Understanding Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace: What Employers Need to Know

While we’ve made significant progress in managing physical risks in the workplace, the same can’t always be said for mental and emotional wellbeing. Psychological hazards - like stress, burnout, exclusion, or unfair treatment - can be just as damaging as a physical injury, yet they are often overlooked or poorly managed.

We are all familiar with some of the more obvious psychosocial hazards - aggression, violence, bullying, harassment (including sexual harassment), and exposure to traumatic content or events. These behaviours and experiences are well-recognised as harmful and have long been a focus of workplace safety initiatives.

However, a growing area of concern is the increasing recognition of job demands as a psychosocial hazard.  Job demands can become a hazard when they are severe, prolonged, or frequent, and employees are not given the support or resources to cope with them. Some common examples include:

Working long hours without adequate rest

• Unreasonable workloads, with too much to do and not enough time
• Insufficient breaks, leading to fatigue
• Lack of training or the right skills for tasks, resulting in mental strain

Importantly, low job demands can also pose a psychosocial risk. This is not about having the occasional quiet day—rather, it refers to sustained periods where an employee is under-stimulated or disengaged, with little mental, physical, or emotional effort required. This can lead to boredom, a lack of purpose, and feelings of frustration or being undervalued.

Under the Health and Safety at Workplace Act 2015, employers have a duty to identify and assess psychosocial risks and to eliminate or minimise them as far as reasonably practicable. This obligation extends beyond the physical work environment and includes the way work is designed, managed, and organised.

Employers should be actively:

• Identifying psychosocial hazards, including those related to workload, role clarity, and organisational change
• Assessing risks associated with those hazards
• Implementing control measures to reduce or eliminate the risks
• Monitoring and reviewing those controls to ensure their effectiveness

One area often overlooked is the psychosocial impact of workplace change. When changes are implemented- be it restructuring, new processes, or shifts in team dynamics—a lack of consultation or poor communication can result in employees experiencing harm.

This can take the form of what is known as “poor organisational justice”, where workers feel ignored, overlooked, or unfairly treated. Examples include:

• Failing to consider how change affects other employees’ workloads
• Not allowing time for training or transition
• Poor communication around what is changing and why

Such oversights can seriously damage employee morale and mental wellbeing and may lead to claims of psychological harm.

Conclusion

As our understanding of health and safety continues to evolve, so too must our approach. It’s no longer enough to focus only on slips, trips, or exposure to hazardous substances. Modern workplace safety must include the identification and management of psychosocial hazards - the social, emotional, and cognitive risks that can arise from how work is designed, organised, experienced, and this also includes changes to the workplace.

Employers are legally required to consult with employees about any changes that may affect their health and safety- including psychosocial risks. Effective consultation is not just a box ticking exercise; it involves genuinely seeking, considering, and incorporating employee feedback into decision-making.

Anthony Drake

Employment Partner