Beyond the Basics: Demystifying Common Psychosocial Safety Terms
Starting your journey into psychosocial safety can feel like learning a new language. You hear terms like ‘psychosocial risk’, ‘primary prevention’, and ‘PCBU’, and it's easy to get lost in the jargon. To confidently navigate your responsibilities and build an effective strategy, it's essential to understand what these key concepts mean in a practical, Australian context.
Here's a breakdown of the most common terms you'll encounter, explained in plain English.
Psychosocial Risk This is the central concept. A psychosocial risk is the potential for a psychosocial hazard to cause harm. For example, a high-demand workload (the hazard) creates the psychosocial risk of a worker developing burnout or stress-related illness (the harm). Australian WHS laws require businesses to manage these risks just as they would any physical risk. It's about looking at the entire system of work—how tasks are designed, how managers lead, and how teams interact—and identifying what could potentially cause psychological harm.
Psychosocial Hazard As we've explored, a psychosocial hazard is any aspect of work design or management that can cause psychological harm. Common examples include:
High workload: Being consistently given more tasks than can be completed in a reasonable timeframe.
Low control: A lack of autonomy over how, when, or where a task is done.
Poor support: Feeling unsupported by management or colleagues.
Bullying and harassment: Unacceptable behaviour that a reasonable person would see as offensive, intimidating, or humiliating.
Poor organisational change management: Changes that are poorly communicated, leading to uncertainty and anxiety.
Poor reward and recognition: Feeling undervalued or that rewards are unfairly distributed.
PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) This is a legal term under Australia's WHS laws. It refers to the individual or organisation that has the primary responsibility for ensuring the health and safety of workers and others in the workplace. The term is broad and applies to employers, self-employed persons, and many other entities. The legal duty of a PCBU is to eliminate or, if that's not possible, minimise psychosocial risks as far as is reasonably practicable. This duty is not just about what is easy or cheap, but what is practical and achievable given the resources and knowledge available.
Hierarchy of Controls This is a fundamental principle of WHS in Australia, and it applies to psychosocial risks too. It's a ranking of control measures from most effective to least effective.
Elimination: The most effective control. Can you eliminate the hazard entirely? For example, by redesigning a role to remove the source of a chronic, unmanageable workload.
Substitution/Engineering Controls: Can you substitute the hazard with a safer alternative or make physical changes to the work environment? This is less common for psychosocial risks, but an example could be implementing software that automates a monotonous, high-stress task.
Administrative Controls: This involves changing work processes or procedures. This is where most psychosocial controls sit. Examples include creating a clear policy on acceptable behaviour, providing training for managers on supportive leadership, or setting up a peer support system.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): This is the least effective control and is not typically used for psychosocial risks.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Prevention These terms refer to the timing and purpose of your interventions.
Primary Prevention: The best approach. It's about preventing harm from happening in the first place by managing the hazards at the source. This is what you do when you redesign a role to reduce excessive demands.
Secondary Prevention: This is about early intervention. It's for when a risk hasn't been completely prevented but you can catch it before it causes significant harm. Examples include providing resilience training or an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support workers who are showing signs of stress.
Tertiary Prevention: This is about managing the consequences after a psychological injury has occurred. It's about rehabilitation and supporting a worker's return to work.
By demystifying these terms, you empower your organisation to move past the initial confusion and build a confident, effective, and legally compliant approach to psychosocial safety. It's the first step to creating a workplace that is truly safe for all.
