Psychosocial safety climate
Psychosocial safety climate is a term used in workplace management theory which refers to the wellbeing and productivity of workers. A favourable psychosocial safety climate indicates low rates of absenteeism and high productivity, while a poor climate indicates high levels of workplace stress and job dissatisfaction. The theory has implications in the design of workplaces for the best possible outcomes for both workers and management. The term originated from research conducted in 2016 at the University of South Australia, supported by funding from the Commonwealth Government. PSC theory. Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) theory is a work stress  theory and innovation in the broad field of workplace health and safety and organisational psychology. PSC concerns the corporate climate for worker psychological health and safety. PSC is defined as the shared perceptions of employees of their organisation’s “systems, policies, practices and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety” (Dollard & Bakker, 2010, p. 580). PSC largely reflects management values regarding the psychological health of workers. When worker psychological health is not prioritised in organisations, as in low PSC workplaces —when there are no communication or participation systems to report, discuss or resolve risk factors to psychological  health—workers are likely to develop a range of health problems (psychological and physical). Low PSC affects the worker and the organisation’s bottom line too due to presenteeism, sickness absence, reduced engagement and workers compensation costs. PSC builds on other work stress theories (see below) and proposes that PSC is an antecedent to a range of work stressors in the form of work condition and job design factors. When managers hold the psychological health of workers as a core value, jobs will be offered that have manageable demands and adequate resources. Therefore, PSC predicts future work design, such as  the level of demands a worker will be exposed to and the amount of resources that will be available to carry out job tasks. PSC also affects the quality of social relations at work, and at low levels is likely to lead to bullying and harassment. In turn, when job design is stressful, for example there are too many demands and not enough resources, or bullying and harassment are ignored, psychological health can suffer with symptoms such as distress, emotional exhaustion, and depressive symptoms. Over time more serious health problems may occur such as depression, suicidal ideation and cardiovascular problems . For society, costs downstream of low PSC could be evident in terms of family breakdown, suicide, medication costs, health care costs and workers compensation. All of these effects can be traced from low PSC along the extended health erosion path. Jobs can be motivating and satisfying too. With high levels of resources, rewards and support workers may feel engagement in their work rather than alienation, and work outcomes could include better quality of service, quality of care, fewer accidents and injuries and better quality products. These positive work outcomes can be traced from high PSC via the extended motivational path . Moving along the health and motivational paths PSC can act further as a secondary prevention point, through moderating the detrimental associations linking demands and health symptoms, for example by reducing the impact of demands on psychological health or reducing the chance that distress will evolve into depression. The PSC is influenced by management values, policies, practices, and procedures. Four subsystems of psychosocial safety climate. Psychosocial safety climate is composed of four subsystems: 1. Management commitment Senior management demonstrate a commitment to stress prevention through support and involvement. 2. Management priority Senior management prioritises the health and safety of their employees  over productivity goals. 3. Organisational communication Organisations provide safe and usable channels for communication and listen to the concerns all their members. 4. Organisational participation All levels of the organisation (e.g., unions, occupational health and safety representatives, employees, and management) participate and consult on protecting and promoting the psychological health and safety of staff. PSC measurement. PSC is measured with the PSC-12, a twelve item survey diagnostic tool used by researchers nationally across Australia and internationally in New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan, China, Iran, Ghana, Vietnam, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Portugal, India, Sweden, France, Canada, US, and Spain, across many industries / occupations . The 12-item questionnaire encompasses the four subsystems of Psychosocial Safety climate as subscales; management commitment, management priority, organisational communication, and participation. Each subscale includes three questions with responses scored on a five-point Likert scale, scores range form 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). An example item is “In my workplace senior management acts quickly to correct problems/issues that affect employees' psychological health”. PSC benchmarks. Benchmarks of organisational PSC (range 12-60) were established to make it possible for researchers and practitioners to predict employees’ poor health and well-being outcomes and to identify contexts where PSC  is “too low”. Figure 2 details the different risk categories of PSC-12 according to the PSC Risk Benchmarks. PSC benchmarks can be used by regulatory agencies and organisations to develop safer working environments to ensure minimal risk of harm to worker mental health. High PSC (Low risk) ≥ 41 Performing well; Medium PSC (Medium risk) 41 < and > 37 PSC increases required; Low PSC (High risk) 37 ≤ and ≥ 27; Very low PSC (Very high risk PSC) ≤ 26 Urgent action required to prevent further dramatic increases in depressive periods, worsening conditions (e.g., increased bullying). Evolution of psychosocial  safety climate (PSC) theory. History and background. The evolution of the PSC concept and assessments tools began with the original short 4-item scale that canvassed limited constructs, the development of the PSC-27 with increased domain coverage in terms of quantity and depth, refinement to the PSC-12 and then the development of the PSC-4 measure. Work stress theories. The PSC concept unifies the different fields of occupational health psychology (work stress) and work safety literatures and addresses a theory gap about