Australia's COPSOQ III
psychosocial risk platform
The only ANZ psychosocial risk platform benchmarked against Australian workers — not a clinical reference range.
People at Work is being decommissioned 2 October 2026. Transition support is available now.
Suspect your workforce has psychosocial risk exposures — but don't have the data to act on them?
Take the free 2-minute Psychosocial Risk Readiness Check — scored and benchmarked against Australian workforce norms. No login required.
→ Run the Readiness CheckAustralian WHS legislation requires you to identify, assess, and control psychosocial hazards — the same obligation that applies to noise, manual handling, and chemical exposure. The Safe Work Australia Code of Practice names 17 hazard categories you must address.
K10 covers none of them. COPSOQ III covers 14–15.
OccuSpan benchmarks your results against 8,000+ Australian workers in your industry — not a clinical distress scale.
What Australian law requires
17 hazard categories. One legal obligation.
Australian work health and safety legislation requires organisations to identify, assess, and control psychosocial hazards — the same obligation framework that applies to physical hazards like noise and manual handling.
The Safe Work Australia Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice (2024) names 17 categories of psychosocial hazard that employers must address:
ISO 45003:2021 is the internationally recognised framework for managing these hazards. OccuSpan's psychosocial risk module is structured around ISO 45003 — with COPSOQ III as the validated measurement instrument.
K10 covers none of these 17 hazard categories. It measures individual distress — it tells you something is wrong, not what in the work environment is causing it. See the full instrument comparison →
ISO 45003:2021 framework
The four-step psychosocial risk management process
ISO 45003:2021 organises psychosocial risk management into four continuous steps. OccuSpan supports each one in the same platform.
Step 1 — Identify
Deploy a validated psychosocial survey to your workforce. COPSOQ III covers 14–15 of the 17 SWA hazard categories across 26 validated scales. Minimum respondent threshold (default: 7) protects individual anonymity.
Step 2 — Assess
Group scores are benchmarked against Rahimi et al. (2025) Australian norms — 8,000+ workers, 13 industry sectors. Favourable, intermediate, and unfavourable bands are calculated against the Australian reference population, not a clinical normal range.
Step 3 — Control
The MIA intervention engine maps each unfavourable scale to evidence-based controls. A documented program plan is generated. Controls are recorded. Workforce consultation is tracked. You have the evidence of risk management ISO 45003 requires.
Step 4 — Review
Re-survey at 12 months (full COPSOQ III) or 6 months (PSC-12 pulse). Longitudinal tracking compares each survey cycle. The platform generates a board-ready report showing improvement over time.
Free tool
Where does your organisation sit on the psychosocial risk spectrum?
Answer 8 questions and we'll benchmark your current approach against Rahimi et al. (2025) Australian norms — the same dataset behind OccuSpan's COPSOQ III reporting. Takes about 2 minutes.
- ✓Covers 7 key psychosocial risk domains
- ✓Benchmarked against 8,000+ Australian workers
- ✓Scored against the ISO 45003 program lifecycle
- ✓Instant results — no waiting for a sales call
Free assessment
Psychosocial Risk Readiness Check
8 questions · ~2 minutes · Benchmarked against Australian norms
Job demands
How often do your workers report high workload or time pressure?
Role clarity
Do workers have clear, documented role requirements (position descriptions, inherent requirements)?
Manager support
Are your line managers trained to recognise and respond to psychosocial hazards?
Psychological safety
Do workers feel safe raising mental health or wellbeing concerns without fear of consequences?
End-to-end workflow
From survey to intervention in one platform
Deploy validated survey
COPSOQ III or PSC-12 delivered by email or SMS to your workforce. Anonymous, confidential, and compliant with ISO 45003 psychosocial risk assessment requirements.
Anonymised group scoring
Responses aggregated at group level (minimum 7 respondents). No individual scores ever visible to line managers. Suppression rules enforced at the database layer.
Australian benchmark comparison
Group scores benchmarked against Rahimi et al. (2025) — Australian COPSOQ III norms from 8,000+ workers across 13 industry sectors. See exactly where your workforce stands.
MIA intervention recommendations
The MIA engine maps your group scores to evidence-based interventions — training, process redesign, EAP referral, leadership programs — ranked by risk priority.
Program plan & ROI modelling
Auto-generate an ISO 45003-aligned intervention program plan with projected ROI. Export for board-level reporting or WHS regulator submissions.
Longitudinal tracking
Re-deploy surveys at 6 or 12-month intervals. Track psychosocial risk trends over time and demonstrate continuous improvement for due diligence.
