Effectively respond to psychosocial safety complaints and concerns with our tailored approach to psychosocial WHS investigation and risk control.
A psychosocial WHS investigation is a formal investigative process directed to determining the cause and circumstances of risks to health and safety arising from psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
It differs from a psychosocial risk assessment, which is usually a broader and more proactive WHS process used to identify psychosocial hazards, assess the associated risks, and review controls across a workplace, team or work group.
By contrast, a psychosocial WHS investigation may be triggered by a specific complaint, grievance, concern, incident, pattern of issues or other information suggesting that psychosocial hazards may be present and giving rise to a risk of harm. The investigation examines not only the events or issues giving rise to the concern, but also the systems of work, work practices and control measures in place to eliminate or minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
Our approach combines:
traditional investigative methods, to establish what occurred and the circumstances giving rise to the complaint, grievance or concern;
root cause and contributing factor analysis, to understand why the issue occurred or was able to continue;
hazard identification, to determine the psychosocial hazards involved and the associated risks to health and safety;
an assessment of the effectiveness of existing controls, including systems of work, work design, supervision, consultation, communication, workload management, role clarity, reporting pathways, policies, training and support mechanisms;
recommendations for further control measures to eliminate or minimise the identified risks so far as is reasonably practicable; and
practical resolution steps directed to the complaint, grievance or concern raised, including remedial action, communication with affected parties, workplace restoration, aftercare and monitoring where required.
A psychosocial WHS investigation may be used where:
a specific complaint or concern about psychosocial safety is raised by an employee or group of workers;
a pattern is identified across a team or business unit;
a specific incident occurs;
claims data - workers' compensation, absenteeism, turnover or EAP usage - indicates a possible psychosocial risk;
a health and safety representative raises an issue resolution request;
a regulator enquiry, direction or notice is received;
organisational change, restructure or a change in leadership gives rise to concerns about consultation or workload; or
following the conclusion of a disciplinary or misconduct investigation, to identify and address any residual psychosocial risk.