Psychosocial risk: what every Australian employer is now exposed to

If you work in safety or people and culture, you already know the regulator’s side of psychosocial risk. This report, written with insurer upcover, adds the side most psychosocial programs never reach: what happens when a claim, complaint or investigation lands anyway, which insurance responds, and where the business is left on its own.

The insurance view

Psychosocial programs usually sit with safety and people teams, while insurance sits with finance and the broker. The two rarely meet until something goes wrong. upcover’s section of the report closes that gap, and covers:

• Which policy typically responds to a psychological injury claim, a bullying or harassment complaint, an unfair dismissal claim and a regulator’s investigation, and the one item that no policy responds to

• Whether your directors are covered at all, which depends on the state they work in

• The NSW premium threshold that decides whether a single claim moves your premium

• The timing decision that can decide whether a later claim is covered

• How a redundancy run the wrong way can become a claim the policy doesn’t cover

The regulator view, updated for 2026

Harrison Kennedy’s section brings the regulator view up to date for readers who already know the fundamentals. It covers the four NSW changes from 1 July 2026 that affect psychological injury claims, the two things that catch businesses out when a regulator examines their system, what three recent prosecutions have in common, and what the first right to disconnect decisions, handed down in August 2026, mean for employers. Each regulator also names a different number of hazards, so it’s worth checking how the rules compare in each state.

What to take to your board

The report turns both views into action. It includes five questions to put to your broker and board, and an eight-point checklist for founders and leaders, none of which needs a big budget. It also explains why the record that answers a regulator is the same record that strengthens your position if an insurer asks.

Who wrote it

ReFresh, the psychosocial operating system for Australian workplaces, wrote the regulator and system view. upcover, a Sydney-based digital insurance platform for small, mid-market and technology businesses, wrote the insurance view. Skye Theodorou and Harrison Kennedy close the report with what each has learned about looking after people through rapid growth.