Psychosocial Risk ISO 45003
Psychosocial risk factors are things that may affect workers' psychological response to their work and workplace conditions.
Reducing the stress of your employees and promoting good mental health awareness can have a massive impact on your business particular if you are in the SME sector and have a small tight knit workforce who rely on each other not just to do their jobs but also for emotional support and guidance for issues inside and outside of work.
I’m sure that you will have read numerous articles about workplace stress and how it can have a massive impact on an individual and their ability to function at work and also outside of work but in reality what have you done as a company to try and change things for the better. I would suspect that many people have a lot of good intentions but then the pressure of deadlines, customer demands, staff issues take over and it becomes another well intentioned objectives that never moves forward.
During 2023 we started to offer our clients the new ISO 45003 standard which has been introduced as a new global standard for managing risks to employee psychological health in the workplace which provides methods of best practice within an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system.
ISO 45003 is the first ISO management system standard that outlines requirements for mental health at work. It’s an industry-leading tool, however, is not industry-specific and as such can be successfully adopted by any business or organisation that wishes to demonstrate their dedication to supporting the mental wellbeing of its employees.
ISO 45003 is intended to provide guidance on the management of psychosocial risks and also with the overall concept of promoting well-being at work. ISO 45003, as part of an occupational health and safety management system, is designed to work in conjunction with the current ISO 45001 occupational health and management systems standard.
This ISO Standard has been developed to help businesses and organisations to identify the conditions, circumstances and general workplace demands that may have the potential to impair the psychological, psychosocial and mental health and well-being of workers.
The ISO 45003 standard provides guidance that gives businesses and organisations practical advice on how to manage psychological and psychosocial risk in the workplace. This will allow and help employers to develop a clear structure that allows them to identify the main risk factors in their working environment and then formally assess those risks to decide what changes can be implemented to improve their working environment.
ISO 45003 pairs seamlessly with ISO 45001 which covers occupational Health & Safety, If you already have ISO 45001, then adding ISO 45003 can be straightforward. The standard is based on the same Annex SL framework, sharing an identical structure and many elements with the other standards. Our Consultants will ensure that It can be integrated easily and seamlessly with other ISO management systems and business management systems.
Benefits of ISO 45003
- ISO 45003 lays down the foundations for your business to champion mental health and wellbeing.
- Effective management of mental health risks.
- Improved recruitment, retention and diversity.
- Enhanced engagement and increased innovation.
- Improved business resilience with fewer absences from stress, burnout, anxiety and depression.
- Legal compliance.
Psychosocial risk factors are things that may affect workers’ psychological response to their work and workplace conditions (including working relationships with supervisors and colleagues).
Examples are
- High workloads,
- Tight deadlines,
- Lack of control of the work and working methods.