Which code of practice applies in your state?

It depends on the jurisdiction. In most states an approved code is admissible in proceedings as evidence of what is known about a hazard and what counts as reasonably practicable, and an inspector or health and safety representative can cite it in a notice. Victoria goes further: following the compliance code means you are taken to have complied with the duties it covers. In New South Wales, the code became enforceable as law from 1 July 2026.

The code of the jurisdiction where the work is carried out. Multi-state employers generally build one system that meets the strictest requirement on the map — currently Queensland's documentation expectations and Victoria's restriction on relying on training — and then map that system against each regulator's code, noting the local differences rather than maintaining nine separate programs.

No. An employee assistance program is a support measure, not a control. Every code asks you to start with the design of work — workload, job control, role clarity, supervision quality, rostering and workplace behaviours — before reaching for information, instruction or training. In Victoria, training explicitly cannot be your predominant control. An EAP is valuable and worth having; it is not evidence of compliance on its own.

Four things, consistently across jurisdictions: records of how hazards were identified, a rationale for why particular controls were chosen over higher-order alternatives, evidence that workers and HSRs were consulted, and a review cycle triggered by incidents, changes to systems of work or new information about risk. A policy document alone will not meet this.

Most jurisdictions require review on defined triggers rather than a fixed calendar. Typical triggers are before a change to systems of work, after a notifiable incident, when a worker reports a hazard or psychological injury, on request from a health and safety representative, and when new information about the risk becomes available. Victoria sets these out explicitly in its regulations.

Safe Work Australia publishes the model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work. It has no legal force on its own — each jurisdiction must approve it. Most state codes are based on it with local additions. Use your own regulator's version, not the model, unless your regulator has adopted the model directly.

Yes. The duties apply to every person conducting a business or undertaking regardless of size. What changes is what's reasonably practicable — a ten-person business isn't expected to run the same system as a government department. WA's code and WorkSafe Tasmania's self-assessment tools are the most useful starting points for smaller employers.