Psychosocial risk management

Build a workplace where people thrive
by addressing the genuine source of
psychosocial risk: the work.

Workright by Opposite is a person-centred psychosocial risk management service grounded in human factors expertise and organisational psychology. We identify what in the design and management of work is generating risk, and we change it.

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Recommended: candid image of real people in a genuine work context. Not staged, not stock. Should convey the texture of actual work. Warm tones to complement the palette.

Why Workright is different

Training is the last control
we deploy, not the first.

The psychosocial risk regulations are clear: training and information cannot be the predominant control measure. Workright is a person-centred approach, built around what the legislation actually requires.

What most of the market offers
What Workright offers
Resilience training and EAP referrals
Work redesign and management systems change
Compliance checklists and gap assessments
A five-phase process with a living compliance record
Survey, then report, then recommendations
Survey, then listen, then co-design, then implement
Generic templates and off-the-shelf plans
Co-designed artefacts built for real work
Individual as the target of intervention
Work design as the target of intervention
Consultant-led, workers informed
Co-designed with workers throughout
How we work

Four things that make
Workright genuinely
different.

Workright is built on human factors expertise and organisational psychology, the combination that sees the whole work system, not just its symptoms. Our approach is person-centred throughout: workers are co-designers of the solution, not subjects of it.

01 — Work design first

We change how work is organised, not how people feel about it

Controls that alter job demands, role clarity, management systems, and work environment sit at the top of the regulatory hierarchy. We start there, because that is what the legislation requires and what actually reduces risk.

02 — Human factors methodology

We see the whole work system, not just the symptoms

Our human factors expertise means we analyse how jobs, tools, environments, and organisations interact to generate hazards, not just what workers report feeling. That produces controls that address root causes.

03 — Built with workers, not for them

Co-designed controls get adopted. Imposed ones don't.

Every control in Workright is co-designed with the workers it affects. This satisfies consultation obligations across all three jurisdictions and produces controls that reflect how work actually happens.

04 — A process record, not a report

Every client leaves with a compliance-ready action plan

Workright builds a living action plan across all five phases. It is the evidence of a systematic, compliant process that would satisfy a WorkSafe VIC inspection, a SafeWork SA visit, or a Comcare audit.

How Workright works

Five phases.
One living
action plan.

Every tier of Workright completes all five phases. What scales between tiers is the depth of the methodology, not the compliance coverage. Every client leaves with a complete process record.

Compliant across Victoria, South Australia, and Commonwealth legislation. Each phase contributes progressively to a complete, defensible action plan. By the end of Phase 05, the action plan satisfies the obligations of all three jurisdictions.
Phase 01

Scope & Context

Before we identify a single hazard, we understand the organisation. Phase 01 is a lean, fixed-scope engagement that maps who is at risk, what systems are in place, and what the work actually looks like. This framing makes everything downstream faster, sharper, and more accurate.

What we do
  • Map duty holders, work types, and sites across the organisation
  • Review existing OHS systems, incident data, and HR indicators
  • Assess organisational maturity: foundational, developing, or established
  • Design the survey and consultation approach for Phase 02
What you get
  • Scoping report: duty holders, work types, and maturity level
  • Survey and consultation plan for Phase 02
  • Action plan v0.1: opened and ready
Action plan v0.1
What this phase adds to the action plan

The action plan is opened in Phase 01. First entries record the duty holder register, the maturity assessment outcome, any known hazards and existing control gaps, and the consultation plan for the engagement. The compliance evidence trail begins on day one.

Phase 02

Identify & Listen

Hazard identification through two complementary lenses. The Workright psychosocial hazard survey provides a quantitative hazard profile rated by frequency, duration, impact, and interaction effects. Structured engagement with workers and health and safety representatives then deepens and validates what the data shows.

What we do
  • Deploy the Workright hazard survey across identified cohorts
  • Facilitate focus groups and individual conversations with workers and leaders
  • Engage health and safety representatives as active partners
  • Observe work in context where relevant
What you get
  • Survey findings report: hazard profile with frequency, duration, impact, and interaction effects
  • Qualitative synthesis: themes and narratives from worker conversations
  • Consolidated hazard inventory
  • Consultation records
Action plan v0.2
What this phase adds to the action plan

The confirmed hazard inventory is added, drawn from both survey findings and qualitative engagement. Consultation records are appended, documenting who was engaged, when, by what method, and what they told us. The action plan now carries the evidence of systematic, data-informed identification and genuine worker consultation.

Phase 03

Assess & Prioritise

The hazard inventory becomes a defensible risk assessment. We analyse which hazards are most significant, how they interact and amplify each other, and what type of control each requires. The control direction for each hazard is recorded in the action plan. The control design is deliberately deferred to Phase 04, where workers co-design it.

