1 Introduction
Psychosocial hazards can cause psychological and physical harm. On average, work-related psychological injuries have longer recovery times, higher costs, and require more time away from work. Managing the risks associated with psychosocial hazards not only protects workers, it also decreases the disruption associated with staff turnover and absenteeism, and may improve broader organisational performance and productivity.
1.1 Psychosocial hazards at work
The WHS Act defines ‘health’ as both physical and psychological health. This means that where the WHS Act imposes a duty in relation to ‘health’, PCBUs must manage risks to both physical and psychological health, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Psychosocial hazards are hazards that:
a) arise from or relate to:
the design or management of work
the working environment
plant[\[1\]](#_ftn1) at a workplace, or
workplace interactions or behaviours; and
b) may cause psychological and physical harm (whether or not it may also cause physical harm)[2].
Psychosocial hazards and the appropriate control measures may vary between workplaces and between groups of workers, depending on the work environment, organisational context and the nature of work.
Workers are likely to be exposed to a combination of psychosocial hazards, some hazards may always be present, while others only occasionally. Common psychological hazards that arise from, or are related to, work may include:
| Psychosocial hazards that arise at work | Job demandsJob insecurityLow job controlFatiguePoor supportLack of role clarityPoor organisational change managementInadequate award recognitionPoor organisational justiceTraumatic events or material | Remote or isolated workIntrusive surveillancePoor physical environmentViolence and aggressionBullyingHarassment including sexual harassmentConflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions |
|---|
A ppendix A Job characteristics, design and management and A ppendix B Harmful behaviours provide further guidance and examples for each hazard.
Workers from diverse backgrounds may be exposed to different psychosocial hazards. For example, women, young workers, those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, LGBTQI workers and workers with disability are more likely to experience workplace sexual harassment and should be provided with the opportunity to participate in these consultations (which may take different forms), along with all workers who are likely to be directly affected.
Psychological harm or injuries from psychosocial hazards include conditions such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sleep disorders.
Physical injuries from psychosocial hazards include musculoskeletal injury, chronic disease, and physical injury following fatigue related workplace incidents.
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1.2 Work health and safety duties
Person conducting a business or undertaking
A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, workers and other persons are not exposed to risks to their psychological or physical health and safety. A PCBU must eliminate psychosocial risks in the workplace, or if that is not reasonably practicable, minimise these risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
A PCBU must manage psychosocial risks in accordance with Part 3.1 of the WHS Regulations.
Under the WHS Regulations, to manage psychosocial risks, a duty holder must:
\- identify reasonably foreseeable hazards that could give rise to psychosocial risks
\- eliminate risks, so far as is reasonably practicable
\- if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risks – minimise the risks so far as is reasonably practicable
\- maintain implemented control measures so they remain effective, and
\- review, and if necessary, revise, control measures so as to maintain, so far as is reasonably practicable, a work environment that is without risks to health and safety.
In determining control measures to be implemented, a PCBU must have regard to all relevant matters, including:
\- the duration, frequency and severity of the exposure of workers and other persons to the psychosocial hazards
\- how the psychosocial hazards may interact or combine
\- the design of work, including job demands and tasks
\- the systems of work, including how work is managed, organised and supported
\- the design and layout, and environmental conditions, of the workplace, including the provision of:
o safe means of entering and exiting the workplace
o facilities for the welfare of workers
\- the design and layout and environmental conditions of workers’ accommodation
\- the plant, substances and structures at the workplace
\- workplace interactions or behaviours, and
\- the information, training, instruction and supervision provided to workers.
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PCBU duties – what is reasonably practicable?
The standard of ‘reasonably practicable’ in health and safety duties applies to a PCBU. Other duty holders are required to meet different standards, for example officers must exercise ‘due diligence’ and workers and others at a workplace must take ‘reasonable care’.
‘Reasonably practicable’, in relation to a duty to ensure health and safety, means that which is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done to ensure health and safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters including:
\- the likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring; and
\- the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or the risk; and
\- the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk; and
\- what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the hazard or risk, and about the ways of eliminating or minimising the risk; and
\- after assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk.
The greater the risks, the more that is required to be done to eliminate or minimise it. This may mean using more than one, or a combination of control measures.
