Psychosocial Hazards
Psychosocial hazards at work
identify, assess and control them
Psychosocial hazards can harm the mental and physical health of your people. This guide explains what they are, what the law expects of employers, and how to manage the risks in a practical way.
What is a psychosocial hazard?
A psychosocial hazard is anything at work that can cause psychological harm. It can come from the design of the work, the way that work is managed, the work environment, or the way people behave towards each other.
Psychosocial hazards can cause physical harm too. Long exposure to stress can lead to physical injury and illness, as well as to mental health conditions. Often, one hazard makes another hazard worse. For example, high workload and poor support together are more harmful than each hazard alone.
Psychosocial risk is the chance that a hazard causes harm. The risk depends on how long, how often and how severely people are exposed to the hazard.
Psychosocial safety and psychological safety are related, but they are not the same. Psychosocial safety is about hazards and risk controls. Psychological safety is a team belief that people can speak up, raise a concern or admit a mistake without fear. A team with high psychological safety reports hazards earlier, so psychological safety helps you manage psychosocial risk.
Hazards come from how work is designed and managed
Harm can be psychological, physical or both
Hazards often combine and make each other worse
Psychological safety helps risks come to the surface early
Common psychosocial hazards in the workplace
Every workplace is different, but these hazards are common. Use this list as a starting point when you look at your own work.
High or low job demands
Too much work, time pressure or emotional load. Too little work, or work with no challenge, can also cause harm.
Low job control
Little say over how, when or where the work gets done.
Poor support
Not enough practical or emotional support from managers and peers, or not enough tools and training.
Lack of role clarity
Unclear responsibilities, or demands that pull in different directions.
Poor change management
Change that is not planned, consulted on or communicated well.
Low recognition and reward
Effort and contribution that are not acknowledged fairly.
Poor organisational justice
Decisions and processes that people see as unfair or inconsistent.
Conflict and poor relationships
Ongoing conflict between colleagues, or between workers and managers, that nobody resolves.
Bullying and harassment
Repeated unreasonable behaviour, and harassment, including sexual harassment.
Violence and aggression
Aggression or violence from clients, customers, the public or co-workers.
Traumatic events
Exposure to death, dying, serious injury or other traumatic events as part of the job.
Remote or isolated work
Work alone or far from help, where it is difficult to get support quickly.
What the law expects of employers
In Western Australia, the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) sets the main duty. A person conducting a business or undertaking must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers. Health includes psychological health.
This means that you must manage psychosocial risks in the same way as physical risks. You must identify the psychosocial hazards in your workplace. Then you must eliminate the risks. If you cannot eliminate a risk, you must minimise it so far as is reasonably practicable. You must also consult your workers, and review your controls to make sure that they work.
Western Australia has a code of practice for psychosocial risks at work, the Work Health and Safety (Psychosocial Risks) Code of Practice. A code of practice gives practical guidance on how to meet your duties. Officers, such as directors, also have a duty of due diligence. They must understand the risks and make sure that the organisation manages them.
ISO 45003 is the international guidance on psychological health and safety at work. It helps organisations manage psychosocial risk as part of an occupational health and safety management system. Many organisations use it together with the WHS laws and codes.
This page gives general information only. It is not legal advice. For advice about your specific duties, speak to WorkSafe WA or a legal adviser.
How to manage psychosocial risk
A psychosocial risk assessment follows the same steps as any other WHS risk process. The difference is that the hazards are often hidden, so you must ask the people who do the work.
Step 01
Identify
Talk to workers and use a confidential survey. Look at data such as complaints, incidents, absence and turnover.
Step 02
Assess
For each hazard, find out how long, how often and how severely people are exposed, and how hazards combine.
Step 03
Control
Change the source of the risk first, such as workload, role clarity or rosters. Training alone is usually not enough.
Step 04
Review
Measure again, check that the controls work, and keep a record of what you did and why.
Leaders make the biggest difference
Many psychosocial hazards come from the way work is led. A supervisor decides how work is shared, how change is explained, and how conflict is handled. The way a supervisor responds when someone raises a concern tells the whole team whether it is safe to speak up.