What we do
  • Assess each hazard for frequency, duration, and impact
  • Analyse interaction effects: where hazards combine and amplify each other
  • Identify the highest-risk roles, work groups, and locations
  • Map each hazard to the hierarchy of controls and assign accountability
What you get
  • Risk assessment report with documented methodology
  • Psychosocial risk register: hazards, ratings, hierarchy levels, and owners
  • Prioritised action agenda presented to leadership
Action plan v1.0
What this phase adds to the action plan

Each hazard now has a risk rating, a hierarchy classification, a control direction, an accountability owner, and a target timeline. The control design column is intentionally left open: workers contribute to what controls look like in Phase 04, not just whether they agree with decisions already made. This is the correct sequence for both compliance and effectiveness.

Phase 04

Design & Implement

Controls are co-designed with the workers they affect, starting with changes to how work is organised and managed. The Phase 03 risk register provides the agenda. Workers and leaders provide the design knowledge. Opposite provides the facilitation and expertise to make controls real and sustained.

What we do
  • Facilitate co-design sessions with workers, leaders, and health and safety representatives for each hazard cluster
  • Redesign work: demands, role clarity, workload, and decision-making authority
  • Redesign systems: how work is managed, resourced, and scheduled
  • Provide targeted guidance to leaders on implementing and sustaining changes to work systems
What you get
  • Control implementation plan: co-designed actions, owners, timelines, and success measures
  • Leader guidance sessions tailored to the specific changes required
  • Control artefacts where commissioned: guides, playbooks, and digital tools (optional)
  • Action plan v2.0: a complete prevention plan with controls documented
Action plan v2.0
What this phase adds to the action plan

The control design column is completed for each hazard, recording what was co-designed, with whom, when, and how effectiveness will be measured. The action plan now functions as a complete prevention plan, demonstrating systematic identification, assessment, genuine consultation, and co-designed implementation across all three jurisdictions.

Phase 05

Embed & Sustain

Phase 05 builds the systems and capability to keep risk management genuinely alive after the engagement ends. It is designed around the maturity level identified in Phase 01, so the architecture fits what is actually there. The action plan is handed to the client as a self-sustaining tool, not a filed document.

What we do
  • Establish review triggers and integrate them into existing governance cycles
  • Build capability in HR leads and OHS managers to maintain the risk register and review cycle
  • Design a manager psychosocial literacy program for ongoing use
  • Set up the annual re-survey protocol as a standing tool
What you get
  • Review framework: triggers, frequency, accountabilities, and protocol
  • Capability program for managers and HR leads
  • Metrics dashboard: leading and lagging indicators
  • Action plan, final: complete, self-sustaining, and compliance-ready
Action plan — final
What this phase adds to the action plan

The review framework is embedded: triggers, re-survey schedule, accountability owners, and the governance mechanism to keep it current. The document is now both the compliance evidence of what has been done and the operational tool for what comes next. It is handed to the client to own, maintain, and build on independently.

Service tiers

All five phases.
Every tier. Scaled
to your organisation.

Every Workright tier completes all five phases and produces a complete compliance record. What scales is the depth of the methodology, the sophistication of the artefacts, and the degree of Opposite's ongoing involvement.

Tier 1
Essential
For simpler organisations, or as a scoped pilot within a larger one

  • All five phases, lean methodology
  • Workright hazard survey
  • One facilitated focus group
  • Desk-based risk assessment
  • One co-design workshop
  • Customised manager guide
  • Review framework and complete action plan
Enquire about Tier 1
Tier 3
Comprehensive
For large, complex, or high-hazard organisations

  • All five phases, maximum depth
  • Survey across all cohorts
  • Extensive qualitative and observation program
  • Board or executive risk presentation
  • Sustained leader guidance program
  • Advisory retainer: quarterly reviews, incident response, and change support
  • Regulatory preparedness support
  • Annual re-survey with trend analysis
  • Full control artefact suite (optional)
Enquire about Tier 3

Large organisation? Tier 1 works as a pilot in a defined cohort or business unit, producing real findings and a real action plan at a scope that fits a single business unit budget. All Tier 1 outputs are directly portable into a Tier 2 or 3 enterprise program. Nothing is repeated.

Built by Opposite

The expertise
behind Workright.

Workright is a service of Opposite, a consultancy that blends human factors, organisational psychology, and human-centred design to reimagine work that is more productive and where people thrive. Founded in 2015 by Dr Nicholas Duck, Opposite has delivered projects across transport, health, government, construction, and education.

Visit opposite.com.au
Human factors expertise
Systems thinking and technical human factors expertise applied to the whole work system. We see how jobs, tools, environments, and organisations interact to generate risk.
Organisational psychology
Deep understanding of how organisations generate and sustain psychosocial hazards, and what types of intervention actually change the conditions of work rather than managing their symptoms.
Regulatory experience
Opposite staff with direct experience working inside regulatory bodies bring practitioner knowledge of how inspectors think, what they look for, and what constitutes a credible compliance record.
Artefact design capability
Considerable experience designing, simplifying, and optimising physical and digital work artefacts. Controls that are well-designed get used. Controls that are not, do not.

Ready to make
work right?

Every engagement starts with a conversation. Tell us about your organisation and we will tell you honestly which tier makes sense and what you can expect.

Design concept v2 Revised per feedback 19 March 2026. For inspiration only, not production code.