Where psychosocial hazards are only present for short periods, infrequently and are not severe, it may not be reasonable to implement expensive and time-consuming control measures. It may, however, be reasonable to apply less expensive controls.
Multiple control measures may be required. The aim must be to keep trying to lower the likelihood and degree of harm until further steps are not reasonably practicable in the circumstances.
Psychosocial hazards can interact or combine with other psychosocial hazards to increase the risks. This means controlling the risks associated with one hazard can also minimise the risks from other psychosocial hazards.
When considering each control or combination of controls, a duty holder must take into account the likelihood of a particular control being effective.
Cost of control measures
Cost is a matter to be taken into account and weighed up with other relevant matters to identify what is reasonably practicable, but this must only be done after assessing the extent of the risk and the ways of eliminating or minimising it.
Where the cost of implementing control measures is grossly disproportionate to the risks, it may be that implementing them is not reasonably practicable and therefore not required. This does not mean that you are excused from doing anything to minimise the risks. A less expensive way of minimising the risks must instead be used. If two control measures provide the same level of protection and are equally reliable, you can implement the less expensive option.
The question of what is reasonably practicable is determined objectively, not by reference to your particular business or undertaking’s capacity to pay, or other individual circumstances. You cannot provide workers with a lower level of protection simply because you are in a lesser financial position than another PCBU facing the same hazards or risks in similar circumstances.
Your goal to produce a product or provide a service at a particular price cannot override your duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of your workers and others.
For further information see the Safe Work Australia Interpretive Guideline: The meaning of ‘reasonably practicable’.
Designers, manufacturers, importers, installers and suppliers of plant, substances, and structures
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Designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of plant, structures or substances can influence the safety of these products before they are used in the workplace.
These duty holders must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, these products are without risks to the health (including psychological health) and safety of workers or others who are at or near the workplace.
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Officers
Officers, such as departmental secretaries or company directors, have a duty to exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its duties under the WHS Act and WHS Regulations. For psychosocial risks this means the officer must take reasonable steps to:
\- acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of psychosocial work health and safety matters
\- gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the business or undertaking of the PCBU and generally of the psychosocial hazards and risks associated with those operations
\- ensure the PCBU has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks from work carried out by the business or undertaking
\- ensure the PCBU has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, psychosocial hazards and risks to health and safety and responding in a timely way to that information
\- ensure the PCBU has, and implements, processes for complying with any duty or obligation they have under the WHS Act and WHS Regulations, and
\- verify the provision and use of the resources and processes mentioned above and that they are performing effectively.
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For information on officers and their duties see the Safe Work Australia Interpretive Guideline: The health and safety duty of an officer.
Workers
Workers must take reasonable care for their own psychological and physical health and safety and to not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons. Workers must comply with reasonable health and safety instructions, as far as they are reasonably able, and co-operate with reasonable health and safety policies or procedures that have been notified to workers.
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A person is a worker if the person carries out work in any capacity for a PCBU including work as an employee, a contractor or sub-contractor or their employees, a labour hire worker, an outworker, an apprentice or trainee, a work experience student, or a volunteer.
Other persons in the workplace
Other persons at the workplace, like visitors, must take reasonable care for their own psychological and physical health and safety and must take reasonable care not to adversely affect other people’s health and safety. They must comply, so far as they are reasonably able, with reasonable instructions given by the PCBU to allow them to comply with the WHS Act and WHS Regulations.
For example, a customer in a customer service centre must not behave violently, nor abuse or harass staff. Other persons may be persons such as visitors, delivery people, customers, clients, patients and their families.
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Other relevant duties
Other relevant duties under WHS laws are set out throughout this Code of Practice. See
C’ onsulting workers’, ‘C onsulting, cooperating and coordinating activities with other duty
h olders’, I’ nformation, training, instruction and supervision’, and ‘Remote or isolated work’.
WHS laws do not operate in isolation and other laws may also apply. For example, industrial relations, criminal, anti-discrimination, privacy and workers’ compensation laws.
1.3 Consultation
Consulting workers
A PCBU must consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with workers who carry out work for the business or undertaking and who are (or are likely to be) directly affected by a WHS matter.
If you and your workers have agreed procedures for consultation, it must be conducted in accordance with those procedures.
