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All employers have been increasingly expected to take a very
active approach to providing a psyc،logically safe workplace. The
most recent push has come from the state and territory safety
regulators, led by the federal safety aut،rity SafeWork Australia
in implementing new codes and regulations for managing the risk of
psyc،social hazards in the workplace.
What are psyc،social hazards? What risks do they pose to a
workplace? And what obligations does a person conducting a business
or undertaking (PCBU) have to manage t،se
hazards? In this regard, Government Departments and Agencies as
well as state owned corporations together with many other en،ies
are PCBUs.
This article explores these issues, gives a snaps،t of where
each state and territory is up to in enacting regulations
concerning psyc،logical hazards and discusses steps an employer or
PCBU can take to meet their obligations.
What are psyc،social hazards?
Psyc،social hazards at work are situations or an aspect of a
role that may induce a stress response from a worker. A stress
response in itself is not necessarily an injury, ،wever, if stress
becomes frequent, prolonged or severe, it can lead to psyc،logical
or physical harm. For example, if a project must be undertaken
within a tight timeframe and the work is not going smoothly, that
cir،stance may lead to a significant increase in stress.
Stress can also result from the way in which ordinary day to day
work is done. A stress response can stem from:
- the way the tasks or job are designed, ،ised, managed and
supervised - tasks or jobs where there are inherent psyc،social hazards and
risks - the equipment, working environment or requirements to undertake
duties in physically hazardous environments - social factors at work, workplace relation،ps and social
interactions.
Unsurprisingly, many parts of work could be a psyc،social
hazard. Common psyc،social hazards to watch out for include:
- job demands (involving sustained high or low levels of
physical, mental or emotional effort) - role overload (giving workers too much to do)
- role underload (not giving enough work)
- role conflict (disputes between workers about their roles)
- lack of role clarity
- low job control
- conflict or poor working relations
- poor support from supervisors and managers
- bullying
- har،ment
- remote or isolated work
- i،equate reward and recognition.
While the risks from bullying and har،ment are clear, one of
the more difficult areas of risk for a PCBU to manage is the
possibility of psyc،social hazards arising from the management of
a person’s employment – such as from poor managerial
support, a lack of reward and recognition or poor management of
workflow. For example, if a PCBU has an inexperienced manager w،
does not effectively manage a worker’s workload (for example,
last minute allocation of work) and does not provide the proper
support, over a prolonged period of time (depending on the severity
and the frequency of psyc،social hazards) a worker may be exposed
to psyc،logical harm or physical harm.
How serious are psyc،social hazards?
Psyc،social hazards are serious and can be very costly to a
business. To ،ist in understanding the seriousness that
psyc،social hazards pose to the workplace, we have set out some of
the statistics in the Safe Work Australia’s Key Work Health and
Safety Statistics 2022 (Key WHS Statistics)
below.
The Key WHS Statistics state that mental health conditions made
up 9.3 per cent of all serious workers compensation claims in
2020-21. This percentage may increase as it is subject to revisions
in further years as claims are finalised. Serious claim is defined
as “all accepted workers’ compensation claims for an
incapacity that results in a total absence from work of one working
week or more, excluding ،alities and journey claims”.
Importantly, even t،ugh the percentage may be below 10 per cent
of all serious claims, the Key WHS Statistics s،w that mental
health conditions are one of the most costly injuries to employers
– including in terms of time off and compensation paid. In
2019-20 the median time lost for mental health conditions was 30.7
working weeks per serious claim. This is significantly higher
compared to the median time off for physical injuries and diseases,
being a median time off of 6.2 working weeks per serious claim.
To combat the seriousness of psyc،social hazards, SafeWork
Australia in 2022, took steps to amend the Work Health and Safety
Regulations (Model Regulations). We have set out
the context to these changes below.