People at Work is being decommissioned
Here is your timeline
WorkSafe Queensland has confirmed People at Work (PAW) will transition on 1 July 2026 and be fully decommissioned on 2 October 2026.
If you are currently using PAW, you need to:
- 1.Export your historical PAW data before 2 October — once decommissioned, it may be inaccessible
- 2.Choose a validated replacement instrument (COPSOQ III is the direct replacement)
- 3.Configure your new survey and pilot it with one cohort before full workforce deployment
- 4.Achieve a benchmarked result and begin building your intervention plan
Organisations that start in August 2026 have enough time for a complete transition. Those that start in September are cutting it close. COPSOQ III is live on OccuSpan.
Full transition guide with instrument comparison →Choosing a PAW replacement: what the instruments actually measure
The question most organisations are asking right now is: "Can we just use K10 instead?" The short answer is no — and the reason matters for compliance.
| Criterion | COPSOQ III | K10 | PSC-12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Workplace psychosocial hazards | Individual distress outcomes | Safety climate |
| SWA 17 hazards covered | ~14–15 of 17 | 0 of 17 | ~2–3 of 17 |
| ISO 45003 hazard assessment | ✓ Purpose-built | ✗ Wrong tool | Partial |
| ANZ benchmarks available | ✓ Rahimi et al. (2025) | ✗ | ✗ |
| PAW drop-in replacement | ✓ Direct | ✗ | ✗ |
Full comparison including longitudinal benchmarking and regulatory acceptance →
Definition
What is a psychosocial risk assessment?
A psychosocial risk assessment is a systematic process for identifying, evaluating, and controlling hazards in the work environment that can cause psychological harm — including stress, burnout, anxiety, depression, and trauma-related injury. Under Australian work health and safety law, psychosocial hazards are treated the same as physical hazards: employers have a positive duty to manage them.
The Safe Work Australia (SWA) Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice (2024) provides the authoritative reference for Australian employers. It names 17 specific categories of psychosocial hazard that must be addressed — from job demands and low control through to bullying, harassment, and traumatic events. These 17 categories are not aspirational guidelines; they define the scope of your legal risk assessment obligation.
A psychosocial risk assessment is distinct from a mental health survey or a wellbeing questionnaire. Wellbeing tools typically measure how workers are feeling at a point in time. A psychosocial risk assessment measures the conditions in the work environment that are causing that experience — the hazard exposure, not the outcome. This distinction is critical for regulatory compliance: you must demonstrate that you have assessed the hazard, not just noticed that workers are distressed.
The internationally recognised framework for conducting a psychosocial risk assessment is ISO 45003:2021 — the first international standard specifically addressing psychological health and safety in the workplace. ISO 45003 integrates with ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety management systems) and provides structured guidance on hazard identification, risk assessment, controls, and review.
Legal obligations
Your legal obligations — state by state
Australia operates a Model WHS legislative framework administered by Safe Work Australia. The model WHS Regulations, adopted in all jurisdictions except Victoria and Western Australia, include specific provisions requiring employers to identify and manage psychosocial hazards. Victoria operates under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 with equivalent obligations; WA operates under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020, which aligns with the model framework.
The practical implication for employers is consistent across all jurisdictions: you must identify psychosocial hazards, assess the risks they create, implement controls using the hierarchy of controls, and review those controls. The SWA Code of Practice (2024) is an approved code of practice under the model WHS Act, meaning regulators can rely on it as evidence of what a reasonably practicable employer would do.
Jurisdiction coverage
Regulators are actively enforcing psychosocial obligations. Safe Work Australia's national strategy calls for a 30% reduction in psychological injury claims by 2032. Failure to conduct a documented psychosocial risk assessment — and act on its findings — exposes employers to significant regulatory and common-law liability. A well-documented assessment using a validated instrument is your primary evidence of due diligence.
Methodology
How to conduct a psychosocial risk assessment — step by step
The SWA Code of Practice and ISO 45003 align around a five-phase cycle. Each phase has practical deliverables that constitute your documented evidence of risk management.
Plan
Define the scope of the assessment — which work groups, which sites, which job families. Confirm the survey instrument (COPSOQ III is the recommended choice for regulatory compliance). Establish the anonymity threshold. Appoint the OHS lead responsible for the assessment process. Obtain senior leadership endorsement — worker participation rates are significantly higher when leaders visibly support the process.