Effective consultation with workers improves decision-making about health and safety matters and assists in reducing work-related injuries and illness. Workers can identify tasks or aspects of their work that cause or expose them to psychosocial hazards and may have practical suggestions or potential solutions to address those hazards. For example, workers may have ideas to improve work design to minimise the risks of psychological harm.
The definition of ‘worker’ under the WHS Act is broad. In addition to employees, it includes anyone working for the business or undertaking, including contractors and their employees, labour-hire workers, outworkers, apprentices, trainees, work experience students and volunteers.
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You must consult with workers when assessing risks or making decisions about the psychosocial risks to health and safety including what control measures are implemented.
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Workers from diverse backgrounds may be exposed to different psychosocial hazards. You must consult with all workers, in particular workers with vulnerabilities, who are likely to be directly affected by particular psychosocial hazards. For example, women, young workers, those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, LGBTQI workers and workers with disability are more likely to experience workplace sexual harassment and should be provided with the opportunity to participate in these consultations (which may take different forms), along with all workers who are likely to be directly affected.
All consultation must include any Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) representing your workers. A HSR is a worker who has been elected by a work group under the WHS Act to represent them on health and safety issues. References to consultation with workers in this Code includes consultation with any HSRs.
You must provide workers with a reasonable opportunity to raise psychosocial health and safety issues, express their views and contribute to decision-making. You must consider whether existing consultation arrangements are appropriate for psychosocial risks. You must consult with workers and their representatives on implementing new consultation arrangements if required.
When consulting with your workers you must:
\- share relevant information
\- give workers a reasonable opportunity to express their views, raise health and safety issues and contribute to the decision-making process
\- take those views into account before making decisions on health and safety matters, and
\- advise workers of the outcome of consultations in a timely manner.
Management commitment and open communication between managers and workers is important in achieving effective consultation. Your workers are more likely to engage in consultation when their knowledge and ideas are actively sought and concerns about psychosocial health and safety are taken seriously. You should encourage workers to:
\- share their knowledge and experience, and
\- report psychosocial hazards so risks can be managed before an injury occurs.
Effective methods of consultation can vary according to the needs of your workers, workplace size, worker distribution across sites and shifts, the nature of the work and the type of hazards in a workplace.
You and your workers should agree the form consultation will take. If your workplace has an agreed procedure for consultation which was decided in consultation with workers, this procedure must be followed.
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Each consultation method has benefits and limitations. For example, some forms of consultation are better for workers who do not have regular access to computers, while others allow workers to raise sensitive issues anonymously, or to provide detail and context.
CALD and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers may need, or benefit from, different forms of consultation. For example, providing materials and conducting consultation in workers’ preferred language(s) and using culturally appropriate people and messages.
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You may need to use multiple methods of consultation for psychosocial hazards. The form and methods of consultation must be decided in consultation with workers.
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As a PCBU you must consult with workers when:
\- identifying hazards and assessing risks to health and safety arising from the work carried out or to be carried out
\- making decisions about ways to eliminate or minimise those risks
\- making decisions about the adequacy of facilities for the welfare of workers
\- proposing changes that may affect the health or safety of your workers, and
\- making decisions about procedures for consulting with workers; resolving health or safety issues at the workplace; monitoring health of your workers; monitoring the conditions at the workplace under your management or control and providing information and training for your workers.
However, it may be useful to also consult workers about matters not listed above.
Regular consultation is better than consulting only as issues arise on a case-by-case basis, or as a reaction to a particular event, because it allows you to identify and fix potential problems early. Further guidance is available in the Code of Practice: Work health and safety consultation, cooperation and coordination.
Consulting, cooperating and coordinating activities with other duty holders
More than one person can have the same WHS duty at the same time. The WHS Act requires that where more than one person has a duty for the same matter, each person retains responsibility to meet their duty in relation to the matter and must do so to the extent to which they can influence and control the matter.
Duty holders cannot transfer their duty to another person or contract out their health and safety duties. Duty holders can make arrangements or agreements with other duty holders to assist with meeting their duties.
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Duty holders must consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with all other persons who have a WHS duty in relation to the same matter, so far as is reasonably practicable. Where you share a duty (e.g. you share a workplace or are involved in the same activity), each duty holder should:
\- exchange information
\- find out who is doing what about their respective WHS obligations, and
\- work together in a cooperative and coordinated way so risks are eliminated or minimised.
