Identifying and Managing Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace

Did you know that Safe Work Australia now reports a 97.3% increase in workers’ compensation claims relating to mental health conditions in 2024, as compared to 10 years ago? During the year 2021-22, the median compensation paid for mental health conditions was more than 3 times greater than that of all physical injuries and illnesses (safeworkaustralia.gov.au).

Legal Obligations  

With the recent changes in workplace safety legislation, many of our partners want to get on top of their legal obligations to identify and proactively manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace. Organisations, including those providing aged care, are required to comply with the Code of Practice for Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace, under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA). The ISO 45003, the internationally agreed standard on management of psychosocial risks in the workplace, also highlights the importance of psychological health and safety at work.

Under the law, employers have a legal duty to provide and maintain a working environment that is safe, and without risks to health, so far as reasonably practicable.

As part of this duty, organisations must identify psychosocial hazards that pose risks to workers’ health and safety, and they must implement control measures to eliminate those risks, or if that is not possible, to minimise those risks as much as possible.

Psychosocial Hazards

A psychosocial hazard, as defined by Safe Work Australia, is anything that could cause psychological harm, i.e. harm to someone’s mental health. In the health and social care sector, some of those hazards may include team members being regularly exposed to death, dying and traumatic events. Staff may be working alone, or remotely, or in challenging physical conditions, with limited capacity to regulate the demands for support from the people they support.

Proactive management of psychosocial hazards begins with leaders understanding their role in active identification and response to those hazards. Accessing informative, practical and supportive education in this area enables leaders to act with confidence in enduring psychologically safe working environments for all staff.