In Part 1 of this series on the impact of the Managing the Risk of Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, we looked at the changes that have been brought into effect and the impact to organisations. From the large volume of industry forums, webinars and articles published, it is fair to say that the level of understanding in relation to psychosocial risk management is still a work in progress. In this article, we take a deeper dive into the Code and recognise that there is a wealth of guidance information available to assist organisations in identifying psychosocial hazards at work.

When it comes to identifying the many types of psychosocial hazard that can impact people at work, it can seem an obvious statement but it’s important to remember that everybody is different, is impacted differently, and responds differently to stressors and changes, both at work and outside of work. The Code talks about psychological health being a “continuum” where individuals move back and forth from “healthy to reacting to struggling to injury”.

To assist, the Code offers a number of ways to identify psychosocial hazards which can arise from organisation-wide systems, work practices, work environments and workplace behaviours, or relating to a specific task or job. Importantly, when identifying psychosocial hazards, workers and Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) must be consulted. The identification process includes:

  • Observing the workplace for factors including:
    • how work is performed,
    • the environment in which the work is conducted,
    • how people interact with each other,
    • understanding the mental demands of the work tasks and the time allocated (and taken) to complete these,
    • understanding what behaviours are tolerated (and not tolerated),
    • working hours,
    • high levels of exposure to traumatic situations,
    • low work group diversity,
    • whether there are exposures to interactions with members of the public, and
    • shift work or working in isolation.
  • Consulting with workers to understand how they feel, for example whether they are:
    • stressed or emotionally exhausted by the workload,
    • anxious about aggressive or abusive customers,
    • wary of the risk of workplace bullying and harassment,
    • angry about organisational policies and their consistent application,
    • confused about their role, or
    • feeling distressed from exposure to a traumatic event (at work or at home).
  • Collecting and analysing information to identify common themes and trends such as those from:
    • incident and injury data,
    • complaints and grievances,
    • leave records,
    • absenteeism,
    • overtime,
    • workers’ compensation claims,
    • Employee Assistance Program usage,
    • worker engagement surveys,
    • staff turnover and exit interviews, and
    • local area crime statistics to understand the risk of violence in the local community.

Further guidance is provided in Appendix 3 of the Managing the Risk of Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice, which includes detailed assistance for the identification of situations and circumstances that may increase the risk to worker psychosocial health.

Once psychosocial hazards have been identified, PCBUs should then assess the level of risk of the identified hazards (using their risk management framework). This can be undertaken collectively across the organisation or at a team-by-team level, or considering a general ‘mental health and wellbeing’ impact, or focusing on a specific hazard/ risk (such as being subjected to aggressive or abusive customers). The risk assessment, when considering the causal factors and the current controls, will help in determining what reasonably practicable control measures should be implemented.

In Part 3 of this series, we will look at the detailed guidance that the Code offers for a vast array of psychosocial risk controls (not just relying on an Employee Assistance Program).

Please contact us for more information or assistance.