Consulting, cooperating and coordinating with other duty holders can help you more easily and effectively control risks, and assist each of you to comply with your duty.
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2 Overview of the process to manage psychosocial risks
To meet your duties to ensure health and safety, you must eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks so far as is reasonably practicable. To achieve this, just as for any other hazard, you can apply the risk management process described in the Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks.
A circular diagram of the continual risk management process. The circle is divided into four parts to highlight the four steps - 'Identify hazards', 'Assess risks', 'Control risks', and 'Review control measures'. Consultation appears in each step.
The risk management process involves four steps:
Identify hazards \- find out what could cause harm (Chapter 3).
Assess risks, if necessary - understand the nature of the harm the hazard could cause, how serious the harm could be and the likelihood of it happening. This step may not be necessary if the risks and controls are known (Chapter 4).
Control risks \- implement the most effective control measures that are reasonably practicable in the circumstances and ensure they remain effective over time. This means:
\- you must eliminate risks, if reasonably practicable to do so
\- if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risks, implement the most effective control measures to minimise the risks so far as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, and
\- ensure those control measures remain effective over time (Chapter 5).
 Review control measures to ensure they are working as planned and make changes as required (Chapter 6).
All of these steps must be supported by consultation (see Section 1.3 of this Code).
Risk management requires planning and is an ongoing process. However, considering risks early prevents costly changes later and allows for more effective control measures to be used, resulting in less harm to workers. For example, you should consider psychosocial hazards at the design phase when planning an organisational restructure.
The risk management process may be implemented in different ways depending on the size and nature of your business or undertaking. Larger businesses and those in sectors where workers are exposed to more or higher risks are likely to need more complex, sophisticated risk management and consultation processes.
Before you start the process:
\- explain the process
\- get commitment and engagement from senior leaders and managers
\- identify who needs to be involved, for example managers, workers, HSRs and subject matter experts, and
\- decide how the process and its outcomes will be recorded and communicated.
Leadership and management commitment
Genuine commitment by the PCBU, officers, and other organisational leaders is essential. These leaders, through their governance arrangements and resourcing decisions, actively shape the organisation and the way work is undertaken. These decisions will, directly and indirectly, impact how effectively you can control psychosocial risks.
This commitment can be built by ensuring leaders understand their duties under WHS laws, the risk management process these require, the business case for effectively managing psychosocial hazards, and the roles of various organisational leaders (e.g. human resources and WHS managers).
Consulting workers through the risk management process
At each step of the risk management process you must consult workers who are, or are likely to be, directly affected by a WHS matter and any HSR(s). For example, on proposed changes affecting work health and safety such as:
\- new policies, procedures and systems of work
\- organisational restructures, changes to staffing levels, new reporting arrangements and work locations
\- changes to tasks, workload, duties and working arrangements, including rosters
\- new technology, plant, equipment, substances, structures and production processes
\- the redesign of existing workplaces, or
\- changes to the way information, training, instruction and supervision is provided.
Consultation on changes that may affect work health and safety should occur as early as possible.
See Section 1.3 for more information on consultation.
Further guidance on the risk management process is available in the Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks.
The first step in the risk management process is to identify psychosocial hazards. This involves identifying the aspects of work and situations that could potentially harm your workers or others at your workplace and why these may be occurring. This step should also assist PCBUs to identify where and when workers are exposed to psychosocial hazards, and if controls are not adequately eliminating or minimising risks from known hazards.
3.1 Common psychosocial hazards
Below is a list of some common examples of psychosocial hazards you should consider when identifying psychosocial hazards in your organisation. The list and the examples in the descriptions are not exhaustive. Workers are likely to be exposed to a combination of psychosocial hazards; some risks may be constantly present, while others arise sporadically.
Some hazards by themselves may cause serious harm, such as experiencing workplace violence. In most circumstances, it will be a combination of psychosocial hazards which together may cause harm. Harm can be caused by a single instance or over time with repeated or prolonged exposure.
