Psychosocial Risk Assessment: Why Does it Matter?
Some of the greatest scientific discoveries have come about entirely by accident.
Penicillin was born when Sir Alexander Fleming took a two week holiday and returned to his lab to find that a mould had grown over elements of his research, and that the unexpected mould deterred the growth of bacteria.
Fleming ran numerous tests and experiments on the behaviour of his mould discovery - which he named penicillin - but he was not a chemist, and did not have the training or tools to isolate the active anti-bacterial agent and test it in humans. He did, however, write a paper on his findings.
It took another 12 years and the work of two chemists, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain to isolate, test and turn the compound that Fleming had discovered into a useable product, and the urgency of the World War 2 effort to stimulate mass production. Penicillin saved many lives and changed the course of medicine globally.
Fleming, Florey and Chain were each awarded the Nobel prize in 1945 in Physiology or Medicine. From their efforts, we have antibiotics, and also a recipe for turning data into a useable, scaleable positive intervention.
How can we apply this to mental health in the workplace by way of Psychosocial Risk Management?
The importance of data
Without Fleming’s data showing the impact of ‘penicillin’ halting the spread of bacteria in a petri dish, Florey and Chain had nothing to work with.
Without Florey and Chain’s chemistry skills, we would not have had an isolated, safe and manufacturable bacterium-halting product that was known to be fit for purpose, safe for human consumption and effective.
Without the pressure of the War effort, we may not have mass produced antibiotics at the same level of urgency.
Data without purpose (though often interesting) is meaningless.
Intervention without data can be circuitous at best, and positively dangerous at worst.
Intervention backed by sound data - and applied with sufficient motivation - can change the course of human history.
Artist credit: XKCD
Recipe for change (applicable to both groundbreaking scientific discoveries and workplace mental health)
1) Data and discoveries / hypotheses
2) Creation of tools, and thorough testing - including testing on applicable populations
3) A need for change / investment into positive outcomes
When the outcome of research is not what we expected
Data can surprise us.
In as much as research may turn up groundbreaking discoveries that weren’t the subject of an initial hypothesis, sometimes researchers discover that the data does not support their initial hypotheses.
A meta-analysis of the mental health of construction workers in Australia found that of the 14 psychosocial hazards analysed, role conflict (multiple competing priorities) had the greatest correlation with poor mental health outcomes. This surprised the researchers, who had presumed high job demands (high work pressure due to urgency or volume of work) would have the greatest impact. See this Podcast for a discussion of the research.
Inappropriate interventions - a double threat
Imagine an intervention based on the presumption of the researchers rather than the actual data.
That might look like a company-wide management plan to reduce job demands. Such an intervention might have some positive impact. But, if it didn’t coincidentally reduce role conflict, it wouldn’t resolve the statistically highest threat to positive mental health outcomes.
Even if the intervention did have a positive impact, the impact might not be the most efficient way to address the problem, and therefore, would not be the most efficient use of the organisation’s precious Health and Safety or wellbeing budget.
Artist credit: Dilbert by Scott Adams
At worst, a poorly chosen intervention might cause unwanted outcomes (think about antibiotic resistance, and the problem of superbugs that are difficult to treat because of antibiotics overuse).
Actions based on assumptions are dangerous
A good intervention is only a good intervention when it is applied to the right problem in the right way. Context matters.
Now consider that the assumptions about the data revealed in the meta-analysis mentioned above were made by highly qualified experts in the field. If highly qualified experts, working in their own field of specialty, can make wrong guesses about the data they expect to see (prior to analysis), how successful will the guesses of people who are only moderately qualified be? (such as an HR team, an internal H&S person or external Consultant who lacks specialist knowledge).
Artist credit: Dilbert by Scott Adams
Taking actions based on assumptions is dangerous.
Side note: The researchers noted above mention their surprise about the data outcomes purely in a conversational sense - at no point is there any hint of assumption impacting their research behaviour or decision making.
Interventions do not occur in a vacuum (or in other words: everything has side effects).
Viagra was initially intended as an angina medication, until Pfizer discovered that the men taking it to treat their dicky hearts were having an unexpected, and welcome, side effect -reliable erections.
The Post-It was invented as a result of Dr. Silver Spencer’s attempt to create a super-strong adhesive at 3M. He failed, and instead created a re-useable, pressure-sensitive glue that he then tried to market internally as a ‘solution without a problem’ for several years without gaining any traction - that is, until a colleague, Art Fry, came up with the idea of using the adhesive at the back of his bookmark to mark his place in a hymn-book.
What we can learn from Viagra and the Post-It
A solution is no good to anyone, without a problem. If nobody had seen the value of a sticky note, Dr. Spencer’s re-useable, pressure-sensitive adhesive would have remained one person’s notion of an idea with potential - an unsellable solution.
Psychosocial Risk Assessments are pointless without a leadership team who sees the value in Psychosocial Risk Management, and is prepared to invest in Psychosocial controls to prevent harm and to help their people thrive. If consumers had not seen the value in preventing death from bacterial infections, we would not have mass-produced antibiotics. For any intervention to get legs, someone with the power to do so needs to run with it.
Psychosocial Risk Management may be the latest hot-topic in Health and Safety compliance because of the advent of ISO45003 and subsequent regulatory changes, but if an organisation is interested in Psychosocial Risk Management from a purely compliance perspective, it’s unlikely to achieve the same positive impact as an organisation who really wants to see their people thrive. Tick-box exercises in human happiness don’t tend to get quite the same traction and can produce the opposite to intended effects.
Artist credit: More Dilbert by Scott Adams
Second, any intervention may have unintended consequences. Human beings are complex creatures, physiologically and psychologically. Physical and mental interactions of any kind can trigger cascading and unexpected outcomes, and that’s why even in the early days of pharmaceuticals, chemists ran trials to test the safety of their medicines.
Check out the previous blog in this series for a discussion of organisations as ecosystems, and the cascading impacts of psychosocial hazards and controls.
Artist credit: XKCD
Most organisations don’t have time for accidents when it comes to the wellbeing of their people
Companies like Pfizer and 3M have room for unexpected and marketable discoveries. They create environments that facilitate these kinds of happy accidents, and then they profit from them.
The same is not true for most organisations who are considering Psychosocial Risk Management tools to assess the psychosocial hazards within their teams and input controls to create a mentally healthy workplace. In this instance, organisations are not looking for unintended side effects or happy accidents. They are looking for the most credible, safe and efficient tools and systems to achieve the desired result.
How can organisations approach Psychosocial Risk Management effectively?
1) Collect appropriate data by conducting a Psychosocial Risk Assessment
2) Analysis of data to create systems and tools that are safe, proven, effective and appropriate for the population (workforce)
3) Leadership buy-in to create momentum for change.
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Ready to learn more about Psychosocial Risk Management, but not sure where to go next?
Check our first expert LinkedIn Live session - Psychosocial Risk Management: The Basics coming up on Thurs Feb 23rd at 09.30am NZT (that’s Wed Feb 22nd 08:30pm / 20:30 for UK folk).
Registered, Principal Psychologists and workplace psychology specialists Bridget Jelley and Jay Barrett will take you through an informative, but informal session on understanding Psychosocial Risk Management - what it is, how you can and should approach it, compliance, and the opportunities for increased engagement, improved retention and business growth.
Tune in to the LinkedIn Live here.
Blog by Ngaire Wallace. Contact me to suggest a blog topic on ngaire@glia.co.nz or connect with me on LinkedIn.