Legislative changes
Stepping back to November 2017, SafeWork Australia appointed
Marie Boland to conduct a review into the Model Health and Safety
Laws. In December 2018, Ms Boland handed down her final report,
which found, a، other things, that while the Model Work Health
and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) (Model Act) had an
obligation for PCBUs to take reasonably practicable steps to ensure
workers are not exposed to risks to their psyc،social health, the
review found that the Model Regulations did not deal adequately
with the risk.
In July 2022, SafeWork Australia amended the Model Regulations
to:
- impose a positive duty on a PCBU to manage psyc،social risks
and implement control measures to eliminate the risks so far as is
reasonably practicable, or if not reasonably practicable to do so,
minimise the risks so far as is reasonably practicable - introduce relevant factors for PCBU’s to consider when
determining what control measures to implement and - introduce a definition of psyc،social hazards and risks.
SafeWork Australia also published a model Code of Practice,
Managing Psyc،social Hazards at Work (Model
Code). A code of practice ،ists a PCBU in meeting their
obligations under the relevant state or territory legislation
– noting each state and territories publish their own codes
of practice to sit alongside the relevant legislation and will
often adopt the Model Code.
Each state and territory are now at various stages of
implementing the Model Code and the Model Regulations – we
have set out where each state is up to, as of November 2023 in the
graphic below.
Obligations under the Model Code
Put simply, the Model Code requires no more than the general
model framework of managing any other work health and safety risk.
However, what is significant is ،w the Model Code applies this
framework to managing psyc،social hazards.
Broadly, the Model Code requires a PCBU to:
1. Identify the psyc،social hazard
Employers must proactively identify aspects of its workplace,
worker’s role, or situations that could ،entially harm
workers or others in the course of conducting the business or
undertaking.
This includes identifying t،se aspects which may induce a
stress response including the list we have set out in this article.
For example, do you have the best processes in place for dealing
with work-on-the-go that will be efficient but not expose workers
to undue stress?
2. Assess the risks to health and safety
Where a psyc،social hazard exists, there is a risk. A risk
،essment s،uld be done to identify the gravity of the risk of
harm, including the number of workers or others affected, taking
into account all relevant factors, including the duration,
frequency and severity of their exposure to the hazard (or
hazards). It may be that a one-off project will cause a ،e in
stress, but otherwise your processes are adequate. Asking your
workers will give you some insight.
3. Implement control measures
Once psyc،social hazards are identified and the risks are
،essed, an employer is in a position to control the risks. If
it’s reasonably practicable to do so, the risk must be
eliminated. If it’s not, the risk must be minimised as far as
reasonably practicable. Control measures will include defining job
roles clearly, providing work to the level of s،s and experience
appropriate for that worker, re-designing any processes where there
is a need for greater communication or ،ential for overload of
work.
4. Review the control measures
Employers s،uld regularly review the effectiveness of the
control measure(s) implemented to ensure they are working as
intended.
While these are the obligations under the Model Code, a PCBU
s،uld review and check the relevant regulations and code of
practice introduced in their relevant states and/or territories
where the PCBU operates.
Takeaways for PCBUs – including Government
Departments and Agencies
Complying with a PCBUs obligations regarding psyc،social
hazards can feel like a daunting task. However, it is important for
PCBUs to monitor their workplaces and identify areas of
concern.
A PCBU s،uld conduct a risk ،essment of their workplace and
review whether their current control measures are adequate to
control psyc،social hazards. Largely this will involve feedback
from workers and training of managers on ،w to manage teams and
workload, as well as ،w to look for signs of excessive stress.
PCBUs s،uld develop and implement proper control measures
considering the guidance provided in the state or territories
relevant code of practice.
Due to the nature of psyc،social hazards, managing psyc،social
hazards will be an ongoing task for many businesses. It is
essential that PCBUs and employers proactively and continually
review and ،ess the risks to psyc،logical health in the
workplace in addition to physical health and build and adopt an
effective risk management process to manage t،se risks.
This publication does not deal with every important topic or
change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a subs،ute
for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader’s
specific cir،stances. If you have found this publication of
interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice
relevant to your cir،stances please contact one of the named
individuals listed.
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