The WHS Radar Report was released this week and it highlighted the case of Fortescue Metals. Fortescue entered into a $1.47 million agreement with WorkSafe WA for not providing documentation on key psychosocial safety matters. This involves 10 strategies to support the industry in managing psychosocial safety and here is a breakdown of these with expected costs (Section 4 has their 10 strategies). I wanted to look at one of these strategies.
NOTE: As with all these cases, we are not suggesting the organisation is or isn't managing psychosocial risks effectively. We do not have access to their processes. We are sharing these to highlight that these risks are now being taken seriously by regulators to encourage organisations to take action.
Strategy 4.4 – Multi-Year Plan ($200,000-250,000)
Fortescue identified a gap in proper psychosocial safety metrics making it hard to know if hazards exist and if what they’re doing is working. This raises an interesting question. What metrics do you really need to do this? Here are two essential metrics:
- The prevalence and impact of hazards in the eyes of the workers
- How this is changing over time
In my experience, I’ve seen that workplaces get a lot of data from various sources. Often, it’s hard to wrangle this data together to answer those two questions above. Relying on sources such as engagement surveys isn’t accurate and won’t hold up for a workplace inspection. I believe the way to overcome this is through focused worker consultation giving you exactly the data you need on psychosocial risks. If you haven’t already done this, I strongly recommend starting to consult the workforce specifically on psychosocial risks.
One pushback you might get is that people are surveyed out or senior leadership won’t support it. Maybe there’s a belief that this will involve a lot of work such as focus groups, interviews, data analysis and learning new systems. Together with Martyn Campbell we have developed an approach to overcome these obstacles.
In my opinion, Martyn is the most practical WHS professional I’ve worked with. We are very fortunate to be combining our software solution with the safety expertise of Martyn. I’d like to share this approach with you briefly below.
We are able to get this data for you on psychosocial risks without long surveys, focus groups, interviews, data analysis, prohibitive costs and learning new systems. If you're interested in finding out how, reach out here.
Summary of the strategies agreed to in the EU
1. Contractor and Sub-contractor Education Sessions
- Goal: Promote psychosocial safety by educating contractor and subcontractor managers/employees. These focus-group style sessions address harmful behaviours and empower positive workplace actions.
- Delivery: At least three sessions by end of Q2 2024, split between Perth and regional areas. Outcome summaries must be submitted to WorkSafe WA by that time
2. Executive Engagement, Vision and Commitment Program
- Goal: Embed psychosocial safety culture by equipping leaders at all levels (executives, senior site staff, supervisors) with best-practice guidance and tools.
- Includes development of:
- Guidance documents and quick reference materials;
- A psychosocial management taxonomy aligned with national and WA codes of practice;
- A working group with industry stakeholders to foster shared leadership akin to emergency response forums
3. Literature Review & Taxonomy of Psychosocial Hazards
- Goal: Research, review, and categorise psychosocial hazards to provide all mining industry participants with consistent definitions and risk frameworks.
4. Respectful Behaviour Advertisements
- Goal: Collaborate with WorkSafe WA to develop and disseminate respectful behaviour campaigns to reinforce safe workplace culture.
5. Psychosocial Assurance Standard for Contractors/Sub-contractors
- Goal: Create and enforce a standard to ensure contractors meet psychosocial safety expectations when engaged on Fortescue sites.
6. Security and Duress App
- Goal: Develop a publicly available app (via app stores) offering security and duress support to anyone in the mining industry, regardless of employer or site.
We hope you found this insightful and as always, thank you for reading!
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