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).

![](image.027.png) 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.