A psychosocial hazard or work stressor is any occupational hazard related to the way work is designed, organized and managed, as well as the economic and social contexts of work. Unlike the other three categories of occupational hazard (chemical, biological, and physical), they do not arise from a physical substance, object, or hazardous energy.
Psychosocial hazards affect the psychological and physical well-being of workers, including their ability to participate in a work environment among other people. They cause not only psychiatric and psychological outcomes such as occupational burnout, anxiety disorders, and depression, but they can also cause physical injury or illness such as cardiovascular disease or musculoskeletal injury. Psychosocial risks are linked to the organization of work as well as workplace violence and are recognized internationally as major challenges to occupational safety and health as well as productivity.
Types of hazard
In general, workplace stress can be defined as an imbalance between the demands of a job, and the physical and mental resources available to cope with them. Several models of workplace stress have been proposed, including imbalances between work demands and employee control, between effort and reward, and general focuses on wellness.
Psychosocial hazards may be divided into those that arise from the content or the context of work. Work content includes the amount and pace of work, including both too much and too little to do; the extent, flexibility, and predictability of work hours; and the extent of employee control and participation in decision-making. Work context includes impacts on career development and wages, organizational culture, interpersonal relationships, and work–life balance.
According to a survey by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the most important psychosocial hazards—work stressors—are: Job strain Effort-reward imbalance Lack of supervisor and co-worker support Long working hours Work intensification Lean production and outsourcing Emotional labor Work–life balance Job insecurity Precarious work Other psychosocial hazards are: Having a toxic workplace or hostile work environment Lack of perceived organizational support, including perceived psychological contract violation Lack of work–life balance, including work–family conflict Lack of person–environment fit Behavioral issues such as workplace aggression, workplace bullying, workplace harassment including sexual harassment, workplace incivility, workplace revenge, and workplace violence Personality issues such as narcissism in the workplace, Machiavellianism in the workplace, and psychopathy in the workplace Micromanagement Organizational conflict Incident stress Jury stress Shift work Information privacy issues regarding data derived from workers In addition, levels of noise or air quality that are considered acceptable from a physical or chemical hazard standpoint may still provide psychosocial hazards from being annoying, irritating, or causing fear of other health impacts from the environment.
Assessment
Psychosocial hazards are usually identified or assessed through inspecting how workers carry out work and interact with each other, having conversations with workers individually or in focus groups, using surveys, and reviewing records such as incident reports, workers' compensation claims, and worker absenteeism and turnover data. A more formal occupational risk assessment may be warranted if there is uncertainty about the hazards' potential severity, interactions, or the effectiveness of controls.
There are several risk assessment survey tools for psychosocial hazards. These include the NIOSH Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (WellBQ) from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Total Worker Health program, the People at Work survey from Queensland Workplace Health and Safety, the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire from the Danish , and the Management Standards Indicator Tool from the UK Health and Safety Executive.
Control
According to the hierarchy of hazard controls, the most effective controls are eliminating hazards, or if that is impractical, minimizing them, through good work design practices. These include measures to reduce overwork; providing workers with support, personal control, and clearly defined roles; and providing effective change management.