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Mental health
Last updated December 2023
This chapter explains mental health risks in the workplace, how to reduce those risks and how to manage a worker who suffers from mental illness.
Your health and safety obligations in relation to mental illness
Under health and safety legislation, your business has an obligation to take reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health and wellbeing of your workers and other people impacted by your business, e.g. contractors, volunteers or apprentices.
This includes taking steps to minimise the risk of:
- causing or aggravating mental illness or mental health problems; and
- someone with a mental illness causing harm to anyone else in your workplace.
Definition: Mental Illness
Mental illness is a health problem that affects how a person thinks, behaves and interacts with other people.
Mental illness is a health problem that affects how a person thinks, behaves and interacts with other people.
Mental illness is one of the biggest health issues in the Australian community, which means mental health is a major issue for you as an employer.
Important: According to the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, almost half of all Australian adults will face mental ill health during their lives.
There are many different types of mental illness, with varying degrees of severity. Common ones include:
- mood disorders, e.g. depression and bipolar disorder;
- anxiety;
- personality disorders, e.g. obsessive compulsive disorder;
- eating disorders, e.g. bulimia; and
- psychotic disorders, e.g. schizophrenia.