Critical Controls for Psychosocial Hazards

Psychosocial hazards are complex, varied and deeply personal. They don’t operate like physical hazards. You can’t engineer your way out of a toxic workplace culture with a checklist and a wellness webinar.

Not All Controls Are Created Equal

In risk management, a critical control is one that must work to prevent a serious consequence or mitigate an unwanted outcome.

Without it, failure is likely. We understand this well for physical risks – like fall arrest systems for working at heights, fixed barriers to prevent access, fire suppression systems – but when it comes to psychosocial hazards, things get murky.

Businesses generally rely on administrative controls like:

• Annual code of conduct training

• A one-page mental health policy

• Telling workers to “just call EAP”

• Staff gym memberships

These are not critical controls. They’re supporting activities – important, yes – but they don’t meet the threshold of being critical unless:

• They directly prevent or mitigate a serious unwanted event

• They have clear, auditable design features

• Their effectiveness is regularly verified

A System Design Problem, Not a Human Problem

One of the biggest mistakes we make is assuming that psychosocial hazards are behavioural problems that individuals need to manage better. The truth? Most are system design issues.

Example 1: Exposure to Traumatic Events (Emergency Services / Healthcare)

Hazard: Repeated exposure to traumatic events.

Causes:

• Attending multiple high-impact incidents in a single shift or roster cycle

• Lack of opportunity to emotionally process or decompress

• Stigma or barriers to accessing support

Preventing Controls (Work Design Focus):

• Critical Control: Roster design limits the number of traumatic incidents per worker per shift (monitored and enforced).

• Critical Control: Automated flagging system that triggers a mandatory wellbeing check after specific types or frequency of incidents (built into electronic case management).

• Scheduled decompression time between high-risk jobs.

• Peer support personnel embedded in the shift structure.

Consequences:

• PTSD, burnout, anxiety

• Long-term psychological injury claims

• Loss of skilled staff due to inability to cope

Mitigating Controls:

• Rapid access to trauma-trained clinicians (within 24 hours)

• Temporary redeployment to lower-stress duties

• Support with workers’ compensation and return-to-work planning

Example 2: High Workload and Unrealistic Timeframes (Corporate / Project Environments)

Hazard: Sustained high workloads and time pressure.

Causes:

• Under-resourcing and poor job planning

• Inability to say no or reprioritise without penalty

• Reward structures that favour overwork

Preventing Controls (Work Design Focus):

• Critical Control: Digital workload tracking system with escalation thresholds (e.g. average weekly hours > 50 triggers review).

• Critical Control: Integrated work design reviews during planning phase (ensuring tasks are realistically allocated and resourced).

• Built-in workload buffers during peak periods.

• Regular 1:1 check-ins with psychological safety to raise workload concerns.

Consequences:

• Burnout, reduced performance, errors

• Resignation, absenteeism, psychological harm

• Increased safety incidents due to fatigue

Mitigating Controls:

• Immediate adjustment of deliverables and expectations

• Mental health leave provisions with clear, supportive pathways

• Manager coaching to support safe workload redistribution

Example 3: Workplace Bullying and Aggression (Any Industry)

Hazard: Ongoing exposure to bullying or psychological aggression at work.

Causes:

• Poor leadership behaviours left unchallenged

• No clear reporting pathway or fear of retaliation

• Toxic workplace culture normalising exclusion or abuse

Preventing Controls (Work Design Focus):

• Critical Control: Anonymous reporting system that triggers an impartial investigation process with oversight.

• Critical Control: Management performance standards tied to psychosocial safety metrics (e.g. team survey results, complaint trends).

• Leadership selection criteria that include demonstrated psychological safety capability.

• Clear interpersonal conduct standards, trained across the workforce.

Consequences:

• Psychological injury, loss of self-esteem, absenteeism

• Workers’ compensation claims and legal action

• Damaged reputation, high turnover

Mitigating Controls:

• Third-party conflict mediation and restoration processes

• Relocation or redesign of affected roles

• Ongoing counselling and recovery supports

Example 4: Lack of Role Clarity (Common in Mergers, Restructures or Growing Teams)

Hazard: Unclear responsibilities and expectations.

Causes:

• Poorly defined roles or rapid organisational change

• Conflicting instructions from multiple supervisors

• Lack of onboarding or change management

Preventing Controls (Work Design Focus):

• Critical Control: Defined role descriptions embedded into onboarding, performance systems, and team planning tools.

• Critical Control: Regular work-in-progress meetings with cross-functional teams to prevent duplication or gaps in responsibility.

• Change impact assessments that review role clarity as part of project implementation.

Consequences:

• Anxiety, frustration, underperformance

• Conflict between team members

• Increased likelihood of errors or tasks falling through cracks

Mitigating Controls:

• Immediate facilitated team reset session to clarify roles

• Manager-led intervention to realign priorities and expectations

• Access to coaching or mentoring

Strengthen Admin Controls with Engineering Design

We’ll never fully engineer out human experiences – but we can design systems that make healthy decisions easier, and dangerous workloads harder to ignore.

• Is your control just an instruction, or does it have teeth?

• Can you audit whether it worked – or just hope it did?

• Is it designed for prevention, or to protect your reputation when things go wrong?

Psychosocial controls need to move beyond vague intentions. We need robust, well-designed systems with embedded expectations – systems that respond automatically, predictably, and consistently under pressure.

What Do We Mean by “Work Design”?

When we talk about work design in psychosocial risk management, we’re not talking about fluff.

Work design is about building systems and processes that are:

• Consistent – not left to individual discretion or goodwill

• Automated or triggered by real data – so responses aren’t missed when we’re busy or distracted

• Built into the flow of work – not an afterthought or add-on

• Effective in managing specific hazards – not vague catch-alls like “be nice” or “talk to someone”

If a worker is exposed to trauma or chronic workload stress – what system kicks in? Not what a good manager might do, but what always happens, without fail.

That’s work design. That’s where critical controls live.

When done well, it’s what separates organisations that hope psychosocial risks are managed from those that can prove they are.

Critical Controls Might Already Exist – Just Not Labelled That Way

Critical controls for psychosocial hazards, in the work design sense, are often already built into your existing management systems – they just haven’t been identified or verified as critical yet.

For example:

• Your rostering system might already limit high-risk shifts – but is it monitored for effectiveness?

• Your onboarding process might include role clarity – but is it consistent and auditable?

• Your project planning tools might include resourcing checks – but do they trigger action when thresholds are breached?

The work is often already happening. The opportunity is to strengthen, verify, and embed these controls so they function reliably under pressure.

And Before You Default to EAP...

Ask yourself:

• What exactly is the hazard we’re trying to manage?

• Have we matched our controls to the specific causal pathway?

• Is this control strong enough to prevent serious harm on its own?

• Can it function without relying entirely on individual behaviour?

If the answer is no – it’s probably not a critical control.

Critical Controls for Psychosocial Hazards