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Part 3 – Step 1: Identify hazards

Part 3 of the Psychological health compliance code has 4 steps. Step 1 of the risk management process explains how to identify psychosocial hazards and lists examples.

This is page 4 in a series of 11 that comprise the Psychological health compliance code. You must read the whole Code so that you understand how to meet your deemed compliance obligations.

Employers must, so far as is reasonably practicable, identify psychosocial hazards. <OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations r14>
Psychosocial hazard means any factor or factors in any of the following:
- work design
- systems of work
- management of work
- carrying out of the work
- personal or work-related interactions
that may:
- arise in the working environment, and
- cause an employee to experience one or more negative psychological responses that create a risk to their health or safety.
<OHS (Psychological Health) Regulations r4>

Examples of psychosocial hazards

Aggression or violence
Incidents in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work.
Bullying
Repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed at a person or group that creates a risk to health and safety.
Bullying behaviour can be:
between employees
directed at employees from people who have relationships with the workplace, such as:
clients
customers
contractors
patients
volunteers
members of the public.
Exposure to traumatic events or content
Exposure to traumatic events may involve:
actual or perceived threats to life
experiencing a serious injury
witnessing serious injuries or fatalities.
Exposure to traumatic content may include:
hearing other people’s traumatic stories
reading detailed reports or documents about traumatic events
reviewing images or video footage of traumatic events.
Exposure to traumatic content can result in indirect or vicarious exposure to trauma.
Being exposed to traumatic events or content may cause:
fear and distress
a trauma response.
Exposure to traumatic events or content can arise from:
a single experience
the cumulative effects of several or repeated exposures over time.
A person is more likely to experience an event or content as traumatic when they consider it to be:
unexpected
something they were unprepared for
unpreventable
uncontrollable
the result of intentional cruelty.
Gendered violence
Any behaviour directed at, or affecting, a person because:
of their sex, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity
they do not adhere to socially prescribed gender roles.
High job demands
Work involving sustained or repeated high physical, mental or emotional effort, or a combination of any of these.
Low job control
When a person has little control over aspects of their work, including how or when a job is done.
Low job demands
Work involving sustained low physical, mental or emotional effort.
Low recognition and reward
When there is a low level or lack of acknowledgement, reward or recognition for an employee’s:
contributions
achievements
efforts.
Low role clarity
Jobs where:
there is uncertainty about, or frequent changes to, tasks and work standards
important task information is not available
there are conflicting roles, responsibilities or expectations.
Poor environmental conditions
When employees are exposed to poor-quality or hazardous working environments, including in work-provided accommodation.
Poor organisational change management
When change related to an employee’s work conditions is poorly managed, supported or communicated. This may include:
a lack of consideration of the potential effects on health, safety and performance
inadequate consultation with employees.
Poor organisational justice
Situations where:
people in positions of authority do not apply processes fairly when making decisions (procedural fairness)
relevant employees are not given necessary information (informational fairness)
employees are not treated with dignity and respect (interpersonal fairness).
Poor support
When employees do not have adequate:
practical or emotional support from supervisors and co-workers
information or training to support their work performance
tools, equipment and resources to do their job.
Poor workplace relationships
Interactions in the workplace that may be harmful. These can start with low-intensity incivility. If unaddressed, they can escalate into more harmful interactions.
Remote or isolated work
Remote work is work at locations where:
access to resources and communication is difficult
travel times might be lengthy.
Isolated work can be where:
there are no or few other people around
access to help from others, especially in an emergency, might be difficult.
An employee can be working alone or in isolation even if other people are close by. For example, an employee working at a temporary location who is the sole representative from their team or organisation.
Sexual harassment
Has the meaning given by section 92(1) of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (EO Act).
The EO Act states that a person sexually harasses another person if he or she:
makes an unwelcome sexual advance, or an unwelcome request for sexual favours, to the other person, or
engages in any other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in relation to the other person

in circumstances in which a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would have anticipated that the other person would be offended, humiliated or intimidated.
This definition is correct at the time of publication. See legislation.vic.gov.au for current version of the EO Act.

For more information on these examples of psychosocial hazards, see Appendix C.

This list of examples is not exhaustive. If an employer identifies another psychosocial hazard that may arise in the working environment, they have a duty to control the risks associated with that hazard, so far as is reasonably practicable.
A psychosocial hazard identified in the working environment may also constitute discrimination or other unlawful workplace conduct. Employers need to consider other relevant state and federal laws that may also apply to the identified psychosocial hazard, such as:
- workplace relations laws
- criminal laws
- anti-discrimination laws
- equal opportunity laws
- child safety laws.

Factors to consider when identifying hazards

Psychosocial hazards will vary for every organisation and sometimes between groups of employees. When identifying hazards, employers need to consider:
- organisational context; for example:
  - type, size and location of the organisation
  - organisational structure and culture
  - environmental conditions
  - technology available
  - organisational activities, products and services
  - supply chains and contractual arrangements
  - employees’ skills and attributes
  - workplace relationships
  - economic conditions
- type of work; for example:
  - workload
  - employees’ roles and responsibilities
  - activities required to deliver the product or service.
For example, employees who deal with customers or clients may be at a greater risk of aggression or violence than employees from the same organisation who don’t deal with customers or clients.
Some hazards may exist for all employees, workgroups or workplaces, regardless of their role or where they work. Examples include bullying and sexual harassment.
When identifying hazards, employers should also consider the effect of external factors on their working environment. For example:
- operating environment
- economic conditions
- changes in legislation
- market changes
- community demographics and trends.
In most circumstances, psychosocial hazards will not occur in isolation. Employees are likely to be exposed to a combination of hazards that may be present in the workplace some or all the time. These may not always be immediately obvious.
There is a greater risk of harm when multiple hazards are present. Employers need to consider how psychosocial hazards combine and interact.

Example of an underlying psychosocial hazard

An employer has identified that poor workplace relationships is a hazard at their workplace. The employer does further consultation and reviews of organisational information, including:

recent employee surveys
role vacancies
unplanned leave reports.

These show that some teams are experiencing peaks in their workload and there are staffing shortages at the supervisory level. These factors are contributing to the strain on workplace relationships. High job demands and poor support are also identified as psychosocial hazards present in the workplace.

Collect and review information

Employers need to collect and review relevant information to help identify psychosocial hazards. This could include:
- organisational or operational information
- human resources (HR) information
- OHS information
- external research, guidance and advice.
This information should be reviewed for likely indicators or sources of psychosocial hazards in the working environment. For example, employers should look for patterns that indicate possible hazards, such as:
- patterns of absenteeism
- changes in employee engagement or work productivity
- the number of reported incidents and near misses.
An absence of reported incidents does not mean psychosocial hazards are not present but may instead indicate a reluctance to report.
Psychosocial hazards can also be identified by:
- observing how employees work and interact with each other
- assessing job-specific requirements.

For more information, including examples, see Appendix B.

This is page 4 in a series of 11 that comprise the Psychological health compliance code. You must read the whole Code so that you understand how to meet your deemed compliance obligations.

Part 3 – Step 1: Identify hazards

Step 1: Identify hazards

Examples of psychosocial hazards

Aggression or violence

Bullying

Exposure to traumatic events or content

Gendered violence

High job demands

Low job control

Low job demands

Low recognition and reward

Low role clarity

Poor environmental conditions

Poor organisational change management

Poor organisational justice

Poor support

Poor workplace relationships

Remote or isolated work

Sexual harassment

Factors to consider when identifying hazards

Example of an underlying psychosocial hazard

Collect and review information

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