Psychosocial risk is the likelihood of psychosocial hazards causing harm to a worker’s health, combined with the potential severity of that harm. “Psychosocial” refers to the mental, emotional, and social aspects of a person’s experience within the workforce which includes employees, contractors, and volunteers.

These risks can manifest as psychological or physical injuries; for example, chronic stress is linked to significant medical issues, and fatigue frequently leads to physical and mechanical workplace accidents.

This initial engagement is structured to provide the necessary time to conduct background audits, deliver substantive work product, and establish the specific workforce needs required for a long-term compliance strategy. It allows for ten billable days of work to be done; it does not mean that the work will be completed in ten calendar or working days. Timeframes and the precise audits and deliverables are negotiable to allow for tailored and flexible service delivery.

Not at all, I am happy to discuss smaller contracts, with modified work to be done. I have a ten-day maximum initial engagement for larger projects; however, many tasks can be completed in a much smaller period.

The specific work product at the end of the ten days will depend on what was agreed on and included in our contract. I will provide process documents and reports summarising the work completed, recommendations for further work, and typically a full report of what I have established is needed for compliance.

Under the WHS Act 2011 (Qld.) officers are required to exercise due diligence in protecting workers and other persons against harm to their health, safety and welfare; regarding my work – in a psychosocial context. The initial engagement makes a good-faith start on informing PCBUs and decision-makers on what is happening regarding psychosocial risk and safety in your workplace and will generate a clear picture of what work will be needed to meet compliance. It may fulfil the requirements regarding Division 4 (27)(5)(a) and (b) of the act, however, every organisation is unique and more work may be needed. For larger organisations, I would expect this to be the case.

Most of my services will include background research and reading, plus follow-up work such as report writing or post meeting actions, which is typically addressed with a day-rate. If you require advice on a potentially straightforward issue, such as ideas for accommodating a particular need or assistance navigating a diversity aspect of a specific hiring process, I am open to discussing a fractional rate on a case-by-case basis.

Any serious risk that is identified will be reported to the identified internal stakeholder(s) in the contract, and a discussion of immediate mitigation of risk will occur. The ten-day initial contract in-part exists because there are many unknowns prior to initial audits. This allows for more accurate long-term contract proposals that better predict the amount of work needed. If the process uncovers serious issues, I will work with you to fix them and communicate clearly about what options are available to keep moving forward.

The consultation plan includes an assessment of what communication strategies and approaches suit your workforce. Documentation will include work product associated with conducting the consultation itself, the data collected, records of how the data influenced the risk mitigation work, and a final consultation report. This will demonstrate that a thorough and meaningful consultation process occurred, aligned with ISO 45003 and mapped to the Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022, providing clear evidence of compliance for auditors.

Contracts for comprehensive compliance work include provision for up to two hours of remote consultation with inspectors or regulators, to address any questions relevant to the work conducted, within 24 months of completing the contract. Should your needs exceed this, I would be happy to discuss if we can form a new contract to complete this service.

A “standard” HR policy, or even a psychosocial risk policy is just a list of values, usually with process documents subordinate to the policy with instructions for how staff are to manage an issue. I love policy and the idea that these documents can be used to neatly communicate important concepts and processes is something I find exciting. I am also acutely aware that this makes me very strange.

Most people don’t look at policy documents without being forced to, and they are rarely used for their intended purpose. Because of this, the WHS Act 2011 (Qld.) does not consider policy documents to be a complete, proactive or meaningful part of managing psychosocial risk in the workplace. It is still important to ensure that workers have a clear set of documents they can go to when they want guidance in writing, however, a policy does little to impact behaviour or address real world hazards in day-to-day operations.

I can provide training as part of implementation of the compliance plan. I also deliver diversity training from a range of perspectives. I love delivering training. I would be delighted to discuss your training needs and how I can meet them.  

Read my blog post about why AI isn’t the right tool for psychosocial risk compliance.

I would love to answer your question personally. Please reach out via the contact form so that I can assist you.