unless it is a severe or repeated interaction) 
• it is less likely that a patient will threaten staff with a weapon — but the potential impact on staff physical and mental health is very high. 

3. Manage the risk  

Put controls in place to manage the risks you have identified.  For example: 

• angry patient: have training and a policy for managing angry patients, with a support and escalation process for reception and other staff if a patient becomes aggressive. Longer term options include issuing a formal warning or ending the doctor-patient relationship 
• patients threatening staff with a weapon: install duress alarms, train staff on what to do if this situation arises, and put a designated escape plan in place with an after-incident staff support system 
• staff wellbeing: have measures in place to support the impact an incident can have on staff’s mental wellbeing.

4. Review the control measures 

Review your processes regularly and adapt them as needed. After an incident, consider whether your systems, procedures, support measures and training addressed the situation and its impact on staff effectively. 

5. Consultation 

You must consult staff at every stage. It is not enough to develop a policy and direct staff to comply with it. 

Documents the inspector will want to see 

The inspector will likely ask for documents showing how you have addressed each of the above steps and what systems you have in place for ongoing risk management.  For example: 

• a policy explaining how safety risks are managed in the practice
• a prevention plan showing your risk assessment process for psychosocial hazards
• policies, procedures, staff training and mental health supports
• reporting and recording systems for incidents and near-misses (this is a must have)
• regular reviews of your systems and risk assessments
• records of meetings showing staff were consulted about safety risks in the practice.

If you cannot produce these documents, the inspector may conclude you haven't met your statutory obligations. This can lead to formal enforcement action, even without a serious incident.  

Conclusion 

You cannot prevent every incident. What you can control is how you manage the risk of an incident happening. 

The consequences of not taking proactive steps can go well beyond an inspector's visit. Depending on what the regulator finds, your practice and relevant individuals, could face improvement or prohibition notices, mandatory enforcement action, prosecution, with or without financial penalties and even prison sentences. Staff may also make workers' compensation claims, and the reputational impact can be ongoing. 

Proactive, documented action reduces these risks. Practices that can demonstrate genuine, ongoing commitment to managing psychosocial hazards are far better placed to protect the people who work for them and avoid prosecution. 

Review your systems, consult your staff, and document what you're doing. If you're unsure where to start, Avant Law's Workplace Law Team can help. 

More information

For medico-legal advice, please contact us here, or call 1800 128 268, 24/7 in emergencies.