Survey
Deploy the validated psychosocial survey to the defined work groups. A properly validated instrument like COPSOQ III generates psychometrically reliable group-level scores across its 26 scales. Typical administration time is 15–20 minutes. Ensure workers understand why the survey is being conducted, how anonymity is protected, and what will happen with the results — informed participation produces more honest responses.
Analyse
Aggregate group scores and benchmark them against a relevant reference population — ideally Australian workforce norms by industry sector (Rahimi et al., 2025). Identify which scales fall in the unfavourable band and cross-reference against the 17 SWA hazard categories. Prioritise by risk magnitude and occupational exposure. Document the analysis as part of your WHS management system records.
Control
Apply the hierarchy of controls. Primary controls address the hazard at source — redesigning workloads, restructuring roles, improving management practices. Secondary controls reduce exposure — training, supervision, peer support. Tertiary controls address harm after it has occurred — EAP access, treatment pathways, RTW programs. The ISO 45003 and SWA Code of Practice both emphasise primary controls; EAP alone is not a sufficient response to a hazard identification finding.
Review
Re-survey at regular intervals — annually for full COPSOQ III, six-monthly for a pulse check using PSC-12. Longitudinal tracking is the only way to demonstrate whether controls are working. Review also includes monitoring leading indicators (incident reports, absenteeism, turnover) that may signal psychosocial risk between survey cycles. Document review outcomes and update your risk register accordingly.
Instrument selection
Choosing the right survey instrument
Not all psychosocial surveys are equivalent for regulatory compliance purposes. The critical question is: does the instrument measure workplace hazards or individual outcomes? Only hazard-focused instruments satisfy the requirement to identify and assess the causes of psychological harm, rather than simply measuring whether harm has occurred.
COPSOQ III (Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, third edition) is the internationally validated standard for workplace psychosocial hazard assessment. Validated across 25+ countries and peer-reviewed by Burr et al. (2019, Safety and Health at Work), it covers approximately 14–15 of the 17 SWA hazard categories across 26 psychometrically validated scales. Australian-specific norms are now available via Rahimi et al. (2025).
K10 (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale) is a 10-item individual distress screener. It measures how a person is feeling — not what in the work environment is causing it. K10 covers zero of the 17 SWA psychosocial hazard categories and is not suitable as a standalone hazard assessment tool. It has value in clinical triage contexts; it does not have value as a WHS risk assessment instrument.
PSC-12 (Psychosocial Safety Climate) is a 12-item measure of management commitment to psychological safety. It covers approximately 2–3 of the 17 hazard categories and is best used as a supplement to COPSOQ III, particularly for measuring leadership climate as a leading indicator between full survey cycles.
Full comparison: COPSOQ III vs K10 vs PAW — which instrument satisfies the SWA Code of Practice? →
ISO 45003:2021
ISO 45003 — what does it actually require?
ISO 45003:2021 is the first international standard providing specific guidance on psychological health and safety in the workplace. It is not a standalone standard — it operates within the ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management system framework, extending it to address psychosocial hazards specifically.
ISO 45003 requires organisations to integrate psychosocial hazard management into their overall WHS management system: leadership commitment, worker consultation, hazard identification (using validated instruments), risk assessment, control implementation using the hierarchy, and continual improvement through monitoring and review. It also addresses the role of organisational culture, work design, and leadership behaviour as both hazard sources and control mechanisms.
For Australian employers, ISO 45003 alignment is increasingly referenced by regulators and WHS consultants as the benchmark for demonstrating reasonably practicable psychosocial risk management. It is explicitly referenced in OccuSpan's program architecture.
Full ISO 45003 compliance guide — 12-month implementation timeline →
Closing the loop
From survey data to intervention
The gap most organisations fall into is between data collection and action. Survey results are produced; they sit in a report; leaders are uncertain what to do with them; the assessment cycle stalls. ISO 45003 requires controls to be implemented and reviewed — data collection alone does not satisfy the obligation.
OccuSpan closes this loop in one platform. Survey responses generate benchmarked group scores. The MIA (Meaningful Intervention Advisor) engine maps each unfavourable scale to evidence-based controls — ranked by risk priority, tagged to the relevant SWA hazard category, and linked to OccuSpan's library of program modules. A program plan is auto-generated with projected timelines and outcomes. Controls are recorded in the WHS management system with responsibility assignments and review dates.
The result is a documented, defensible evidence trail from hazard identification to control implementation — exactly what regulators and courts look for when assessing whether an employer discharged their duty of care.
Australian benchmarks
ANZSIC industry benchmarks — Rahimi et al. (2025)
Prior to 2025, there were no published Australian-specific COPSOQ III norms. Organisations deploying COPSOQ III in Australia had to benchmark their results against European norms — a meaningful limitation given well-documented differences in workplace culture, employment law, and organisational structure.
