Psychosocial risk assessments, to the actual role.

A psychosocial risk assessment identifies the aspects of work that can harm psychological health, such as high job demands, low support, remote or isolated work, shift patterns and exposure to distressing events, and evaluates the risk they pose in a specific role. Under Australian WHS legislation, employers must proactively identify and manage psychosocial hazards.

The WHS primary duty of care covers psychological as well as physical health. Psychosocial hazard regulations (regs 55A-D, Model WHS Regulations) and Safe Work Australia’s Code of Practice require employers to identify psychosocial hazards, assess the risks and implement controls, before harm occurs.

Most pre-placement psychological screening is a generic questionnaire measuring how a person feels at a point in time, with no connection to what the role demands of them. The regulations ask a different question: what psychosocial hazards does this work carry, and what did you do about them before exposure? Why generic distress scores fail that test is unpacked in full on the Fitness for Work Assessments page.

The platform collects and presents information; every psychosocial outcome is determined and signed by an occupational health doctor. Responses are health information and are handled that way: employers see the risk grading outcome and recommended adjustments, under privacy-by-design controls. A psychosocial assessment at hiring complements, and never replaces, an organisation-wide psychosocial risk management program.