More hazards on your risk register is not better compliance.
It's a liability.
EY's August 2025 analysis found that most Australian organisations are conflating control failures with hazards — inflating risk registers, increasing administrative burden, and ironically reducing compliance. Here's what's going wrong and how PsychProof fixes it.
Precision over volume
The average psychosocial injury claim costs $58,615 — four times the cost of a physical injury claim. Regulators are increasing enforcement. And yet most organisations are responding by adding more items to their risk register, not fewer, better ones.
More is not better. A runaway risk register increases administrative burden and reduces the effectiveness of the very controls it's supposed to track.
Claim Severity Ratio
4:1
Psychosocial vs Physical Claim Cost
"When control failures are listed as standalone hazards, the register grows without improving. Investigations focus on symptoms rather than causes."
Most "hazards" on your register aren't hazards
A hazard is an independent cause of psychological harm at work. Conflating symptoms with causes is the #1 reason compliance programs fail.
| Hazard | Control Failure | Common Mistake |
| High job demand | Poor management support | Listing both separately |
| Poor org justice | Inadequate recognition | Treating symptom as cause |
| Harmful behaviour | No complaints policy | Policy gap ≠ hazard |
When control failures (symptoms) are listed as hazards, investigations focus on symptoms rather than causes. Controls are generic rather than targeted. And the real risks get buried under administrative noise.
ISO 45003 Hierarchy
ISO 45003 and the SWA Code of Practice provide a four-tier hierarchy that cuts through complexity:
- 1
Hazard Group
Six broad categories for board-level oversight
- 2
Hazard
Specific hazard type (maps to SWA 17 hazards)
- 3
Factor
Common component of the hazard (e.g. high workload)
- 4
Trigger
How the hazard actually manifests in your specific workplace
Effective controls only exist at the Trigger level.
"A control for 'high workload caused by tight deadlines' is different from 'high workload caused by understaffing.' Generic controls fail because they don't address the actual cause in context."
Context is compliance
A survey is not a risk management system
Annual or periodic surveys capture a point-in-time snapshot. Hazards continue between surveys, undetected and undocumented.
WHS legislation requires ongoing identification, assessment, control and review — not an annual checkbox. A survey that runs once a year is evidence that you ran a survey. It is not evidence that you managed the risk.
The PsychProof Evidence Model
"PsychProof documents the ongoing process — concern by concern, consultation by consultation, control by control — building a longitudinal evidence trail that a survey can never produce."
Important Notice
This information is general in nature and provided for awareness and documentation support only. It does not constitute legal, clinical, or professional advice. Regulatory obligations vary by jurisdiction and circumstances. Organisations should refer to relevant regulators or qualified professionals for advice specific to their situation.