Many SMEs aren’t across psychosocial hazard obligations

Many SME leaders reported being unaware of their legal obligations under Safe Work Australia’s 2022 psychosocial hazards code of practice, new research has found.

For its research, the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) collated survey responses from 288 small to medium enterprise decision-makers across Australia to explore awareness and practices around psychosocial risk management.

This study was run by Dr Rebecca Langdon, from the university’s School of Management; Associate Professor Nektarios Karanikas, from its School of Public Health and Social Work; and Associate Professor Carol Hon.

The key findings from this report include that many SME leaders were unaware of their legal obligations under work health and safety (WHS) legislation. In addition, many of these businesses lacked formal policies or designated personnel for psychosocial risk management. Further, there were many of these decision-makers who had never heard of Safe Work Australia’s July 2022 Code of Practice for Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work.

Awareness

Based on the report’s findings, micro-sized businesses (1–19 employees) were the least aware, with one in five (22 per cent) of their decision-makers reporting that they lacked awareness about their obligations to manage psychosocial hazard risks. Medium-sized enterprises (101–200 employees) were the second least aware group, with one in 10 (12 per cent) of their decision-makers lacking awareness of these obligations, followed by nearly one in 10 (8 per cent) decision-makers in small-sized enterprises (20–100 employees).

The data revealed that micro-sized enterprises often relied on informal arrangements when coordinating the management of psychosocial hazards, with most of these responsibilities being placed on the general/senior manager.

Further, HR departments were largely dedicated to coordinating the management of psychosocial hazards in small-sized (39 per cent) and medium-sized enterprises (55 per cent).

Compliance falling behind

“Micro-sized enterprises indicated that they had not undertaken any attempts to identify such hazards to a much larger extent compared to other enterprises (40 per cent have attempted). Small- and medium-sized enterprises appeared more proactive, with most reporting that they had either currently or previously made efforts to assess psychosocial risks (60 per cent and 64 per cent currently addressing, respectively),” the report said.

Langdon highlighted the impacts that psychosocial hazards can have on mental and physical health. She said that improving awareness and compliance is critical as SMEs employ about 65 per cent of the workforce – about 8.5 million Australians. She added that scalable solutions and campaigns are required, which will make it easier for businesses to protect worker wellbeing and meet regulatory requirements.

Based on its findings, QUT recommended that workplaces create resources that facilitate compliance, while designing targeted education and awareness campaigns, including accounting, especially in the context of micro-sized enterprises.