ASU Toolkit for Mentally Healthy Workplaces
Every worker deserves a safe and healthy workplace – both physically and mentally.
Psychosocial hazards are any factors at work that increase the risk of work-related stress and can lead to mental or physical harm. When your work impacts your mental and emotional wellbeing that’s a psychosocial hazard.
ASU members employed in local government and community services experience a range of psychosocial hazards in their workplaces and industries, including:
• High workloads
• Low job control
• Bullying
• Harassment, including sexual harassment
• Poor environmental conditions
• Insecure work
• Poor organisational justice, and
• Occupational violence
In addition to working with members to resolve issues in their workplaces, the ASU is working to drive cultural change in the local government and community services industries to build mentally healthy workplaces.
About the project
In collaboration with WorkSafe Victoria, we’re conducting a project in local government and social and community services. Our goal is to use a combination of workplace outreach and training to increase awareness of psychosocial hazards, risks, and solutions, and empower workers to establish mentally safer workplaces.
We want to develop an alternative to the top-down approach to psychosocial hazards because we believe that workers know what’s best when it comes to workplace safety. This project is worker-focused and depends on the involvement of workers like you.
Lunchtime yoga and community days isn’t going to cut it. We need real workplace change.
Psychosocial hazards are prevalent in the local government and social and community services. Sexual harassment, bullying, high workload, and emotional hazards are only a short list of psychosocial hazards workers in the local government and social and community services face all the time.
Check-the-box, e-learn modules and employer-mandated training sessions are not the only option. Engaging workers directly regarding their own health and safety leads to healthier and safer workplaces. That is why this project is so important.