sa-psychosocial-checker

South Australian Psychosocial Hazard Management — Complete Reference

Purpose

This skill provides the verified South Australian-specific legislative and guidance framework for managing psychosocial hazards at work. It extracts key provisions from two source documents:

1. SA WHS Regulations 2012 — Division 11 (psychosocial risks), rr 55A–55D, following the Model WHS Regulations framework (no SA-specific additions beyond the Model)
2. SA CoP: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work (February 2026) — approved code of practice under s 79 of the WHS Act 2012 (SA); 13 hazard categories, risk management process, responding to complaints, issue and dispute resolution, case studies, hazard examples, control measure examples

This is a reference skill — it is not intended as a standalone user tool. It is loaded by action skills (e.g. psychosocial gap analysis, risk register builder) when they need to verify or cite SA-specific psychosocial hazard provisions.

For general WHS Act and Regulation provisions (duties, offences, penalties, incident notification, general risk management), refer to relevant SA WHS legislation checkers.

For Model (national) psychosocial provisions (Model WHS Bill, Model WHS Regulations Division 11, Model CoP: Managing Psychosocial Hazards, Model SGBH CoP), refer to the safetysure-psychosocial-model skill.

Critical Rules

1. Only cite provisions that appear in the section files. Never fabricate or assume section numbers, regulation numbers, page references or content.
2. Citation format — legislation: Use "s [number]" for WHS Act sections (e.g. "s 19 of the WHS Act 2012 (SA)") and "r [number]" or "rr [range]" for WHS Regulations (e.g. "r 55A" or "rr 55A–55D").
3. Citation format — Code of Practice: Reference by title and chapter/section/appendix (e.g. "SA CoP: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work, s 3.2.2" or "SA CoP, Appendix A").
4. Use conservative, factual language when describing legislative obligations and Code of Practice guidance. Avoid subjective or emotive terms — describe requirements in objective terms.
5. Always use Australian English spelling (e.g. behaviour, organisation, colour, defence, licence [noun], minimise, analyse).
6. Distinguish between sources. The WHS Regulation prescribes specific requirements for psychosocial risk management. The Code of Practice provides practical guidance on how to comply with duties.
7. SA follows the Model framework. South Australia adopts the harmonised WHS Division 11 (rr 55A–55D) without jurisdiction-specific additions. Where a provision differs from other jurisdictions, note the difference, but SA provisions will align with the Model framework.
8. Cross-reference with Model provisions where appropriate. The SA WHS Regulation Division 11 adopts the Model provisions (rr 55A–55D). The SA CoP closely follows the Model CoP structure with SA-specific content (SafeWork SA references, case studies, SA legislation references).
9. If a provision cannot be located in these files, state that the specific provision should be verified against the current legislation and indicate which source document it is likely found in.

Section Index

Read the relevant section file(s) based on the subject matter of the query:

SA WHS Regulations 2012

File	Content	When to Read
sections/sa-whs-reg-psychosocial.md	SA WHS Regulations 2012 — Division 11 (rr 55A–55D)	Psychosocial hazard/risk definitions (rr 55A–55B), duty to manage psychosocial risks (r 55C), determining control measures (r 55D — 9 matters), related duties (rr 35–38, rr 22–23)

SA CoP: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work (February 2026)

File	Chapters	When to Read
sections/sa-cop-introduction.md	Chapters 1–2	Psychosocial hazard definition, 13 hazard categories, WHS duties (PCBU s 19, workers, health and safety representatives), reasonably practicable test, consultation requirements, relevant SA legislation (Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)), structure of CoP
sections/sa-cop-risk-management.md	Chapters 3–3.5	Identifying hazards (13 hazard categories, identification methods, workplace data sources), assessing risk (duration/frequency/severity, vulnerability, cumulative effect, risk assessment methods), controlling risk (WHS Act s 36, WHS Reg rr 35–36/55D, 9 matters, hierarchy of controls, eliminating risks, minimising risks — substitution/isolation/engineering, administrative controls, information/training/instruction, combining controls), maintaining and reviewing (WHS Reg rr 37–38, review triggers), recording the risk management process
sections/sa-cop-response-resolution.md	Chapters 4–5	Responding to complaints/incidents/reports (encouraging reporting, barriers to reporting, response principles, HSR role, response procedures, responding to violence and aggression, notifiable incident requirements, workers' compensation), issue and dispute resolution (WHS Act s 81, WHS Reg rr 22–23, resolution procedures, default procedure)
sections/sa-cop-appendices.md	Appendices	Additional resources, case studies, examples, templates

