Safe Work Australia recently revised work health and safety responsibilities to keep workers psychosocially safe as well as physically safe at work. As we have mentioned many times, under WHS laws, employers have an obligation to “eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks so far as is reasonably practicable.”
According to the Safe Work Australia website, a psychosocial hazard is anything that could harm someone’s mental health. They provide a long list of common workplace psychosocial hazards with an explanation of:
- What each hazard means
- What each type of workplace psychosocial hazard looks like
- How to identify the psychosocial hazards for a business, and
- How to control each hazard
You will find a link to the page here but in summary workplace psychosocial hazards include:
- Job demands
- Low job control
- Poor support
- Lack of role clarity
- Poor organisational change management
- Inadequate reward and recognition
- Poor organisational justice
- Traumatic events or material
- Remote or isolated work
- Poor physical environment
- Violence and aggression
- Bullying
- Harassment (including sexual harassment)
- Conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions
In productivity terms, what do psychosocial injuries do to an organisation?
No-one wants to see an employee or team mate suffer a workplace injury and that’s why any injuries, including a psychosocial injury, can be harmful for an organisation as a whole. This will be displayed by:
- Increases in unplanned absences
- Higher staff turnover
- Decreased staff engagement
- Reduced output
- A rise in missed KPIs
- More errors or waste than previously experienced
Creating a safe psychosocial workplace
The key for any organisation is to recognise that keeping your staff psychologically safe is just as important as keeping them physically safe. That means educating your team leaders and managers on the signs and symptoms of potential psychosocial hazards.
It also requires a system of identifying and reporting these mental health hazards. You might even wish to add discussions around workplace psychosocial safety to the agendas of all regular meetings.
Unlike physical workplace hazards, psychosocial hazards can be difficult to identify. But that’s where the team from End2end Business Solutions can help. We are skilled at assisting organisations:
- Identify their workplace hazards
- Evaluate their risks
- Implement procedures
- Regularly monitor and review
To learn how we can address the specific concerns and requirements for your organisation, get in touch today by calling 02 8977 4002.