Psychosocial hazards and an officer’s due diligence

Safe Work Australia publishes a model Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work. It is careful about what that code is:

The sources this guide holds describe four:

WorkSafe Queensland explains how a code works under its Act: a duty holder must comply with an approved code so far as is reasonably practicable, or follow another method that gives an equal or higher standard of health and safety.

Under the heading for section 27, SafeWork NSW sets out what the officer’s separate duty means for psychosocial hazards. In its words, “an officer must, for example:”

The code then gives examples of an officer doing this. Summarised, an officer in its examples:

• understands their own and others’ WHS duties, such as the business’s primary duty of care and its requirement to consult affected workers;
• keeps up to date on WHS in the business and the industry, including new and emerging issues, through information sessions, publications and internal reports;
• knows the common psychosocial hazards in the organisation and gathers their own information about them;
• refers to what the guidance says on managing psychosocial hazards at work;
• checks that the organisation has processes for known and emerging psychosocial hazards, enough resources for them, and effective consultation, cooperation and coordination, for example by periodically visiting sites to talk with workers and supervisors about hazards;
• checks the safety management approach and its performance indicators, seeks out their own information on WHS performance, and insists that reports reach them promptly and their feedback is acted on;
• takes active measures rather than waiting for information, for example by requesting information on risk assessments and incident notifications.

On relying on others, the code is direct: “This duty requires officers to actively seek out relevant knowledge and understanding to make a decision or take action. In some circumstances, that may mean they need to rely on others’ information.” Where that happens, it says, “they should verify the credibility and appropriateness of the sources of information.”

Due diligence is about making sure the business meets its own duty, so the officer needs to know what that duty asks. SafeWork NSW’s code describes it this way for New South Wales:

• “A PCBU has the primary duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health (including psychological health) and safety of each worker who is engaged, caused to be engaged, influenced or directed by the PCBU while the worker is at work in the business or undertaking.”
• It must first try to eliminate psychosocial hazards, and only if that is not reasonably practicable, minimise the remaining risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
• “The PCBU’s duty to workers includes ensuring the health and safety of workers from harmful acts from third parties, such as clients, patients or their families, and students in educational institutions.”

One line in the code speaks plainly to the people who set a business’s goals. In its words: “The PCBU’s goal to produce a product or provide, for example, a particular model of patient care, achieve particular educational outcomes for students, or a focus on customer service, cannot override the duty that the WHS Act 2011 places on the PCBU to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the WHS of their workers and others.”

Safe Work Australia lists fourteen common psychosocial hazards on its psychosocial hazards page, and warns that hazards can interact or combine to create new, changed or higher risks. The step of due diligence about receiving and responding to information on hazards is step (d) in due diligence in six steps.

Workers are part of finding these hazards. In Queensland, WorkSafe Queensland says workers and any health and safety representatives must be consulted when psychosocial hazards are being identified, and the wider duty to consult is set out in consulting workers on safety.