Psychosocial risk management

Step two: How to complete a risk assessment

Our downloadable risk matrix and list of tools and resources will help you navigate the risk assessment process. Sonder's VP of Member Support shares his tips on getting the most out of them.

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The four steps to managing psychosocial risk

Step one: Identify hazards

Understanding the risks that exist within your organisation is the first step towards managing them and creating a safer environment for your workers. This step often involves reviewing existing data and seeking new information, by talking and listening to your employees. Take me to this step.

Step two: Risk assessment

Next, you will consider the severity and likelihood of harm from exposure to the hazards you have identified in step one. This will help you assess the risk. Often this is achieved via a risk matrix.

Step three: Control risks

In this step, you will either eliminate the risk, or put every possible measure in place to minimise the risk. This can be done through a mix of planning and preventive controls, which all should be measurable. Take me to this step.

Step four: Review control measures

It's important to maintain, monitor and review control measures periodically. This step ensures your efforts in psychosocial risk management remain effective, and allows employees to provide feedback. Take me to this step.

Assessing the psychosocial risk

After you have identified  psychosocial hazards within your organisation, the next step is to assess the associated risks. 

In doing so, it's important to consider the severity and likelihood of harm from exposure to these habits, as well as their frequency and duration, to help you build a complete picture. 

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Understanding the variance in risk

In this step of the process, you'll need to invest the time to get into the details. The same hazards will have different impacts in different areas of your business. 

Understanding these subtleties will set you up for success and help you build the most effective risk controls in step three.

"It's important to have an objective approach to assessing where psychosocial risk arises in an organisation from a data perspective rather than assuming where risks arise. From there, organisations need to apply a risk register using a systematic approach to wherever that risk arises, based on the data."

Katherine Morris

Katherine Morris

Health and Safety Specialist and Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright

Download our risk management templates

Fast-track your psychosocial risk management process with our free-to-download templates.

Factsheet

Risk matrix template

This risk matrix is based on two intersecting factors: the frequency and the duration of a risk. Use it to plot your individual hazards and visualise the impact of a potential risk from low, to extreme.

Template

Risk assessment tools and resources

From employee survey questions to free guidelines and tools, we've gathered the most helpful resources that can assist you in this risk assessment step.

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