This is why psychosocial risk management is not only a task for the safety team. Leaders at every level need the skills to notice early signs of harm, to respond well, and to fix the source of the problem.
A leadership 360 can show how a leader affects psychological safety in their team. Safe Leads and Leader Excel are 360 tools that are mapped to ISO 45003. They help leaders see their impact and plan what to change.
Notice early signs of harm
Respond well when someone speaks up
Fix the source of the problem, not only the symptoms
Make psychological safety part of how the team works
How Veraison helps
Measure, control and support
We help organisations in Perth and across Australia find their psychosocial risks, put controls in place and build a culture where people speak up.
Workplace Psychosocial Safety Questionnaire (WPSQ)
A confidential, organisation-wide measure of exposure to psychosocial hazards, mapped to ISO 45003 and WHS psychosocial obligations.
Use it to: Identify and prioritise psychosocial risk
Safety Transformation
Move from safety compliance to a safety culture where people name hazards early and leaders respond well.
Use it to: Build a reporting and learning culture
Mental Health at Work
Strategies, policies, awareness training and early intervention for a mentally healthy workplace.
Use it to: Support wellbeing and early intervention
Conflict Resolution
A solution-focused approach that resolves team conflict and stops it from escalating again.
Use it to: Control conflict as a hazard
Mediation
Facilitated conversations with accredited mediators, to resolve disputes early and prevent psychosocial harm.
Use it to: Resolve disputes between individuals
Safe Leads
A leadership 360 for heavy industry, mapped to ISO 45003, with an aggregate report across teams and sites.
Use it to: Build safe-delivery leadership
Leader Excel
A leadership 360 on team performance, psychological safety and inclusion, mapped to ISO 45003.
Use it to: Build psychological safety in teams
Blog: Identifying and managing psychosocial hazards
Our article on the legal duty to identify psychosocial hazards and the role of leaders in managing them.
Use it to: Read more about the topic
Frequently asked questions
What are psychosocial hazards?
Psychosocial hazards are things at work that can cause psychological harm, and sometimes physical harm. They come from the design and management of work, the work environment, and the way people behave towards each other.
What are examples of psychosocial hazards in the workplace?
Common examples are high or low job demands, low job control, poor support, lack of role clarity, poor change management, low recognition, unfair treatment, conflict, bullying, harassment, violence and aggression, traumatic events, and remote or isolated work.
What must employers in WA do about psychosocial hazards?
Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA), employers must identify psychosocial hazards, eliminate the risks so far as is reasonably practicable, or minimise them if they cannot eliminate them. They must also consult workers and review their controls. The WA psychosocial code of practice gives practical guidance. This is general information, not legal advice.
What is ISO 45003?
ISO 45003 is the international guidance on psychological health and safety at work. It helps organisations manage psychosocial risk as part of an occupational health and safety management system.
What is a psychosocial risk assessment?
A psychosocial risk assessment finds the psychosocial hazards in a workplace, measures how long, how often and how severely people are exposed, and helps you decide which controls to put in place first. A confidential survey, such as the WPSQ, is one way to collect this evidence.
What is the difference between psychosocial safety and psychological safety?
Psychosocial safety is about hazards at work and the controls that manage them. Psychological safety is a team belief that people can speak up, raise a concern or admit a mistake without fear. Psychological safety helps an organisation find and manage psychosocial risk earlier.
How can Veraison help with psychosocial risk?
We measure exposure to psychosocial hazards with the WPSQ, develop leaders with 360 tools such as Safe Leads and Leader Excel, and help with safety culture, mental health at work, conflict resolution and mediation. Our practitioners are based in Perth and work across Australia.
Talk to us about psychosocial risk
Tell us where you are now and what worries you. We will explain how to measure your psychosocial risks and what we would do next.
Get in touch
Based in Wembley, Perth — partnering with organisations across Western Australia and beyond.
- Address
- Level 2, 151 Herdsman Parade, Wembley, WA 6014
- Telephone
- 08 9287 1041
- info@veraison.com.au