Psychosocial hazards are the things in the design, application and management of work that contribute to work-related stress. 

 

Work-related stress in itself is not necessarily a problem. But when the stress is severe, prolonged or unmanaged, you increase the risk of mental injury (psychological harm).

Workplaces have long had formal systems to assess and control physical risks.

But what systems do you have in place for assessing and controlling the risks associated with psychosocial hazards?

Here are my top four tips to get started:

  1. Understand what the common psychosocial hazards are in the workplace generally. Then identify which particular ones are applicable for your workplace context. For example, occupational violence and aggression is a psychosocial hazard, but if you’re a small workplace with no customer service activities this may not be an issue for you at all.
  2. Assess the level of risk of these hazards. Use your normal risk assessment frameworks – the ones you use for physical hazards. And apply them to psychosocial hazards. You may do that for role types, for departments, and for individuals.
  3. Educate your leaders through demystifying psychological health and safety. Clarify the plethora of confusing terms. Create awareness on what the common psychosocial hazards really are, and which ones are likely or present in your workplace context.
  4. Develop the systems to routinely monitor and screen for work-related stress going forward. This sits with all leaders, not the OHS team.

I have some guidance material to help you with these steps. If you’d like a copy, please get in touch via tanya@tanyaheaneyvoogt.com.

There are quick ways to move in the right direction. The most important thing is to take steps now to proactively protect your employees from psychological harm.

If you’d like any support or further information, please reach out for a chat.

Tanya Heaney-Voogt

Director & Principal Consultant
MBA, ICFACC, MAHRI, Dip Mgt, Dip Coaching, Prosci® Certified Change Practitioner
E: tanya@tanyaheaneyvoogt.com

Recent Blogs

The Risks of Fundamental Attribution Error in the Workplace

When we witness poor behaviours at work, we can make assumptions that it is the individual’s personality or disposition that caused the behaviour rather than take into consideration the situational factors. The situational factors include: The environment around us...

The Hidden Costs of Workplace Incivility

Ten years ago, incivility expert, Christine Porath, wrote in the Harvard Business Review that “rudeness at work is rampant and it’s on the rise.” In her research which included polling thousands of workers about how they’re treated on the job, Porath stated 98% of...

Challenging Safely

Challenging Safely requires a positive intent and care in the delivery.   Challenger safety, the final and most complex stage in the 4 Stages of Psychological Safety Framework by Timothy R. Clark,  always assumes a positive intent and care in the delivery. When...

Common Causes of Workplace Conflict

Many of these causes of conflict are interrelated.  At the end of the descriptors, there’s a coaching tool to use on yourself, with your team or implement across the workplace to address relationship breakdowns, tension or conflict.Change Change can be a catalyst for...

Inclusion – Getting to the Heart of Safe and Effective Teams

According to the Diversity Council of Australia (DCA), ‘Inclusion occurs when a diversity of people feel valued and respected, have access to opportunities and resources, and can contribute their perspectives and talents to improve their organisation.’ There’s a...

Commit No Nuisance

Do you have a list of organisational values that sit buried deep in the basement somewhere?  Or values that are talked about a lot but quite clearly not lived and no one is held accountable for the behaviours that sit under each of those (even if they are clearly...

The dual benefits of scanning for R.O.T. in your team

R.O.T.  is an acronym of tech origin that stands for redundant, obsolete, or trivial.   Timothy R Clark, social scientist, researcher, and author tells us it's important to look for R.O.T. as 'everything we do eventually becomes obsolete'.   Clark talks about this...

It didn’t take long for Julie to realise something was truly amiss

Julie's Story - A Case Study Julie was a senior manager attending her first management team meeting in her new workplace. Twenty other managers were in the room, plus the executive members and the chief executive officer (CEO). What surprised Julie the most was the...

The most expensive words in business…

Want to know what the eight most expensive words in business are?   They might surprise you. I suspect you've heard them often, perhaps you've even uttered them yourself. They are:   "But we have always done it this way."It's a phrase guaranteed to get my...

From 0 – Me in 60 Seconds

What's your default change response? Do you move from 0 - Me in 60 seconds? You're not alone. As part of our threat detection response during any perceived threat our amygdala kicks in and spirals us into a reactive state, rather than a constructive state. Put simply,...