Resources / Policies and Compliance / Psychosocial Hazards Audit
Module 9: Policies and Compliance

Psychosocial Hazards Audit

Work through the 4-step risk management process from the Managing the Risk of Psychosocial Hazards Code of Practice 2022, written for early education. This is not a generic workplace template. It's built around the real hazards that show up in a service: high emotional demands of care work, aggression from a family at pickup, educators isolated in single-ratio rooms, trauma from a child incident.

How to use this tool

Part 1 (Internal audit): You or your leadership team work through 38 questions using what you already know about your service (leave records, incident logs, complaints, consultation).

Part 2 (Team survey): Copy the 36-question survey to your educators anonymously to hear what you can't see from leadership.

Part 3 (Risk assessment): Bring it together into a fillable risk assessment plan covering all 16 named psychosocial hazards.

The 16 named psychosocial hazards

From the Managing the Risk of Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice 2022. Every service must identify, assess and control each of these where they show up in the workplace.

1. High or low job demands
9. Remote or isolated work
2. Low job control
10. Violent or traumatic events
3. Poor support from leader or colleagues
11. Aggression from families, visitors or contractors
4. Poor organisational justice
12. Bullying
5. Low role clarity
13. Harassment including sexual harassment
6. Poor organisational change management
14. Conflict or poor workplace relationships
7. Inadequate reward and recognition
15. Poor environmental conditions (noise, temperature, lighting)
8. Inappropriate behaviours between colleagues
16. Fatigue (shift work, long hours, high emotional load)
1
Identify hazards
Audit your service and hear from your team
2
Assess risks
Likelihood and consequence for each hazard
3
Control risks
Elimination first, then reduce
4
Review
Check controls are working

A. Workplace data review: Leave and attendance

Pull this from your payroll or attendance system. Look back over 12 months.
1 What is your educator turnover rate over the past 12 months, and how does it compare to the sector average (around 37% in early education)?
2 How many personal/carers leave days have been taken, and is any room or age group significantly higher than others?
3 Are educators taking their annual leave entitlements, or is leave balance accumulating above 4 weeks for anyone?
4 How many workers compensation claims have been lodged in the past 2 years, and how many related to mental health or stress?
5 Is there a pattern of late arrivals, unapproved absences, or no-shows in any particular room or shift?

B. Workplace data review: Complaints and incidents

From your grievance log, incident records, and educator exit conversations.
6 How many grievance or bullying complaints have been raised in the past 12 months, including informal ones?
7 How many incidents involving aggression from a family member (pickup confrontations, verbal abuse, threats) have been logged?
8 What themes come up in exit conversations with educators who leave?
9 Have any serious incidents under Regulation 12 (death, serious injury, illness, trauma to a child) been notified, and what debrief support was provided to the educators involved?

C. Consultation and support structures

10 How do educators raise concerns about workload, ratios, or difficult families, and is this working?
11 Do room leaders and the educational leader have regular 1:1s with the nominated supervisor?
12 Is there an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) in place, and are educators actually using it?
13 Is there a debrief process after a significant incident (child injury, aggressive family, child protection disclosure)?

D. Staffing and workload

14 How often do you operate at minimum ratios versus above ratio, and does this leave educators feeling stretched?
15 Are educators regularly asked to stay late, cover rooms, or work through programming time?
16 When an educator is away, are children still supervised by familiar educators, or does a casual cover the room?
17 Do family day care educators work in isolation without adequate check-in support from the coordination unit?
18 Are there educators working alone in a room (e.g. OSHC morning shift, late pickup) without a second adult present?
19 How many hours of non-contact/programming time does each educator get per week, and is it protected?
20 Are job descriptions clear, or do educators routinely take on tasks outside their role (cleaning, admin, cooking, late pickups)?
21 Do educators have autonomy in their programming, or are they working to a heavily prescribed curriculum?

E. Direct observation

Walk the floor with these in mind.
22 Do educators appear present and engaged with children, or distracted, rushed, or emotionally withdrawn?
23 Are there quiet areas where an educator can step away for a moment when emotionally escalated?
24 How do educators talk to each other in front of children? Warm and collegial, or short and snappy?
25 Are break rooms actually used, or do educators eat lunch in the room while supervising?
26 Is there respectful physical distance between educators and families at pickup, or do we see crowding/aggression at the gate?
27 Is the physical environment (temperature, noise, lighting) contributing to educator fatigue?

