Australia’s approach to workplace mental health has entered a  new and consequential chapter. Work Health and Safety (WHS)  regulators are no longer limiting their role to guidance and  education, officers are now conducting workplace inspections  and issuing fines where employers have failed to adequately  identify and manage psychosocial hazards.  

As organisations look to get ahead of these changes, GraceX has  officially launched its psychological safety platform, which acts as  an early detection system and prevention of psychological injury  and psychosocial risk claims. Designed to close the gap between  intent and demonstrable action.  

The platform enables organisations to systematically identify  psychosocial hazards through regular review cycles, understand  where risk is concentrated, and follow clear, guided pathways to  intervention, creating a documented record of how risk is being  identified, assessed and addressed.  

Roland Illyes, CEO at GraceX, said the regulatory environment has  shifted in a way that is permanent.  

“Employers who have been meaning to get to this, who know it  matters but haven’t yet built the infrastructure to act on it, are  running out of runway,” said Mr Illyes.

According to the latest Psychological Injury in Australian  Workplaces data, mental injury compensation claims hit $1 billion  in annual costs in 2024-25, a threshold CEDA had not projected  until 2030. National claim statistics (2023-24) show psychological  injuries now result in nearly five times longer absence from work,  with a 161% increase over the past decade and a 14.7% rise from  the previous year alone. 

“A well-designed psychosocial risk role starts with expertise,  someone who knows what good looks like, what the evidence  says, what best practice demands. But they also need to be  someone who can engage and influence across functions and  have the kinds of conversations that build critical mass for  change,” says leading workplace psychosocial risk consultant Shannon Nolan, Founder of Human Leadership.  

Specialist Employment and Work Health & Safety lawyer Antonino  Meduri, Principal at AM Law and Partners, said psychosocial risk is  now a core legal obligation for employers. 

“It cannot be managed through policy alone; it depends on how  work is designed, how people are led, and how issues are  addressed in practice. For small businesses in particular, the risk is  not complexity, but inconsistent practices.” 

For many organisations this new chapter has brought on a  sobering realisation; good intentions are no substitute for a  credible, documented system of risk management, and that's  exactly the gap GraceX was built to close. 

Sources 

Safe Work Australia Key WHS Statistics 2025:  

https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/media-centre/media release/key-work-health-and-safety-statistics-2024-media-release 

Safetysure analysis:  

https://www.safetysure.com.au/research/mental-health workplace-claims-australia-2025-statistics/ 

Howden Group: https://www.howdengroup.com/au en/australias-work-health-safety-data 

InCheq analysis: https://www.incheq.co/blog-posts/australias-1- billion-reality-check-arrives-five-years-early-australias-mental-injury claims-crisis 

NSW Treasurer Mookhey Ministerial Statement (March 2025) via  Stacks Law: https://stacklaw.com.au/news/personal/workers compensation/changes-coming-to-nsw-