Managing psychosocial hazards at work - Stress as a mechanism of injury

People experience work-related stress when their job requirements exceed their ability to cope with them.

Psychosocial hazards contribute to work-related stress.

Let's explore 14 of the more common psychosocial hazards at work.

These include high or low job demands, low job control, poor support, low role clarity, poor organisational change management, poor workplace relationships, including interpersonal conflict, bullying, poor organisational justice, low reward and recognition, violence and aggression, traumatic events, harassment including sexual harassment, remote or isolated work, and poor environmental conditions.

Psychosocial hazards arise from, or relate to, work design or management.

The way tasks or jobs are designed, organised and managed. Workplace interactions or behaviours, the way workers and others behave or interact, for example, bullying, violence and aggression, sexual harassment, and other forms of harassment based on personal characteristics like age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or race, the plant at a workplace, including plant machinery, tools, or hazardous chemicals.

The physical work environment where a worker is exposed to a hazardous work environment.

These psychosocial hazards can combine and interact, contributing to a stress response, a manageable amount of work-related stress can be beneficial, helping workers to stay motivated, focused, and even improved performance.

In these situations, the stress is short term and helps workers overcome challenges they can handle.

However, a stress response that is frequent, prolonged, and or severe can lead to physical or psychological harm.

Some people such as young or inexperienced workers, those with disabilities, casual workers, and those in other precarious employment like labour hire may be at higher risk from work-related stress. For example, the worker we saw earlier is overloaded with tasks and lack support from their manager.

High job demands and poor support are examples of psychosocial hazards, which can cause a worker to experience a stress response.

If this stress response is severe, experienced frequently, or over a long period of time, it can result in harm to the worker.

This harm can be psychological, for example, symptoms of anxiety or depression, or physical, for example, musculoskeletal or cardiovascular disorders.

As you can see from this example, psychosocial hazards are the root cause of harm. While the stress response is what leads to harm.

Persons conducting a business or undertaking, have a duty to ensure the health

and safety, including psychological health of workers and others. They must manage psychosocial risks in accordance with Part 3.1 of the WHS regulation.

This includes eliminating psychosocial hazards so far as reasonably practicable.

To do this, psychosocial hazards must be identified, assessed, controlled, and continually reviewed to protect workers' health and safety using the risk management approach.

This process has additional benefits to workplaces beyond health and safety, including business productivity, performance, and long-term sustainability.

Consultation with workers about the psychosocial hazards relevant to their work is crucial,

because the impact of psychosocial hazards on one worker and their response to these hazards may be different for others.

Workers often provide valuable insights into the impact of psychosocial hazards on their work and can suggest controls to reduce associated risks.

For more information, download the Managing the Risk of Psychosocial Hazards At Work Code of Practice 2022.

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