| name | psychosocial-risk-specialist |
| description | Specialist in managing psychosocial risk — hazards arising from the design and management of work that may cause psychological (and physical) harm. Use to identify, assess and control psychosocial hazards such as high job demands, low job control, poor support, low role clarity, poor change management, low recognition, organisational injustice, traumatic exposure, remote/ isolated work, and workplace conflict, bullying, harassment or violence. Triggers on "psychosocial risk/hazard", "mental health at work", "work-related stress", "burnout", "workload", "job demands", "bullying", "harassment", "workplace conflict", "fatigue" (work-design angle), "traumatic exposure", "mentally healthy work", "ISO 45003". Key split — AUSTRALIA has explicit duties (model WHS Regs 55A–55D + a Code of Practice); NEW ZEALAND manages it under the general HSWA duties because "health" includes mental health. Not legal advice; not clinical/therapeutic advice. |
Psychosocial Risk Specialist
Purpose
Help a PCBU identify, assess and control psychosocial risks — risks of psychological harm
(and related physical harm) arising from the way work is designed and managed, the work
environment, and workplace interactions and behaviours. The core idea: psychosocial risk is managed
by changing the work, not by expecting individuals to be more resilient. Grounded in the NZ HSWA
duties and the AU model WHS psychosocial provisions.
When to use
- Identifying and assessing psychosocial hazards in a role, team, or change.
- Designing controls for work-related stress, high demands, bullying/harassment, traumatic
exposure, etc. — targeting the source (work design), not just the worker.
- Building a psychosocial risk assessment or review.
- Framing the duty to manage psychosocial risk in NZ or AU.
When NOT to use
- Clinical or therapeutic advice, diagnosis, or treatment, or managing an individual's mental
illness → that's for qualified health professionals / EAP. This skill is about work-design risk
management, not clinical care.
- A specific bullying/harassment/violence complaint or investigation as a legal/employment-law
matter → seek HR/legal advice (and
../incident-investigator/ for the systemic learning).
- The underlying legal duty detail →
../worksafe-nz-specialist/ (NZ) / ../safework-au-specialist/
(AU).
The jurisdiction split
| Australia (model WHS) | New Zealand (HSWA) |
|---|
| Basis | Explicit duty — model WHS Regs 55A–55D: define psychosocial hazard/risk and require risks to be managed, applying the hierarchy of controls and the reg 55D matters; plus the Code of Practice Managing psychosocial hazards at work | General duties — HSWA's definition of "health" includes mental health, so the primary duty (s 36) and management of risks (s 30) already require psychosocial risk to be managed SFAIRP. No separate psychosocial regs |
| Guidance | Safe Work Australia + state Codes of Practice | WorkSafe NZ Managing psychosocial risks at work (2024) and mentally healthy work resources |
| Watch | Adopted by the harmonised jurisdictions; Victoria runs its own approach — verify | Principle-based — manage with the same rigour as physical risk |
Establish jurisdiction first (via ../hse-advisor/). Both require managing the risk; AU adds
explicit regulatory structure. Treat regulation/section numbers as verify-pointers.
Method
Load references/psychosocial-hazards.md for the hazard taxonomy, the regulatory detail, and control
examples. In brief:
- Identify the psychosocial hazards — sweep the taxonomy (job demands, low job control, poor
support, low role clarity, poor change management, low recognition/reward, organisational
injustice, traumatic events, remote/isolated work, poor physical environment, and conflict,
bullying, harassment or violence). Look at the design and management of work, not personalities.
- Find out who is exposed and how — use real signals: worker consultation (essential), surveys,
turnover/absence/leave patterns, near-misses, complaints, exit interviews. Workers are the best
source — psychosocial hazards are often invisible from the top.
- Assess the risk — consider the frequency, duration and severity of exposure, and crucially
how hazards combine and accumulate (several moderate hazards together can cause serious harm).
- Control at the source, by the hierarchy — eliminate SFAIRP by designing the work better
(workload, rostering, role clarity, job control, supported change); then minimise. Individual-level
supports (EAP, training, resilience) are secondary — they help people cope with a hazard, they
don't remove it. (AU: have regard to the reg 55D matters.)
- Consult, then monitor and review — psychosocial controls must be developed with workers,
and reviewed for effectiveness (the work and the people change).
Jurisdiction note
AU: model WHS Regs 55A–55D and the Managing psychosocial hazards at work Code, as enacted by
each harmonised jurisdiction (confirm the enacted regulation number; Victoria differs — it does not
use the model WHS Regs, managing psychosocial risk under the OHS Act 2004 (Vic) and its own regulations).
NZ: no
specific regs — the duty flows from HSWA (health includes mental health; s 36 primary duty, s 30
management of risks) and WorkSafe guidance. Don't transplant AU regulation numbers onto an NZ matter.
Output format
A psychosocial risk assessment: hazard → who is exposed and how → the work-design factors
driving it → controls (source/work-design first, then individual supports) → consultation done →
review trigger. Plus the data signals relied on. Keep it about work, framed without blaming
individuals, and mindful of privacy/confidentiality of any personal information.
Hand-offs
- Bow-tie a significant psychosocial risk (threats → top event → controls) →
../critical-risk-manager/.
- Board/officer oversight of psychosocial risk (a governance topic) →
../officer-governance-advisor/.
- The legal duty →
../worksafe-nz-specialist/ / ../safework-au-specialist/.
- Systemic learning after a harm event/complaint →
../incident-investigator/ /
../complex-problem-analyst/. Route via ../hse-advisor/.
Disclaimer
This skill produces work-design risk-management drafting and structure — not legal advice and
not clinical, medical or therapeutic advice. It does not diagnose or treat, and is not a substitute
for qualified mental-health support for individuals. A competent person must validate the assessment
and controls against the actual workplace and the current law/guidance, and personal information must
be handled in line with privacy obligations. For a bullying/harassment/violence matter, also seek
HR/legal advice.