F. Workplace systems

28 Does the service have a current Code of Conduct, and have all educators signed it in the past 12 months?
29 Does the service have a current bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment policy aligned to the positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act?
30 Are educators trained on recognising and reporting psychosocial hazards, and is this training current?
31 Is the Approved Provider and Nominated Supervisor visible to the team, or mostly in the office?
32 How is poor performance addressed? Is it timely, respectful, and consistent, or avoided until it escalates?
33 Do educators receive recognition for good work, beyond a generic "great job" at the morning huddle?
34 Is there a clear process for educators to request flexibility (school pickups, study, family caring)?
35 Are changes to rooms, ratios, programmes or leadership communicated in advance, or sprung on the team?
36 Is there evidence of an unwritten rule that "good educators cope" and don't ask for help?
37 Has the service mapped all 16 psychosocial hazards from the Code of Practice against its own operations?
38 Is psychosocial safety a standing agenda item at leadership meetings, or only addressed after a problem?

Use this survey with your team. Copy the questions into your staff survey tool (e.g. Google Forms, Typeform, SurveyMonkey) as anonymous responses. We suggest a 5-point scale: Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither, Agree, Strongly agree.

1. Leadership and support

L1 My leader cares about my wellbeing, not just whether my room is running smoothly.
L2 If I raised a concern about how I was feeling at work, I believe it would be taken seriously.
L3 I get feedback on my work beyond what's needed to meet the NQS or fix a problem.
L4 The person responsible for me is approachable and available when I need them.
L5 I feel trusted to make decisions in my own room.

2. Job design and workload

J1 In a typical week, I have enough time to do my job well with the children.
J2 The amount of programming and documentation expected of me is manageable.
J3 I get my full programming / non-contact time each week.
J4 I get actual breaks away from the children during the day.
J5 I'm clear on what my role is and what's outside it.
J6 I have a say in how my room runs, not just what I'm told to do.

3. Relationships at work

R1 The educators I work with most days treat me with respect.
R2 If there was conflict in my room, I trust it would be resolved respectfully.
R3 I feel safe to speak up about something I see that's not right, without fear of being singled out.
R4 I feel part of a team, not isolated in my room.

4. Reward and recognition

RR1 The effort I put in is recognised.
RR2 I feel fairly paid for what I do.
RR3 I understand how I can grow or develop in my role here.
RR4 I'm given opportunities to learn new skills (not just mandatory training).

5. Environment and emotional demands

E1 The physical environment (noise, temperature, lighting) supports my wellbeing.
E2 When I've been through an emotionally difficult moment at work (incident, disclosure, aggressive family), I get the support I need.
E3 I rarely worry about being alone in a room or space without a second adult nearby.
E4 I can "switch off" from work when I go home.
E5 I feel physically safe at work, including at drop-off and pickup times.
E6 I know what to do if I experience aggression or abuse from a family member.

6. Change management

C1 When changes are made to rooms, ratios, or systems, I'm told in advance and the reason is explained.
C2 I have a say in changes that affect my daily work.
C3 The service handles busy periods (assessment and rating, staff shortages, outbreaks) in a way that doesn't burn the team out.

7. Bullying, harassment and discrimination

B1 In the last 12 months, I have not been bullied by anyone at this service.
B2 In the last 12 months, I have not experienced sexual harassment by anyone at this service (including families, visitors, contractors).
B3 In the last 12 months, I have not been discriminated against because of my age, sex, race, religion, disability, pregnancy, caring responsibilities or sexual orientation.
B4 If I saw another educator being bullied or harassed, I would know how to report it.
B5 I believe a report of bullying or harassment would be taken seriously and acted on.
B6 The people I work with communicate respectfully, including when they disagree.
B7 I have not witnessed a colleague being treated disrespectfully by a family member without it being addressed.
B8 I understand the service's policy on bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment.

STEP 1Identify hazards

List the psychosocial hazards you've identified in your service from the audit and team survey. Use the 16 named hazards from the Code of Practice as a prompt.

Hazard How it shows up here Who is exposed Evidence

STEP 2Assess the risk

For each hazard, rate likelihood (how often) and consequence (how bad). Multiply to get a risk score. Focus on medium-high and high risks first.

Hazard Likelihood Consequence Risk level

STEP 3Control the risk

For each hazard, list the controls. Work down the hierarchy: eliminate the hazard first, then substitute, engineering controls, administrative controls, and PPE last.

Hazard Control(s) Who is responsible By when

STEP 4Review

Set a review date. Review controls after any incident, change to the workplace, or at least every 12 months.