NSW codes of practice go mandatory, and new data shows 53% of workers are taking mental health leave

Two developments from the past week are worth PCBUs' attention, one regulatory and one a data point that backs up why the regulatory attention exists in the first place. HC Magazine reported on 22 July 2026 that NSW Approved Safety Codes of Practice are now mandatory. That lines up with SafeWork NSW's own 2026-27 regulatory statement, which references "reforms that have strengthened workplace safety laws and the enforceability of codes of practice" since SafeWork NSW became a standalone regulator in July 2025. The Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice is the NSW approved code covering psychosocial risk. If its mandatory status is confirmed, it carries greater weight in prosecutions and court proceedings than it did before, tightening the gap between having a policy and being able to demonstrate compliance with it. PsychosocialGuard is treating this as the most significant regulatory signal of the fortnight and is confirming the precise scope with SafeWork NSW. That same regulatory statement puts numbers behind why psychosocial risk stays a named enforcement priority: SafeWork NSW received more than 2,200 requests for service and more than 190 workplace incident notifications related to psychosocial hazards in the past 12 months, alongside an expanded psychosocial inspectorate. Separately, a people2people Recruitment report covered by Information Age (ACS) on 21 July 2026 found that 53 per cent of Australian workers have taken time off due to mental exhaustion, and 30 per cent have taken leave specifically for burnout in the past year. Half of respondents log on outside paid hours at least once a week, and close to a third work up to 10 hours of overtime weekly. Asked about the main causes of poor workplace wellbeing, almost half of respondents pointed to workplace culture, alongside unrealistic KPIs, staff shortages and a lack of flexibility. Read together, the two stories make the same point from different directions. The regulator is tightening what counts as evidence of compliance, and the workforce data shows exactly the kind of job demands and low job control that the psychosocial hazard framework was built to catch. A 48-hour follow-up scan on 25 July found no further new signals, so this remains the state of play heading into next week.