Psychological Health And Safety Incidents

Psychological health and safety incidents are under-reported in most organisations, and usually for a reason that is easy to fix. People do not recognise what they experienced as an incident, because nothing visible happened.

Things that should be recorded include exposure to aggression from a customer or member of the public, a near miss involving threatened violence, a sustained period of unreasonable workload, exposure to traumatic content or events, a bullying or harassment report, and a psychological injury claim or extended absence linked to work.

Record what happened, when, who was involved, the psychosocial hazard in play, what was done in response, and what changed afterwards. The last one matters most, because a psychosocial incident that produces no change to how work is designed will usually recur.

Expect the number to rise once reporting is easy and safe. A rising count in the first year is normally visibility improving rather than the workplace deteriorating, and reading it the other way discourages the reporting you just built.

Safe Work Australia covers the duty to manage psychosocial hazards. This is general information rather than legal advice.

See Sentrient’s incident reporting software and psychological safety training course.