Last week, we ran a webinar on achieving psychosocial compliance with former CEO of SafeWork, Martyn Campbell. In the webinar, Martyn covered the case of SA Support Services who were fined $72,000. Below we unpack why and how you can avoid this.
The key driver of the fine
"The risk assessment process was clearly inadequate to identify and address the risk of sexual assault."
Why this is important
Many workplaces are yet to establish a risk assessment for psychosocial hazards. There seems to be a belief that this will be a costly and complicated process. We wanted to share two simple steps you can take.
What can workplaces do
Identify foreseeable risks and current controls for Safe Work's 14 hazards in your workplace. Let's look at violence and aggression in a school setting as an example:
- Foreseeable risk: If student behavioural policies are not enforced it could increase the risk of aggression from students to workers.
- Control: Ensure behavioural policies are in place and are enforced for students who misbehave.
We have a list of foreseeable risks by industry and corresponding no-cost controls. If you are interested, complete this form and we can setup your risk assessment for you with these risks and a few controls (it will look like this).