Professional Issues
More protection against psychosocial hazards
Employers and managers now have a clear responsibility to protect workers from psychosocial hazards at work, thanks to a new Code of Practice developed by a working group that included the NSWNMA.
The working group was composed of representatives from Safe Work Australia, SafeWork NSW, unions, employers and academic experts.
The code provides detailed information about an employer’s obligations to eliminate psychosocial hazards (wherever practicable) or to minimise those hazards. It also provides case studies of key psychosocial hazards, including the example of an emergency department in a public hospital where aggressive and violent incidents regularly occur and are often considered part of the job.
The guidelines outline how a manager or employer is now expected to identify psychosocial hazards and risks, including a lack of staff to manage patient behaviour, rostering that is a poor mix of experienced and inexperienced workers, excessive workloads, the competing demands of caregiving and reporting systems, and the effects of cumulative exposure to traumatic events and risk of direct violence.
It also sets out the actions that managers and employers need to take to prevent and minimise risks, including providing adequate and appropriately experienced staff; providing appropriate supervision, support and debriefing and counselling; and reviewing all workplace incidents and feeding back findings into workplace systems and workplace design.
“I’m extremely pleased to see the introduction of the Code of Practice,” said Nick Howson, an NSWNMA member working in mental health, who was part of an NSWNMA delegation that met with Kevin Anderson, NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, and urged him to adopt the code.
“It is important that nurses are involved in things like this wherever possible, because often it is the real-world experience of workers that shape the understandings that politicians and public servants use to write legislation and supporting documentation such as for this Code of Practice.”