Hazards can be grouped or described in different ways. How they are categorised is less important than ensuring you and your workers have the same understanding of what is happening and how it may be causing harm.
| Hazard | Descriptions |
|---|
| Job demands | Intense or sustained high mental, physical or emotional effort required to do the job.Unreasonable or excessive time pressures or role overload.High individual reputational, legal, career, safety or financial risk if mistakes occur.High vigilance required, limited margin of error and inadequate systems to prevent individual error.Shifts/work hours that do not allow adequate time for sleep and recovery, causing fatigue.Performing emotional labour or providing emotional support causing fatigue.Sustained low levels of physical, mental or emotional effort is required to do the job.Long idle periods while high workloads are present, for example where workers need to wait for equipment or other workers.Examples: time pressure, role overload, unachievable deadlines, high vigilance, challenging work hours or shift work, unrealistic expectations to be responsive outside work hours. |
| Fatigue | A state of physical or mental exhaustion, or both, which reduces a person’s ability to perform work safely and effectively.Examples: jobs where there are high cognitive demands (such as sustained concentration or extended work hours); lack of recovery periods between shifts; roster cycle or shift length (e.g. long shifts and not enough time to recover between shifts); environmental stressors at work (e.g. light, noise, climate, vibration); and design, quality, and management practices for accommodation facilities that compromise the amount and quality of sleep and rest. |
| Low job control | Workers have little control over aspects of the work including how or when the job is done.Workers have limited ability to adapt the way they work to changing or new situations.Workers have limited ability to adopt efficiencies in their work. Tightly scripted or machine/computer paced work.Prescriptive processes which do not allow workers to apply their skills and judgement.Levels of autonomy not matched to workers’ abilities.Examples: requiring permission before progressing routine tasks; excessive monitoring of work tasks and/or breaks; unpredictable working hours; little or no involvement or input into decisions that affect workers, insecure or precarious work, or work that involves uncertainty over the length of the job such as casual, labour hire or rolling fixed-term contract work. |
| Job Insecurity | Employment where workers lack the assurance that their jobs will remain stable from day to day, week to week, or year to year.Workers are engaged in insecure, precarious, and contingent work arrangements such as fixed-term contracts, seasonal, casual, freelance and gig work.Examples: jobs where there is little or no job security, little or no entitlements or benefits (e.g. sick leave, pay rates), low levels of control or need to work multiple jobs. |
| Poor support | Tasks or jobs where workers have inadequate support including practical assistance and emotional support from managers and colleagues, or inadequate training, tools and resources for a task.Examples: poorly maintained or inadequate access to equipment/tools or supervisory support, lack of functional or adequate IT systems, limited opportunities to engage with co-workers during the work shift, no constructive feedback, inadequate response to issues raised |
| Lack of role clarity | Uncertainty, frequent changes, conflicting roles or ambiguous responsibilities and expectations.Examples: nil or poor job description, a worker being told one task is a priority, but another manager disagrees, a worker being given multiple priority tasks from different managers, a worker being given conflicting information about work standards and performance expectations. |
| Poor organisational change management | Insufficient consultation, consideration of new hazards or performance impacts when planning for, and implementing, change.Insufficient support, information or training during change.Not communicating key information to workers during periods of change.Examples: not consulting workers on changes in the workplace that affect them (e.g., not communicating with workers about the change or genuinely considering their views), lack of practical support for workers during implementation of workplace changes. |
| Inadequate reward and recognition | Jobs with low positive feedback or imbalances between effort and recognition.High level of unconstructive negative feedback from managers or customers.Low skills development opportunity or underused skills.Examples: not being recognised for extra effort or commitment, no reasonable opportunities for career development. |
| Poor organisational justice | Inconsistent, unfair, discriminatory or inequitable management decisions and application of policies, including poor procedural justice.Example: inconsistent, unfair, discriminatory or inequitable decisions and application of policies or procedures. |
| Traumatic events or material | Experiencing fear or extreme risks to the health or safety of themselves or others.Exposure to natural disasters, or seriously injured or deceased persons.Reading, hearing or seeing accounts of traumatic events, abuse or neglect.Supporting victims or investigating traumatic events, abuse or neglect.Examples: witnessing or investigating fatalities, serious injuries, abuse, neglect or serious incidents (e.g. investigating child protection cases); being exposed to extreme effects of natural disasters or seriously injured people. |
| Remote or isolated work | Working in locations with long travel times, or where access to help, resources or communications is difficult or limited.Examples: night shift operators, workers who spend a lot of time travelling (e.g. driving), work with limited opportunities for socialisation or problem sharing, workers working alone from home or socially isolated away from home over protracted periods of time. |
