How to protect psychological health and safety amid growing regulation

Last year, SafeWork NSW intensified its focus on psychological health and safety within workplaces by implementing standardised checks on psychosocial hazard management.

Under the new rules, inspectors conduct checks in organisations with 200 or more employees, including public sector entities, regardless of the initial purpose of their visit.

These checks are designed to ensure businesses are not just aware of psychosocial risks, but are actively managing them in line with their legal obligations.

Under the new regulations, organisational leaders are responsible for managing psychosocial risks in their workplaces.

To do this effectively, they need to understand how to identify psychosocial hazards in a work environment, how stress from psychosocial hazards can impact people, and the key signs of workplace stress and what interventions to take.

This isn’t just an Australian trend. Across the globe, regulators and employers are increasingly recognising that psychological health is just as important as physical safety at work.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has advocated for the inclusion of mental health within the broader scope of occupational health standards.

In Europe, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has found psychosocial risks and resulting consequences for mental and physical health are among the most challenging issues in occupational safety and health.

And in 2022, the ISO 45003 standard – the first international standard focused exclusively on psychological health and safety at work – was launched to help organisations manage this threat.

What are psychosocial hazards?

Psychosocial hazards are facts in the way that work is set up or run that can lead to stress and mental health issues.

These include employees having too much work, lack of clarity about job responsibilities, job insecurity, lack of support from bosses or coworkers, witnessing traumatic events, bullying, and isolation.

While many people experience some stress at work, being exposed to these hazards for an extended period can result in burnout, anxiety, depression, and other lasting mental health problems.
 

Mental health concerns on the rise

SafeWork’s decision follows a dramatic increase in psychological injury claims in New South Wales.

Data shows that psychological claims rose 30% between 2018–23, compared with 11% for physical claims. The average cost and time off work was more than triple that of physical claims.

This trend is reflected globally. An OSHA Pulse survey in 2022, found that 37% of workers have experienced fatigue in workplace, and 27% experienced stress, depression or anxiety.

And these issues don’t just affect employee wellbeing – they also result in costly compensation claims, reduced productivity, and reputational damage.

For instance, WHO research shows that that globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity.