Is your workplace psychologically safe?

Since the inception of defining “health” in the WHS legislations across Australia to include psychological health, workplaces are required to identify and proactively manage staff centric psychosocial hazards and risks.

Changes in Australian jurisdictions

SafeWork/WorkSafe regulatory bodies across Australia have implemented their Mentally Healthy Workplace strategies for a number of years now.

In NSW, since 2018, SafeWork NSW has concentrated its priority on raising awareness of and promoting Mental Health at Work by providing NSW employers and businesses:

• education, awareness, and training to build capabilities; and
• resources and toolkits such as the Workplace Wellbeing Assessment Tool for businesses to gauge the mental health status of their workplaces.

In Victoria, 2021 saw the launch of the Mentally Healthy Workplaces Framework that provided strategies, action plans and tools employers can use to promote, protect and respond to mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Similarly, Western Australia launched the Psychologically Safe and Inclusive Workplaces campaign, which provides practical tools and activities for employers to use in building inclusive and psychologically safe workplaces.

WorkSafe ACT’s Strategy for Managing Work-Related Psychosocial Hazards 2021-2023 captures the regulator’s approach to achieving compliance in the area of work-related psychosocial hazards.

Queensland, Northern Territory, and Tasmania have adopted Safe Work Australia’s guidance material on work-related psychosocial health and safety, outlined in Work-related Psychological Health and Safety: A Systemic Approach to Meeting your Duties.

What should employers do?

Employers can no longer feign not knowing how to meet their duty of care when it comes to psychosocial risk management.

Employers must:

• Undertake a psychological risk management review.
• Develop risk prevention plans and mental health/psychological risk strategies; and
• Build capabilities of their leaders and managers to create and maintain a psychologically safe and inclusive workplace where workers feel empowered and are confident to share ideas, make positive contributions and be able to fail well (be able to make mistakes without fear of retribution or humiliation, and learn from those mistakes for a better outcome).

Aon’s Recommendation

To meet the legislative duty of care in providing a psychologically healthy and safe workplace, employers need to take a two-pronged approach to exercise their due diligence.

1. Be reactive; and
2. Be proactive.

Firstly, adopt a risk-based approach to safeguard against psychosocial hazards and risks; and secondly, a proactive prevention focussed approach to mitigate harm and support recovery at work.

Risk based approach
Like all risk-based approaches, employers need to:

• identify both organisation and worker centric psychosocial hazards;
• assess how to mitigate against harm
• implement strategies; and
• review the effectiveness of their plans and actions.

Prevention focussed approach
To prevent harm, employers need to:

• Develop robust WHS policy and procedures, including a strategic goals to target psychological health and safety issues in the workplace;
• Build leadership capabilities and resources to effectively apply early intervention to prevent harm;
• Upskill internal stakeholders on their duty of care and roles and responsibilities to build a psychologically safe workplace; and
• Take effective action in recovery at work strategies and plans to mitigate further harm.

In all aspects of meeting compliance and a sustained approach to providing a mentally healthy workplace, one of the key legislative foci will be consultation and communication with workers to prevent psychological harm.

References & Resources 

NSW Mental Health at Work
nsw.gov.au/mental-health-at-work#:~:text=Creating%20a%20mentally%20healthy%20workplace,completing%20the%20Workplace%20Wellbeing%20Assessment.

VIC Mentally Healthy Workplaces Framework
vic.gov.au/victorian-mentally-healthy-workplaces-framework

WA Psychologically Safe and Inclusive Workplaces
wa.gov.au/government/multi-step-guides/psychologically-safe-and-inclusive-workplaces

ACT Strategy for Managing Work-Related Psychosocial Hazards 2021 – 2023
worksafe.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1870240/Strategy-for-Managing-Work-Related-Psychosocial-Hazards-FINAL-30SEPT.pdf

Work-related Psychological Health and Safety: A Systemic Approach to Meeting your Duties
safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/work-related-psychological-health-and-safety-systematic-approach-meeting-your-duties-archived