| Intrusive surveillance | Excessive surveillance methods/tools to monitor and collect information about workers at work.Examples: unreasonable level of supervision, tracking of when and how much a worker is working, tracking calls made and movements made by the workers (using CCTV and trackable devices), the use of keyboard activity trackers, technology that allows the PCBU to remote access and take screenshots of a workers' computer, ’GPS monitoring of workers’ movement in company vehicles for the purpose of work performance monitoring, as opposed to other reasons such as safety considerations. |
| Poor physical environment | Exposure to unpleasant or hazardous working environments.Examples: work environments that involve poor air quality, high or nuisance noise levels, extreme temperatures, or uncontrolled biological hazards (e.g., blood or bodily fluids or infectious pathogens). |
| Violence and aggression | Violence, or threats of violence from other workers (including workers of other businesses), customers, patients or clients (including assault).Aggressive behaviour such as yelling or physical intimidation.Examples: biting, spitting, kicking, throwing objects, using or threatening to use a weapon, verbal abuse and threats, aggressive behaviour such as yelling, or physical intimidation. |
| Bullying | Repeated unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety.[3] This includes bullying by workers, clients, patients, visitors, or others.Examples: repeated incidents of practical jokes or initiation, spreading misinformation or malicious rumours, belittling or humiliating comments, being verbally denigrated or threatened. |
| Harassment including sexual harassment | Harassment due to personal characteristics such as age, disability, race, nationality, religion, political affiliation, sex, relationship status, family or carer responsibilities, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.Sexual harassment - any unwelcome sexual advance, unwelcome request for sexual favours or other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, in circumstances where a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would anticipate the possibility that the person harassed would be offended, humiliated or intimidated.[4]Harmful behaviour that does not amount to bullying (such as single instances) but creates a risk to health or safety.Workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment can happen by phone, email, camera or online (such as through social media platforms), or by misusing shared workplace technology (such as shared calendars).Examples: telling insulting jokes about particular racial groups; making derogatory comments or taunts about someone’s disability; asking intrusive questions about a person’s body; staring, leering or unwelcome touching; sexual or suggestive comments, jokes or innuendo; unnecessary familiarity, such as deliberately brushing up against a person. |
| Conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions | Poor workplace relationships or interpersonal conflict between colleagues or from other businesses, clients, or customers.Frequent disagreements, disparaging or rude comments, either from one person or multiple people, such as from clients or customers. A worker can be both the subject and the source of this behaviour.Discrimination or other unreasonable behaviours by co-workers, supervisors or clients.Inappropriately excluding a worker from work-related activities.Examples: Unresolved and excessive conflict regarding work tasks, processes, customers, interpersonal issues, treating some workers less favourably than others because of their background or personal characteristics. |
Appendix A and Appendix B provide further examples of these hazards
Factors that may put some workers at higher risk
Like for physical hazards, some workers may be at greater risk from psychosocial hazards due to their lived experience or their confidence or experience participating in health and safety or other organisational processes. This means there is a greater likelihood or severity of harm for these workers. For example, workers with:
\- limited experience in the workplace (e.g. young workers)
\- barriers to understanding safety information (e.g. literacy or language)
\- perceived barriers to raising safety issues (e.g. power imbalance or stigma)
\- previous exposure to a hazard
\- culturally and linguistically diverse workers, or
insecure or precarious forms of employment.
For example, inexperienced workers may not identify harmful behaviours or have the confidence to report them. You could address this by providing more detailed induction training and greater support and supervision until they gain experience and understand these hazards.
Consulting your workers will assist you to identify any groups who are at greater risk, and whether there are additional reasonably practicable controls you must implement to eliminate or minimise the risks for these workers.
Addressing risks to individual workers
It may also be reasonably practicable to accommodate the needs of an individual worker to prevent harm where the worker has disclosed those needs or the PCBU is aware. For example, a worker with an injury or disability may need a quiet work area or different equipment to do their work or a worker experiencing family or domestic violence may benefit from adjustments or modifications.
As well as making changes for individual workers you must still eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks for all workers so far as is reasonably practicable.
These changes may include, but are not limited to, changing workload and work hours, the nature of work, the work environment, or support and supervision.
