How this organisation manages psychosocial hazards simply

Psychosocial Safety Insights - A Case of Doing It Well

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Many discussions on psychosocial risk focus on when systems fail (including Skodel's). This week, we’re highlighting a case where it was done simply, defensibly and effectively.

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A straightforward approach that worked

St Joseph’s College Echuca used a short, workforce-led check-in to identify psychosocial hazards and assess risk. It saved HR and Safety teams days and weeks in trying to bring together multiple data sources to determine risk levels and controls for the prevention plan.

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Clear survey methodology into WHS outputs

The data fed directly into the school’s WHS system using a clear framework for understanding and managing psychosocial risk:

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• Predominant state at work (e.g. stress/burnout, positive/motivated)
• Duration of exposure (isolated or sustained)
• Functional impact (managing well or materially impaired)
• Contributing hazards (specific risks mapped to hazards, e.g. job demands)
• Staff-generated control ideas

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No complicated formulas or terminology. Plain and simple language made it easy for staff to sit and simple for leaders to interpret.

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What was identified

Using the contributing-factors question (Q4), the school identified that job demands and poor support hazards were the most significant risks.Both risks stemmed primarily from lack of clarity in student behavioural policies. There was interaction between staff being regularly faced with challenging student behaviour and a lack of clarity on how to manage it. This was identified as the greatest source of potential harm because:

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• It created reactive workloads (job demands)
• Staff were unsure how to apply behavioural expectations to very common occurrences (poor support)

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The survey was configured to include these risks given their industry and day-to-day operational demands.

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Controls and measuring effectiveness

Controls were implemented to address clarity in behavioural policies and strengthen support channels. Rewriting student behavioural policies to include specific behaviours and recirculating this.The same check-in was then re-run to review effectiveness. The radar graph was used to visualise the results.

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The results

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Implementing your framework

If you’d like to discuss how Skodel can support your organisation in building out a practical approach to psychosocial risk management, we’re always happy to have an exploratory conversation - info@skodel.com

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