Established Methods To Create a Psychologically Healthy and Safe Workplace
There are two well-established methods to proactively address health, safety, and wellbeing in the workplace:
1) Risk Management.
2) Wellbeing Promotion.
If you consider the public health model approach to disease prevention (figure 1 below), wellbeing promotion can be considered a primary prevention intervention suitable for 100% of employees to reduce illness risk and promote positive mental health.
Risk management can be considered a secondary prevention initiative to identify at-risk employee groups and reduce the likelihood and consequence of illnesses. Risk management and wellbeing promotion activities can be carried out independently of each other but when used together they increase the chances of positive employee mental health outcomes.
When they fail to prevent a stress-related illness from occurring, illness support should be made available (tertiary prevention). This may include counselling (e.g. employee assistance programs), injury management, and return to work/stay at work provisions.
These are reactive strategies (post the illness/injury developing) and suitable for a smaller number of employees as compared with secondary and primary prevention level interventions.
Method 1: Risk Management
Risk Management in relation to psychological health and safety involves four steps:
Identify hazards
Find out what could cause harm, considering recognised psychosocial hazards (e.g. role overload,
role clarity, job control).
Assess risks
Understand the nature of the harm that could be caused by the psychosocial hazards, the likelihood
of it happening and the amount of harm that could be caused.
Control risks
Implement the most effective control measures that are reasonably practicable in the circumstances.
Review hazards
And control measures to ensure they are working as planned.
The risk management process also requires management commitment and consultation with employees, including Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) if they exist. When controlling risks (step 3), it is important to use higher-order controls wherever possible.
The Hierarchy of Controls applied to Total Worker Health by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health provides a conceptual model for prioritising efforts to advance worker safety, health and wellbeing. Controls and strategies are presented in descending order of anticipated effectiveness and protectiveness.
FlourishDx helps employers follow a risk management process for the identification and mitigation of psychosocial risks. The platform contains the “Work Design Survey”, which is a short battery of survey scales (86 multiple-choice items) to assess employee perceptions of common psychosocial hazards.
Consistent with best practice, and the integrated approach to workplace mental health, the Work Design survey also assesses positive characteristics of work that promote flourishing, as well as steps taken by the employer to mitigate illness.
Consulting with employees during the risk management process, including the identification of hazards, is an H&S legal requirement. The FlourishDx Work Design survey facilitates this process at scale and across geographically diverse workgroups.
Method 2: Health Promotion
Workplace health promotion is about fostering healthy workplace policies and supportive environments, enhancing positive social conditions, building personal skills and promoting healthy lifestyles.
Physical health promotion at work typically focuses on the five pillars of good health, often abbreviated with the acronym “SNAPS”:
☑ smoking cessation
☑ nutrition
☑ alcohol consumption
☑ physical activity
☑ sleep
Health promotion at work typically focuses on policies, education, and behaviour change programs to promote the development of these five pillars.
Martin Seligman (often referred to as the godfather of positive psychology – the branch of psychology concerned with wellbeing), has specified five pillars of mental health, often abbreviated with the acronym PERMA:
☑ positive emotions
☑ engagement (flow)
☑ positive relationships
☑ meaningfulness
☑ accomplishment
To promote positive mental health in the workplace, employers should introduce policies, education, and behaviour change programs aimed at assisting employees to develop these pillars.
Where to start?
FlourishDx contains the “Flourish Survey”. It is a short survey to assess the degree to which individuals have developed PERMA. This can be used as a needs analysis to determine priorities for intervention at either an individual or group level. At a workplace level, the Flourish Survey results are a leading indicator of mental health as it has been shown that people with well-developed PERMA are less susceptible to illness and more likely to be flourishing.
Learn more on the following topics:
MHFA training in Milton Keynes
Psychological safety / Psychological health
Psychosocial risk
