Psychosocial hazards for teachers: lessons from the law and the classroom
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 131 No 1, 20 February 2026, page no 20.
In schools across Australia, the conversation around safety has broadened. No longer confined to physical risks, slippery floors, faulty wiring or playground falls, school safety now squarely includes psychosocial hazards: the stress, trauma, and emotional load that educators face daily in their work.
Nowhere is this more evident than in classrooms where students present with complex learning or behavioural needs.
The 2024 case of SafeWork NSW v Marist Youth Care Limited underscores the seriousness of these hazards. Marist Youth Care, a provider of therapeutic residential care for young people with severe behavioural disorders, was convicted and fined $300,000 for failing to manage foreseeable risks of psychological injury to its staff. Workers had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression following repeated exposure to violent and aggressive behaviour from residents. The court found that the organisation failed to conduct adequate risk assessments and implement sufficient control measures, despite being aware of ongoing harm.
That case follows on from prosecution of the ACT education department after an investigation into repeated occupational violence incidents across three public schools. Teachers and aides were assaulted or threatened by students with complex behavioural needs, causing physical and psychological harm.
WorkSafe found there was inadequate risk management and training. Instead of prosecution, the Directorate agreed to systemic reforms, including new violence policies, specialist teams, and psychosocial training costing more than $10 million, signalling that such hazards are genuine WHS risks, not merely student management issues.
Teachers and principals are frontline workers in the management of student behaviour. Schools are required to balance inclusion and educational rights with the legal obligation to ensure a safe workplace. As the psychosocial code of practice makes clear, psychosocial hazards are not abstract, they are real, identifiable, and manageable.
The classroom as a psychosocial workplace
Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld), the duty of care owed by the department to staff extends to psychological health. The Managing the Risk of Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice 2022 (the code) provides practical guidance on identifying, assessing, and controlling these risks. It recognises that psychosocial hazards can arise from work-related violence and aggression, high emotional demands, exposure to traumatic events, and inadequate organisational support, all of which may occur in school settings.
Legal duties and reasonable practicability
The code reinforces that schools must take a systematic, proactive approach to managing psychosocial risks. This includes:
- identifying foreseeable hazards such as known student aggression
- conducting formal risk assessments, including risk assessment of the risk student misbehaviour poses to staff
- implementing reasonably practicable control measures, such as staff training, additional supervision, environmental adjustments, and consistent de-escalation protocols
- monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of those controls.
The test of what is reasonably practicable considers the likelihood of harm, its potential severity, what the school knows or ought to know, and the availability of measures to prevent it. “Resource limitations” may explain non-compliance, but do not excuse it.
Balancing inclusion and safety
A critical tension remains: how to protect the rights of students with disabilities while maintaining staff safety. The Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) requires schools to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, but these obligations sit alongside WHS duties to prevent harm. Inclusive education must be paired with safe systems of work.
This is not always about exclusion: it is about balance. Each child has a right to learn in a safe environment, and each teacher has a right to teach without threat of harm. When systems fail to achieve that balance, there are legal consequences.
A call to action
The code of practice sends a clear message: employers — including the Department of Education — must move beyond reactive management to proactive prevention of psychological harm. That means embedding psychosocial risk assessments into everyday practice, supporting principals to lead safe systems, and ensuring that teachers are not left to absorb unmanageable emotional loads.
Psychosocial hazards are no longer an emerging issue; they are a central feature of the modern education landscape. The law now expects schools to treat them that way.