Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01380:reg:3:p7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01380
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 7/8)
Character Range: 52565–55687

(e.g. HSR or safety officer walk arounds)
    -          staffing, resourcing, procurement and refurbishment decisions (e.g. will outsourcing some work increase work demands for another area, like contract managers)
    -          work systems, policies, governance arrangements and procedures
    -          duty statements and performance agreements
    -          records of hours worked (e.g. regular extra hours indicating high work demand)
    -          absenteeism and turnover data
    -           exit interviews
    -          Health and Safety Committee (HSC) meeting records, and
    -          previous psychosocial risk assessments and any material feeding into them.

Not all psychosocial hazards will be associated with reported incidents, so it is important to gather additional information.

Information and advice about psychosocial hazards and risks relevant to particular industries and work activities are available from the WHS regulator, industry associations, unions, technical specialists, similar workplaces and safety consultants. Advice is particularly helpful in complex or high-risk situations. For example, where workers are exposed to violence or aggression from a person they owe a duty of care to, such as law enforcement officers.

Look for trends

You may be able to identify trends from the information you collect. Trends may show certain tasks have more hazards associated with them, or some hazards are more common in certain roles. Trends may show workers in a particular location are exposed to more hazards than in other areas, which may indicate a problem with the design of that work area or the way work is carried out there. This can inform your risk assessment.

Have a reporting mechanism and encourage reporting

You should establish a mechanism for workers to report hazards. This should protect the privacy of workers who make reports and allow for anonymous reporting where possible. Your reporting mechanism should suit your business size and circumstances and be proportional to the risks in your business. For example, an agency/organisation could have a board in the communal area for workers to write up hazards they identify, a locked box for making confidential reports, an email address to raise issues and the duty manager taking reports of any hazards posing an immediate risk.

It is important for hazards reported by workers be taken seriously. Workers can be encouraged to report hazards by:

    -          making it clear that workers can use work time to report psychosocial hazards treating all reports of psychosocial hazards seriously, appropriately and confidentially
    -          using agreed mechanisms, such as HSRs who can raise safety concerns for workers anonymously
    -          regularly discussing psychosocial hazards at team meetings or toolbox talks
    -          providing workers with support and a range of accessible and user-friendly ways to make a report informally, formally, anonymously or confidentially
    -          making it clear that victimising those who make reports will not be tolerated
    -          training