3.2 How to identify psychosocial hazards
You must identify all reasonably foreseeable psychosocial hazards arising from the work carried out by your business or undertaking.
As well as identifying common hazards, ensure your process identifies hazards for less common but serious incidents, such as sexual or physical assault.
Examples of psychosocial hazards are included in Appendix A and Appendix B.
Psychosocial hazards can arise from organisation-wide systems, work practices, work environments and workplace behaviours, or they can be specific to a task or job.
Consult your workers
You must consult with your workers (see Section 1.3 of this Code) when identifying hazards to health and safety arising from the work they carry out or are going to carry out.
If your workers are represented by HSRs you must include them in this consultation. HSRs may have specific training in work health and safety which can assist you to manage risks. HSRs can also provide workers some anonymity which may encourage better engagement on psychosocial hazards.
Your workers may use different terms to describe exposure to psychosocial hazards. For example, they might say they feel:
\- stressed, burnt-out or emotionally exhausted about their workload
\- anxious or scared about talking to or dealing with an aggressive person
\- humiliated, degraded or undermined by sexual harassment or discrimination
\- angry about policies being applied unfairly
\- confused about what their role involves, torn between competing priorities or ‘feeling like a failure’ for not being able to meet unrealistic expectations, or
\- distressed, unable to sleep, or traumatised by exposure to traumatic situations or content.
Good consultation should allow for differences in how workers may describe hazards and seek to identify the underlying cause. You should provide your workers with information to help them understand and recognise psychosocial hazards.
Use surveys and tools
You can use surveys to gather information from workers, HSRs, supervisors and managers. Surveys are particularly useful when:
\- anonymity is important, this is because anonymous surveys or tools protect workers from stigma or other adverse outcomes when reporting hazards or concerns
\- workers are physically dispersed. For example, they work across multiples sites or shifts
\- you need to consult with a large number of workers
\- workers need time to consider your questions and their response, or
\- workers may struggle to understand or otherwise participate in other forms of consultation.
Surveys must not replace agreed consultation procedures unless agreed with your workers, however they can be used as an additional tool for consultation.
You can seek advice on the tools available, including evidence-based psychosocial risk assessment processes, from the WHS regulator, industry associations, unions, technical specialists and safety consultants.
Observe work and behaviours
Psychosocial hazards may be identified by observing:
\- the workplace (e.g. are workers isolated or exposed to poor conditions)
\- the work and how work is performed in practice (e.g. are workers rushed, is work delayed, do certain tasks result in confusion or frequent mistakes), and
\- how people interact with each other (e.g. are workers, customers and clients respectful, or are harmful behaviours present).
In some circumstances, poor workplace behaviours may be caused or contributed to by an inappropriate response to other psychosocial hazards, such as high job demands, lack of role clarity and inadequate support. Also consider whether the workplace culture supports or tolerates harmful behaviours, including lower level (but still harmful) behaviours like name-calling, teasing, sexual or gendered jokes, dark humour and crude language.
Review available information
Review relevant information and records which may include:
\- records of injuries, incidents or workers’ compensation
\- worker complaints and investigations
\- reports from workplace inspections (e.g. HSR or safety officer walk arounds)
\- staffing, resourcing, procurement and refurbishment decisions (e.g. will outsourcing some work increase work demands for another area, like contract managers)
\- work systems, policies, governance arrangements and procedures
\- duty statements and performance agreements
\- records of hours worked (e.g. regular extra hours indicating high work demand)
\- absenteeism and turnover data
\- exit interviews
\- Health and Safety Committee (HSC) meeting records, and
\- previous psychosocial risk assessments and any material feeding into them.
Not all psychosocial hazards will be associated with reported incidents, so it is important to gather additional information.
Information and advice about psychosocial hazards and risks relevant to particular industries and work activities are available from the WHS regulator, industry associations, unions, technical specialists, similar workplaces and safety consultants. Advice is particularly helpful in complex or high-risk situations. For example, where workers are exposed to violence or aggression from a person they owe a duty of care to, such as law enforcement officers.
Look for trends
You may be able to identify trends from the information you collect. Trends may show certain tasks have more hazards associated with them, or some hazards are more common in certain roles. Trends may show workers in a particular location are exposed to more hazards than in other areas, which may indicate a problem with the design of that work area or the way work is carried out there. This can inform your risk assessment.