WorkSafe Victoria is pushing for mandatory prevention planning on 5 psychosocial hazards. These are:
- Bullying
- Sexual Harassment
- Occupational Violence or Aggression (the psychological impact of this)
- Exposure to Traumatic Content or Events
- High Job Demands
They've outlined what duty holders should be doing now. We unpack this below.
One of the key takeaways here is 'Written Prevention Plans':
"The development of written Prevention Plans is one tool that duty holders can use in discharging their obligations under the OHS Act right now."
The prevention plan outlined by WorkSafe aligns with a 'risk assessment'. Here's how you could do this:
- Form a small psychosocial safety committee
- Pick one hazard from Victoria's list e.g. Bullying
- Identify the risks that could lead to bullying e.g. not enforcing policies
- Consider/implement controls for that risk e.g. ensure policies are enforced (detail how you do this)
Make sure this is documented. Consulting workers will strengthen compliance, as SafeWork outlines here.
If you would like Skodel to design a prevention plan for one hazard for you, just fill in this form. Lastly, we tried out Google's AI podcasting tool this week. Here is a podcast on the proposed changes for those who enjoy the podcast format (this is AI generated).
Thank you for reading, we hope it was insightful.
