Australia is addressing psychosocial work hazards. When will America also do this?
in his book Managing psychosocial risks and work-related stress in today’s work environment (2022), attorney/researcher Ellen Pinkos Cobb defines psychosocial work hazards as social and organizational aspects of work that “have the potential to cause psychological and physical harm.” she adds:
Today’s working world is more complex than ever. The transition from an industrial to a service economy, as well as the consequences of the green and demographic transitions, have increased the psychosocial hazards and work-related stressors that exist in the modern world of work. COVID-19 has presented another challenge in the workplace.
general psychosocial work hazards
The conversation about psychosocial work hazards is global, and some countries are taking it seriously. For example, Australia – as part of its national occupational health and safety regulations – has implemented a code of practice on the management of psychosocial hazards in the workplace. It identifies 17 specific psychosocial threats:
- job demand
- job insecurity
- less control at work
- Tiredness
- poor support
- lack of role clarity
- poor organizational change management
- inadequate award recognition
- poor organizational justice
- traumatic events or content
- remote or isolated work
- intruder monitoring
- poor physical environment
- violence and aggression
- Naughty
- Harassment including sexual harassment
- conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions
here in usa
By comparison, the US lags behind in addressing psychosocial work hazards. Among other things, although our national occupational safety and health regulations address workplace hazards that cause serious physical harm, they ignore hazards that cause serious psychological harm.
The costs of ignoring psychosocial work threats are considerable. As I wrote in my previous blog entry, in 2024, a group of eminent experts in occupational health and safety issued “an urgent call to address work-related psychosocial hazards and improve workers’ well-being.” American Journal of Industrial Medicine. He recommended an ambitious agenda involving all key workplace stakeholders.
Furthermore, in 2022, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy published The US Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health and WellnessWhich examined the public health costs of toxic workplaces and urged a national commitment to supporting workers’ mental health. The framework recognized how toxic work environments create “numerous and wide-ranging impacts to the health of individual workers and their families, organizational productivity, the bottom line for businesses, and the U.S. economy.”
I’m glad efforts are underway to create this conversation. For example, earlier this year, I learned about the Work Stress Prevention Alliance (WSPA), an exciting new initiative founded by leading scholars, researchers, and advocates in occupational safety and health. (Longtime readers of this blog will be pleased to know that I was introduced to the WPSA at one of their organizing meetings through an invitation to discuss potential legislative and regulatory responses to workplace bullying.)
Here’s how WSPA describes its mission:
The Work Stress Reduction Coalition is a group of individuals representing academic research, labor, and other occupational health and safety advocates. The coalition was formed in response to an urgent call to address the high prevalence of work-related stress (due to psychosocial hazards) in the US.
Our goal is to bring together the cross-sector and interdisciplinary expertise needed to advance comprehensive initiatives such as the development of guidelines, resources, and laws/regulations to reduce and prevent work-related stress in the US.
WSPA leaders are doing a lot of planning behind the scenes right now. I firmly believe that, sooner or later, this group will have a very positive impact on our workplace practices and policies. Now is the time for these leading voices to be heard.