Lauren Day: Hi everyone and welcome to the first introductory webinar on the Psychological Health and Safety policy.

My name is Lauren and I'm the Manager of the Workplace Psychosocial Safety Service.

I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which I am presenting today, which is the Wurundjeri Wurrung people, and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

I also acknowledge Aboriginal people who are viewing today.

So the agenda for this webinar will cover an overview of the psychological health regulations and our Psychological Health and Safety for School Staff policy.

We'll define some key terms relating to psychological health and safety.

We'll talk about why psychosocial safety in the workplace matters and go over some of the initiatives, services and activities the department is delivering.

At the end of this, we're hoping you will come away with an awareness of the regulations and a basic understanding of the policy context and intent.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act is the overarching law that is in place to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees and other people at work.

As you may be aware, the Occupational Health and Safety Act has expanded and is now in effect.

The Psychological Health Regulations build on the OHS Act to specify how to fulfill duties and obligations.

They now formally include separate and specific requirements for psychological health.

All Victorian employers must, as far as reasonably practicable, comply with the regulatory requirements.

To support compliance, there are a variety of policies and guidance developed, including the Psychological Health and Safety for School Staff policy, which reflects the regulations as well as the compliance code published by WorkSafe Victoria.

Although there is now explicit and comprehensive guidance on psychological health, managing OHS risks is not new to us.

We already do this, both formally and informally, in our day-to-day work.

And anything we do that makes a school psychologically safer and supportive is part of the shared effort across the entire department.

For example, we have policies and procedures that include psychological elements.

As you can see in this image, the psychological health and safety for school staff policy outlines the way that OHS duty holders manage psychosocial risk in the workplace.

We have employee rights included in enterprise and employment agreements.

We complete mandatory and additional training that includes psychological elements, for example, the sexual harassment e-learning module.

Our existing OHS risk registers include psychosocial hazards and corresponding department controls such as those for work-related violence and workplace bullying.

We already use eduSafe Plus as our reporting system that allows for a centralised understanding of hazards, incidents and controls and we have many existing support services such as the OHS Services and Employee Wellbeing Support Services.

On a practical level, we will continue to build on the work we are already doing, including building on and strengthening our knowledge through regular engagement and tailoring support and guidance.

In the next webinar, we will go into more specific details about this.

But for now, we want to set the scene and make sure we all have a shared and clear understanding of the key terms related to the policy.

The first term we will start with is a concept called a psychologically healthy and safe environment.

It is one that promotes staff mental health and wellbeing by reducing work-related risk factors and psychosocial hazards and actively prevents and addresses psychological injury and illness.

This is established when employers take all reasonable care for ensuring the mental health and wellbeing of staff is protected during the course of their work, that everyone is clear on how they are able to contribute to a healthy and safe environment, and that all staff can enjoy a workplace free from psychological injury and harm.

Related to this concept is the term psychological safety, which refers to a team culture of positivity, and constructively contributing to and speaking up without fear of consequences.

Some foundational elements of psychological safety include a sense of belonging and inclusion, positive risk taking, speaking freely without fear of judgment or punishment, such as speaking up, seeking assistance or help, acknowledging mistakes and working to fix, address or learn from them.

A space for innovation and sharing opinions, positive working relationships between and among staff, open communication and transparency, and overall trust in the staffing group.

Psychological safety is important for managing mental health in the workplace, as it has a flow-on effect in identifying and managing psychosocial hazards.

Psychological safety can be directly disrupted by psychosocial hazards.

So, what are psychosocial hazards?

They are aspects of the job and workplace with potential to cause psychological harm.

Some examples of psychosocial hazards include high job demands, work-related aggression or violence, sexual harassment, workplace bullying, exposure to traumatic events or content.

These hazards can arise from factors in the design of work, systems of work, management of work, how work is carried out, or personal and work-related interactions.

Hazards can exist alone, or multiple hazards can be present at the same time and must be treated with the same seriousness as physical hazards.

All workplaces, especially those that are inherently dynamic, such as schools, contain psychosocial hazards.

To comply with our shared responsibilities, these hazards must be identified, assessed, controlled, and regularly reviewed to enable us to effectively monitor and respond to our evolving work environments.

A psychosocial control is a practical measure put in place to eliminate or reduce risk of psychological harm.

As you can see in this image here, there are different levels of controls and usually a combination of controls will be required to effectively manage risk.

Elimination is the highest form of control and should be considered first.

When this is not possible, adjustments should be made to the management of work, work design, systems of work and environment.

Managing OHS risks and considering the hierarchy of controls is already an essential part of our work.

For example, to control the risk associated with high job demands, you may consider implementing measures across the hierarchy of control.

This could include focusing on work design, such as standardizing processes, clarifying priorities, and scheduling breaks where possible, and providing staff with training and support for workload management, such as professional development opportunities through the Academy.

So why does all this matter?

It matters because working is generally a protective factor of our wellbeing and associated with a range of benefits, including:

• positive impact on working relationships and student learning outcomes
• increased staff engagement and commitment demonstrated through school participation survey results
• reduced work-related stress, absenteeism and turnover
• enhanced morale, motivation and job satisfaction
• improved productivity, initiative and follow through.

In the next webinar we will focus on how we can work together to build and maintain psychologically healthy and safe workplaces.

In the meantime, PAL and DE's intranet provides further information and linkages to relevant policies, procedures and guidance.

In terms of OHS questions and support, OHS services provide practical advice and support to manage occupational health, safety and wellbeing in schools and can be contacted via the details displayed or by scanning the QR code.

In summary, the OHS Psychological Health Regulations 2025 are now in effect.

Psychosocial hazards can be managed with the implementation of effective controls, including referring to relevant DE policies.

The psychological health and safety policy for school staff and procedure provide an overarching framework to understand and best manage psychosocial hazards and comply with regulation requirements.

Managing psychosocial hazards is beneficial for staff health and wellbeing, and department and school performance.

There are supports that we encourage you to access.

Thank you for viewing today and we'll see you next time for part two.