Psychological health key terms

someone who takes action after witnessing or hearing about an incident of harmful behaviour. It can involve acting in the moment through words or body language. It can also include making a report afterwards or challenging the culture that allowed the behaviour to occur.

deliberately misgendering someone, using incorrect pronouns or not using their preferred name.

digitally altered images and videos that may be pornographic.

when someone shares an experience of harm with a friend, family member or colleague.

any person who has duties to ensure health and safety under Part 3 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.

defined in section 5 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 as a person employed under a contract of employment or contract of training.

free and confidential resources provided by a workplace to help employees manage their own wellbeing.

defined in section 5 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 as a person who employs one or more other persons under contracts of employment or contracts of training.

the way in which a person identifies or expresses their masculine or feminine characteristics. A person’s gender identity or gender expression is not always exclusively male or female and may change over time.

a person's deeply held internal and individual feeling of gender.

any harmful behaviour that is directed at, or affecting, a person because:

• of their:
  • sex
  • sexual orientation
  • gender
  • gender identity
• they do not adhere to socially prescribed gender roles.

the process of establishing and building a relationship with a child or young person to facilitate sexual abuse.

includes injury, illness and death.

something that can cause harm.

defined in section 5 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 as including psychological health.

an employee who is elected to represent the health and safety interests of employees in a workplace. The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 gives HSRs a role in raising and resolving any OHS issues with their employer. It also gives HSRs powers to enforce compliance with the Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017. HSRs can facilitate communication and consultation and provide a crucial link between employers and employees.

any negative feeling, behaviour or language directed at people whose sexuality means they are attracted to the same sex or to more than one gender.

when different aspects of a person’s identity expose them to overlapping forms of discrimination and marginalisation. Factors include:

• sex at birth
• gender identity
• sexual orientation
• being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
• being culturally and racially marginalised
• migrant worker status
• disability
• literacy levels
• insecure work such as casual, fixed-term, labour-hire or part-time work.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and gender-diverse, Intersex, Queer and Asexual . The + represents other sexual identities.

a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and can contribute to their community. See also Psychological health.

defined under section 3 of the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 as an injury that:

• causes significant behavioural, cognitive or psychological dysfunction
• is diagnosed by a medical practitioner in accordance with the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

See also Psychological injury.

the cognitive, emotional, behavioural and associated psychological processes that create a risk to health and safety.

someone who does not identify as exclusively a man or a woman. Someone who is non-binary might feel like a mix of genders, or like they have no gender at all.

putting the safety, support and wellbeing of people at the core of decision-making.

someone who commits harmful behaviours.

when employers must take proactive and reasonable action to prevent certain conduct from occurring. Under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic), this includes taking reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment or victimisation as far as possible.

sometimes called mental health and includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make healthy choices. See also Mental health.

protecting the psychological health of employees, in the same way that we protect physical health.

a disorder diagnosed by a medical practitioner and includes a range of recognised cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioural symptoms. These might be short term or occur over many months or years and can significantly affect how a person feels, thinks, behaves and interacts with others. Psychological injuries are sometimes also known as mental health conditions or disorders. See also Mental injury.

includes cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses and the physiological processes associated with them.

the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes, and the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.

an organisational environment where management has prioritised psychological wellbeing and considers psychological health to be as important as production demands.

anything in the working environment that could cause an employee to have a negative psychological response. This response can lead to psychological or physical harm, or both.

means doing what a reasonable person in the same position would do. For more information, see How WorkSafe applies the law in relation to Reasonably Practicable.

the chance of a hazard causing harm.

an organised approach to finding and controlling psychosocial hazards and risks.

a person’s primary and secondary sex characteristics; for example, sex chromosomes, hormones, reproductive organs, genitals, and breast and hair development.

a person’s romantic or sexual attraction to another person.

traditional ideas about:

• how men and women should look or act
• what characteristics they should have
• their roles in the workplace, home or public life.

people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be at birth.

any negative feeling, behaviour or language directed at transgender people because of their gender identity.

recognising that:

• Employees may have experienced or been exposed to trauma.
• Trauma can affect people in many ways. For example, how an employee recalls and describes events.

adults, children and young people who have experienced harmful behaviours.

the values and behaviours that employees share and demonstrate. It can include the shared attitudes and beliefs that form part of an organisation’s written and unwritten rules.

conduct which exposes a person to abuse, the threat of harm or actual harm and may cause fear and distress that can lead to a work-related injury.

repeated, unreasonable behaviour by a person which is directed at an employee or group of employees that creates a risk to health and safety.

traumatic events may involve threats to life and witnessing or experiencing serious injuries. Exposure to content or material about potentially traumatic experiences can also pose a risk to employee’s health. This can result in indirect or vicarious exposure to trauma.

Exposure to traumatic events or content may cause fear and distress. Exposure to aggression or violence may also cause a trauma response.

Exposure to traumatic events or content can arise from a single experience or from cumulative impacts of several or repeated exposures over time.

work involving sustained or repeated high physical, mental or emotional effort. A job can involve a combination of high physical, mental and emotional demands.

when employees have little control over aspects of the work, including how or when a job is done.

when low levels of physical, mental or emotional effort are required to do the job over a sustained period of time.

a low level of acknowledgement, reward or recognition for an employee’s contributions, achievements and efforts or a lack of opportunity for skill development.

when there is confusion or uncertainty about the specific tasks, responsibilities, or expectations of an employee’s role. This can occur when there is frequent change to tasks and work standards, or where important task information is not made available.

Low role clarity can also occur when employees receive two different and incompatible tasks at the same time, or their role overlaps with another employee or work group.

when employees are exposed to poor quality or hazardous working environments, including in work-provided accommodation.

when change related to an employee’s work conditions is poorly managed or communicated. This may include a lack of consideration of the potential health, safety and performance impacts of change, including inadequate consultation with employees.

includes distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice. Collectively, this includes:

• the fairness associated with decision outcomes and distribution of resources
• the fairness of the processes those in positions of authority use to reach specific outcomes or decisions
• the extent to which employees are informed fairly
• the extent to which employees are treated with dignity and respect.

when employees do not have adequate practical or emotional support to enable them to perform their job safely.

interactions in the workplace that may be harmful. These interactions can start with low-intensity incivility, for example, sarcasm, mocking or social exclusion, and, if unaddressed, can escalate into more damaging interactions such as bullying, violence or aggression.

remote work is work at locations where access to resources and communication is difficult and travel times might be lengthy. Isolated work is where there are no or few other people around or where access to help from others, especially in an emergency, might be difficult. An employee can be considered to be working alone or in isolation even if other people are close by. For example, when an employee is working at a temporary location where they are the only representative from their team.

has the same meaning as it has in the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (EO Act).

Section 92(1) of the EO Act states that a person sexually harasses another person if he or she:

1. makes an unwelcome sexual advance, or an unwelcome request for sexual favours, to the other person, or

2. 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.

See legislation.vic.gov.au for current version of the EO Act.