The ISO committee, especially occupational health & safety experts, has developed the ISO 45000 series, which can be used as a guideline for saving workers from accidents and occupational diseases. This is intended to cover organisations seeking success while ensuring that performance and safety are not compromised. Psychosocial risks are factors that may affect a worker’s psychological response to their work and workplace conditions, and may result in poor health and poor health behaviours (including reduced productivity and absences from work).
ISO 45003 is a new global standard that intends to give practical steps and methods of best practice for managing psychological health within the workplace. It will include rules around the management of psychological risk and incorporate it into a health, safety and wellbeing program. Adherence to ISO 45003 is voluntary currently, it is a guidance standard not a requirements standard, with no official certification and no compliance check.
What it is doing however is to highlight that the ISO Committee see mental health initiatives as an important part of the processes that you include in your management system. Many of the requirements of ISO 45001 include areas where mental health can play a key part in implementation.
Benefits of implementing the ISO 45000 series include:
- Improves hazard identification and risk assessment.
- Reduces downtime, overall costs of incidents at the workplace and the number of insurance premiums claimed.
- Acquire globally recognised TÜV SÜD certification mark.
The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety Model are:
- Improves hazard identification and risk assessment.
- Reduces downtime, overall costs of incidents at the workplace and the number of insurance premiums claimed.
- Acquire globally recognised TÜV SÜD certification mark.
The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety Model are:
- People need to be included.
- People wish to learn learn.
- People wish to contribute.
- People wish to be able to challenge the status quo when they believe there is a need for change.
Visit the ISO 45003 guidelines and what they mean for managing psychological risks in the workplace.
This publication by Insights Sonder illustrates that in Australia alone, over $900 million per year is paid in compensation for work-related mental health conditions. At least 65,000 suicide attempts are made over the same period. News feeds are full of #MeToo, burnout, bore-out, bullying, harassment and headlines such as, “a quarter of Australian employees are seeking a new job”. I would be interested in your feedback and opinions.