Workflow

1. Identify the subject matter from the calling skill's query or the user's request
2. Read the relevant section file(s) — read only what is needed to answer the query
3. Cite provisions accurately from the extracted text, using the citation formats above
4. Cross-reference with Model provisions where appropriate (load psychosocial-model if Model-level detail is needed)
5. Note SA legislative framework — accurately reflect SA legislation and regulator (SafeWork SA)

Common Query Routing

Query Topic	Primary File(s)	Key References
Psychosocial hazard/risk definitions	sa-whs-reg-psychosocial.md	WHS Reg rr 55A–55B
Duty to manage psychosocial risks	sa-whs-reg-psychosocial.md	WHS Reg r 55C
PCBU primary duty (general)	sa-cop-introduction.md	WHS Act s 19
Reasonably practicable test	sa-cop-introduction.md	WHS Act s 36 (duty to manage risks)
13 hazard categories	sa-cop-introduction.md, sa-cop-risk-management.md	SA CoP sections 1–2 and Table 1
Identifying psychosocial hazards	sa-cop-risk-management.md	WHS Reg r 34; SA CoP s 3
Risk assessment process	sa-cop-risk-management.md	SA CoP s 3
Control measures — 9 matters (r 55D)	sa-whs-reg-psychosocial.md, sa-cop-risk-management.md	WHS Reg r 55D; SA CoP s 3.1
Hierarchy of controls	sa-cop-risk-management.md	WHS Reg r 36; SA CoP s 3.1
Eliminating risks	sa-cop-risk-management.md	SA CoP s 3.1
Administrative controls	sa-cop-risk-management.md	SA CoP s 3.1
Information, training, instruction	WHS Act s 19; WHS Reg r 39; SA CoP s 3.1
Combining controls	sa-cop-risk-management.md	SA CoP s 3.1
Maintaining control measures	sa-cop-risk-management.md	WHS Reg r 37; SA CoP s 3.4
Reviewing control measures	sa-cop-risk-management.md	WHS Reg r 38; SA CoP s 3.4
Recording risk management process	sa-cop-risk-management.md	SA CoP s 3.5
Responding to complaints/reports	sa-cop-response-resolution.md	SA CoP Ch 4
Encouraging reporting	sa-cop-response-resolution.md	SA CoP s 4
Responding to violence and aggression	sa-cop-response-resolution.md	SA CoP s 4
Notifiable incident (psychosocial)	sa-cop-response-resolution.md	WHS Act s 36; SA CoP s 4
Issue resolution process	sa-cop-response-resolution.md	WHS Act s 81; WHS Reg rr 22–23
Consultation with workers	sa-cop-introduction.md	WHS Act s 36

SA-Specific Context

South Australia uses:

• WHS Act 2012 (SA) — primary legislation establishing duties and offences
• WHS Regulations 2012 (SA) — Division 11 (rr 55A–55D) — psychosocial risk management following the Model framework
• PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) — the standard duty holder definition
• SafeWork SA — South Australian regulator for WHS compliance

SA legislative framework:

• No jurisdiction-specific additions — SA Division 11 follows the Model WHS Regulations framework (rr 55A–55D)
• Harmonised WHS — SA applies the same psychosocial risk definitions and duty framework as other harmonised jurisdictions
• Consultation requirements — WHS Act s 36 requires consultation with workers on health and safety matters, including psychosocial hazards
• SA Code of Practice (February 2026) — most recent psychosocial CoP, effective from February 2026

Version Information

• SA WHS Act 2012: Current as at 5 March 2026
• SA WHS Regulations 2012: Current as at 5 March 2026 (Division 11, rr 55A–55D)
• SA CoP: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work: February 2026 edition
• Extraction method: Text extracted from official South Australian Government publications
• Licence: Creative Commons Attribution licence (State of South Australia)

Note: These are South Australian-specific provisions. For Model (national) provisions, load the safetysure-psychosocial-model:psychosocial-model skill. For other jurisdictions, load the relevant jurisdiction specialist plugin (e.g. safetysure-psychosocial-qld, safetysure-psychosocial-nsw). SA provisions should be cited as enacted SA law; Model provisions should not be cited as applicable law in SA without verification against the enacted SA legislation.