Rahimi et al. (2025), published in BMC Public Health (25:830), provides the first Australian-specific COPSOQ III normative dataset — derived from 8,000+ Australian workers across 13 ANZSIC industry sectors. For each of the 26 COPSOQ III scales, the paper reports favourable, intermediate, and unfavourable cut-points calibrated to the Australian workforce.
The 13 sectors covered include: Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, Construction, Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Accommodation and Food Services, Transport and Postal, Information Technology, Financial Services, Professional Services, Education and Training, and Health Care and Social Assistance.
OccuSpan has these Australian benchmarks built directly into its scoring engine. Your group scores are compared against workers in your industry in Australia — not against a clinical distress scale or a European reference population. This is what makes OccuSpan's assessment results meaningful and actionable for ANZ employers.
Validated instruments
Clinically validated survey instruments
COPSOQ III
Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire — internationally validated across 25+ countries (Burr et al., 2019). Australian norms: Rahimi et al. (2025). 26 scales, 14–15 of 17 SWA hazard categories covered.
PSC-12
Psychosocial Safety Climate scale — 12-item measure of management commitment to psychological safety. Covers ~2–3 of 17 SWA hazards. Best used as a supplement to COPSOQ III.
K10
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale — 10-item individual distress screener. Covers zero of 17 SWA psychosocial hazard categories. Not a regulatory hazard assessment tool.
NMQ-E
Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire Extended — musculoskeletal symptoms mapped to job demands. Used for health surveillance and population health reporting.
OccuSpan operates across all Australian states and territories — NSW, VIC, WA, SA, QLD, TAS, ACT, NT. Same WHS regulatory framework, same ISO 45003 obligations.
FAQ
Common questions
What psychosocial survey should we use after WorkSafe Queensland retires PAW in October 2026?
WorkSafe Queensland is retiring its PAW survey tool on 2 October 2026. COPSOQ III is the internationally validated instrument used across 40+ countries. OccuSpan deploys COPSOQ III with Rahimi et al. (2025) Australian-specific benchmarks (BMC Public Health 25:830), so your scores are meaningful in the ANZ context.
How does OccuSpan protect individual survey confidentiality?
Individual responses are never shown to line managers. Group scores are only released when the respondent count meets the anonymity threshold (default: 7). Suppression is enforced at the database layer with row-level security — not just a UI toggle.
Does OccuSpan support ISO 45003:2021 compliance?
Yes. The psychosocial risk module is structured around the ISO 45003 program lifecycle: hazard identification (survey), risk assessment (benchmarked scoring), controls (MIA intervention plan), and review (longitudinal tracking). Program plans are exportable for regulator submissions.
Can we run surveys for specific teams or departments?
Yes. Survey deployments are scoped by cohort — you can deploy to a specific team, site, or job family. Each deployment generates separate group scores, so you can compare psychosocial risk across business units.
What are the Rahimi et al. (2025) benchmarks?
Rahimi et al. (2025) published the first Australian-specific COPSOQ III norms, derived from 8,000+ Australian workers across 13 industry sectors. OccuSpan has these benchmarks built in — your scores compare against a validated Australian reference population, not a European one.
Don't wait until October
Start your PAW migration now
Book a demo to see the COPSOQ III workflow end to end — and talk to our team about migrating your historical PAW data before the deadline.
Data in Sydney
No cross-border transfer
ISO 27001-aligned
Row-level security
ANZ norms
Rahimi et al. (2025)
DPA provided
For procurement review
Related guides
The 17 SWA Psychosocial Hazards Explained
What each hazard category means in practice and how to identify it in your workplace.
ISO 45003 Compliance Guide
12-month implementation timeline for the ISO 45003 psychosocial risk management standard.
COPSOQ III vs K10 — Which Instrument to Use?
Detailed comparison of COPSOQ III, K10, PSC-12, and PAW against the SWA 17-category framework.
Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work
Hierarchy of controls, industry-specific risk profiles, and documentation requirements.
Psychosocial Safety Climate
How leadership behaviour shapes psychological safety — PSC-12 measurement and intervention.
Workplace Mental Health Risk Assessment
Step-by-step guide to meeting your WHS mental health obligations under the SWA Code of Practice.
AS 4308:2023 · AS 4760:2019 · ISO 45003:2021 · Safe Work Australia NDS · Data hosted in Sydney · ISO 27001-aligned infrastructure