Psychosocial Hazards for Small Business: What You Actually Need to Do
Learn what psychosocial hazards mean for a small business, the practical steps you can take and the evidence clients may expect to see.
Topics: WHS, Small Business, Psychosocial Hazards, Rockingham
At our recent From Safety to Success Small Business Seminar Series session, we explored what small businesses need to have in place to meet their work health and safety responsibilities, demonstrate their capability and confidently respond when a client asks for evidence.
As part of the session, Daniel Paxby from Praxis Safety led an important discussion on psychosocial hazards and what managing these risks actually looks like for a small business.
For many small business owners, psychosocial hazards can still feel like a complicated corporate issue. Terms such as workplace stress, psychological safety and psychosocial risk can make it sound like you need a large HR team, expensive software or another lengthy policy.
The reality is much simpler.
If you employ or engage workers, psychosocial hazards form part of your work health and safety responsibilities, just like physical hazards.
The requirements apply to businesses of all sizes, but the approach you take should be practical and proportionate to your business and the work you undertake.
What Are Psychosocial Hazards?
Psychosocial hazards are aspects of work that may cause psychological or physical harm.
They can arise from how work is designed, managed or carried out, as well as workplace behaviours and relationships.
Common examples include:
High workloads or unrealistic deadlines
Fatigue and excessive working hours
Poor support from supervisors or managers
Unclear roles and responsibilities
Bullying, harassment or workplace conflict
Violence or aggression from customers or members of the public
Exposure to traumatic events or material
Remote or isolated work
Poorly managed organisational change
For a small trade or contracting business, this could mean workers regularly completing long days, dealing with aggressive customers, working alone, being unclear about their responsibilities or feeling unable to raise concerns.
A worker does not need to have a diagnosed mental health condition before something becomes a workplace risk.
Why Small Businesses Need to Consider Psychosocial Hazards
Psychosocial hazards must be managed under Western Australia's work health and safety framework.
This means businesses need to:
Identify reasonably foreseeable hazards
Assess the risks where necessary
Put appropriate controls in place
Review whether those controls remain effective
Workers must also be consulted when hazards are being identified and decisions are being made about how risks will be managed.
This is not only about meeting legal obligations.
Clients, principal contractors and larger organisations are increasingly asking suppliers how they manage psychosocial hazards as part of:
Tender submissions
Contractor prequalification
Supplier onboarding
WHS audits
Project mobilisation
Being able to answer these questions—and provide supporting evidence—can help demonstrate that your business understands current WHS expectations and is prepared to manage its workforce properly.
What Does a Small Business Actually Need?
You do not necessarily need a separate or complicated management system.
For many small businesses, a practical approach involves identifying the risks, consulting workers, putting suitable controls in place and keeping enough evidence to demonstrate what has been done.
1. Identify the Hazards Relevant to Your Work
Start by considering how work is actually performed within your business.
Ask questions such as:
Are workers regularly under pressure to meet demanding deadlines?
Do people work long hours or manage difficult schedules?
Does anyone work remotely or in isolation?
Do workers deal with aggressive customers or members of the public?
Are roles and responsibilities clear?
Do workers receive appropriate support when problems arise?
Could upcoming workplace changes create uncertainty or additional pressure?
Not every psychosocial hazard will apply to every business. The important thing is to identify those that are reasonably foreseeable within your workplace.
2. Record the Risks and Controls
The hazards you identify can be included in your existing WHS risk register or documented in a separate psychosocial risk assessment.
Your records should identify:
The hazard
Who may be exposed
How the hazard could cause harm
The controls already in place
Whether further action is required
Who is responsible for completing the action
When the risk will be reviewed
The document does not need to be lengthy, but it should reflect your actual business.
A simple, current risk register that is actively used is more valuable than a generic template that has never been properly reviewed.
3. Put Practical Controls in Place
A policy on its own does not control a risk.
The controls you introduce should address the factors creating the risk. Depending on your business, practical controls could include:
Setting realistic workloads and deadlines
Reviewing rosters, travel time and working hours
Clearly defining roles and responsibilities
Establishing a process for workers to raise concerns
Checking in with workers who are remote or working alone
Providing support following difficult or traumatic events
Establishing processes for managing customer aggression and workplace conflict
Consulting workers before significant workplace changes
Training supervisors to recognise and respond appropriately to concerns
The right controls will depend on the work, the people involved and the level of risk.
An Employee Assistance Program can be a useful support measure, but it should not be relied upon as the main or only control. Businesses should first consider what can be changed about the work itself to eliminate or reduce the risk.
Consultation Is More Than a Conversation
One of the most commonly missed requirements is keeping evidence of worker consultation.
Consultation does not need to involve a formal committee meeting. In a small business, it could include:
A toolbox talk with an attendance record
A discussion during a team meeting
A short anonymous survey
Individual check-ins
A discussion during an induction
Notes from a post-incident debrief
Workers need a genuine opportunity to raise concerns and contribute to decisions about how risks will be managed.
It is also important to keep a simple record of what was discussed, the feedback workers provided and any actions that were agreed.
This demonstrates that consultation occurred instead of relying on someone remembering a conversation months later.
What Evidence Might a Client Ask For?
If a client asks how your business manages psychosocial hazards, they may want to see:
A psychosocial hazard policy or procedure
A current risk register or risk assessment
Worker consultation records
Induction or training records
Incident and near-miss records
Evidence that identified actions have been completed
You may already have some of these documents within your existing WHS system.
For example, your incident reporting process can cover both physical and psychological harm. Your induction can explain how workers raise concerns, and psychosocial hazards can be incorporated into your existing risk register.
The goal is not to create paperwork for the sake of it. It is to ensure your current processes properly consider psychological health as well as physical safety.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Small businesses can get caught out by:
Downloading a generic policy without assessing their actual risks
Treating psychosocial hazards solely as an HR issue
Focusing only on bullying and harassment
Relying on an Employee Assistance Program as the only control
Failing to consult workers
Saying consultation occurs but keeping no records
Identifying risks without assigning or completing actions
Failing to review risks when the work or workplace changes
Clients and auditors are increasingly looking for evidence that the process is genuine and being used within the business.
A Simple Place to Start
If you have not addressed psychosocial hazards before, you do not need to solve everything at once.
Start by:
[Reviewing WorkSafe WA's Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace: Code of Practice](https://www.worksafe.wa.gov.au/publications/code-practice-psychosocial-hazards-workplace)
Speaking with your workers about the pressures and challenges associated with their work
Adding the relevant hazards to your risk register
Identifying practical actions to eliminate or reduce the risks
Recording the consultation and agreed actions
Reviewing whether the controls are working
This gives your business a practical foundation that can be strengthened as it grows.
:::card
title: Need Help Managing Psychosocial Risks?
subtext: Not sure whether your business is properly identifying and managing psychosocial hazards?
body: FindMe First can help you review your current approach and put practical, proportionate processes in place for your business.
linktext: Contact FindMe First
linkurl: /contact
:::
:::card
title: How WHS Ready Is Your Business?
subtext: Psychosocial risk is only one part of being WHS ready.
body: Our free WHS Readiness Assessment helps you consider whether your wider systems, records and evidence are ready for client, contractor and tender requirements.
linktext: Complete the Free WHS Readiness Assessment
linkurl: /whs-readiness
:::