what causes job design-related stress hazards. Within the occupational health psychology, work and organisational psychology, and work health  and safety disciplines there are numerous work stress theories. Majorly these are job design theories which emphasise that work stress arises largely from the way work is designed (‘the cause’). The basic theme is that when the requirements of the job (demands) outweigh one’s capacity to perform with the resources available, job stress occurs. These theories highlight how job demands combine with specific resources, such as job control (Job Demands-Control), supervisor support (Job Demand Control Support), rewards (Effort Reward Imbalance) or a combination of resources (Job Demands-Resources theory) to influence work stress. For example stress in call -centre work could be explained because of workload demands (requirements to make lots of phone calls), emotional demands (having to cold call, face constant rejections), limited resources to manage demands (limited timing control over when the phone rings, limited time for social support), and low rewards (poor salary, low esteem work). This orthodoxy in the field of organisational psychology, focusing on job design, has prevailed for almost 30 years and has accumulated significant evidence. PSC theory extends these frameworks by proposing that PSC is a ‘cause of the causes’ of work stress, in other words, a cause of stressful work  design and other work conditions. PSC theory is that when senior management value and prioritise worker psychological health and safety, corporate decisions are made to provide and design work that is meaningful, manageable, amply resourced and free from psychosocial risks. As a result, workers are more healthy, engaged, and productive. Significant evidence shows why PSC is so important. PSC appears to hit a sweet spot such that it can be used to forecast future employee work design (level of work demands and control) and social relations (extent of bullying), and many corporate (sick leave, engagement) and employee (distress, cognitive decline , chromosomal damage, circulatory disease) outcomes. Beyond its role as a leading indicator for workplace psychosocial risks and the corresponding health and productivity outcomes, PSC also acts as a safety signal. That is, PSC provides cues to workers about when it is safe to use resources. This means that in organisations with high levels of PSC (e.g., low-risk PSC), psychosocial risks (e.g., demands, and bullying and harassment) have a weaker negative impact on worker health and productivity than in organisations with low levels of PSC (e.g., high-risk PSC). As such, PSC provides resources for workers to use, and makes  sure it is safe for workers to use the resources, such as decision making freedom, in times of need. In sum, there are two core functions of Psychosocial Safety Climate that promote and protect workers psychological health and safety; 1) ‘Cause of the causes’ of health and productivity outcomes 2) A safety signal for safe usage of available resources Safety theories PSC is related to safety climate, perceived organisational support, and psychological safety but is a distinct construct. Safety climate concerns the climate that protects workers from accidents and injuries and emphasises safe systems and safe worker behaviour. Psychological safety  climate refers to the "shared belief held by a work team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking." Workers who experience a team environment that is psychologically safe are free to engage in risk-taking behaviour that is necessary for learning and performance. The construct is not motivated by concern for worker psychological health in and of itself. Perceived organizational social support, refers to the extent that the organization cares about employee well-being but this construct does not concern the values and systems required to protect worker psychological health. The distinct construct validity of PSC, a construct  that differs from safety climate, team psychological safety climate, and perceived organizational support has been confirmed empirically. Evidence and practical implications. Empirical evidence accumulated over the past twelve years shows that once PSC levels are known future job design, work conditions and worker mental health can be predicted. PSC and health and work outcomes. PSC is a leading indicator of psychological distress and emotional exhaustion, depression, exhaustion and cynicism, sickness absence, presenteeism, work engagement, and workers’ compensation claims for physical injuries, work injuries, injury underreporting, stress-related concerns reporting, safety behaviours and performance and turnover intention. Intervention research. Several studies  show how PSC levels can change through organizational and individual approaches. Participative organizational intervention research shows significant improvements in PSC within a 4-month period for interventions aimed to tackle work stressors focusing on the PSC principles. The PSC Hierarchy of Control (PSC HOC) is a practical tool developed to address PSC psychosocial hazards directly and can also be applied as a guide for the management of a specific psychosocial hazard such as bullying. Importantly, each layer of the hierarchy should be addressed starting at the top proceeding to the bottom of the hierarchy. Where PSC domains have scored lowest  these subareas can become the focus for intervention activities. The PSC HOC can be effectively used within an organisation as part of a comprehensive prevention and/or intervention program providing guidance to improve PSC by addressing each of the PSC subareas. Legal and work health and safety policy implications. PSC concerns the system of psychosocial risk management in organisations, canvasing crucial elements reiterated in NSW SafeWork Code of Practice 2021 and Australian WHS regulations, management commitment and support, priority for psychological health vs productivity imperatives, communication mechanisms and participation and consultation. The fundamentals of a psychosocial risk management system are captured  by PSC. PSC has been used as an evidence-based evaluation indicator for an Australian WHS policy change. In addition, a recent Regulatory Impact Statement concerning WorkSafe Victoria’s 2022 proposed amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 to improve workplace mental health, makes strong calls for PSC to be used as an indicator for future policy evaluation efforts. Further, the report describes the value that PSC has within Australia’s WHS legal context.