Transcript Slide 1

Psychosocial risk management at the
workplace:
European policy and practice
Dr Stavroula Leka CPsychol FRSPH
Associate Professor in Occupational Health Psychology
Institute of Work, Health & Organisations
Tallinn, 29 April 2010
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
Prevalence of psychosocial risks in the EU
1
• Psychosocial risks, work-related stress, violence,
harassment and bullying (or mobbing) are now
widely recognised major challenges to
occupational health and safety (EU-OSHA, 2007)
• Nearly one in three of Europe's workers, more than
40 million people, report that they are affected by
stress at work (EU-OSHA, 2002)
• In the 15 Member States of the pre-2004 EU, the
cost of stress at work and the related mental health
problems was estimated to be on average between
3% and 4% of gross national product, amounting to
€265 billion annually (Levi, 2002)
Prevalence of psychosocial risks in the
EU 2
• 6% of workers from EU 27 report having been exposed
to threats of physical violence either from fellow workers
or from others (Eurofound, 2007)
• Physical violence from colleagues was reported by 2%,
and from other people by 4% of workers
• Higher reported physical violence, as well as threats of
physical violence, in the northern European Member
States and a lower reported level of violence in the
southern Member States
• 5 % of EU 27 workers had been subjected to bullying
and / or harassment at the workplace over the past 12
months in 2005
• Less than 2 % of the European workers are exposed to
sexual harassment or unwanted sexual attention
• Again, there is a wide variation between countries on the
level of bulling and/or harassment at the workplaces
Work & Health – Pathways
Physical Work
Environment
Work Design &
Management
direct physical
effect
Individual cognitive
processes
Indirect stress
effect
Physical & Psychological Health
Psychosocial factors
• Concern person x environment interaction
– people’s subjective evaluations/appraisal of
terms of employment, work organisation &
interpersonal relationships
• “Those aspects of the work itself, the
organisation and management of that
work, and the social and organisational
contexts to work, which have the potential
for causing harm”
International Labour
Office, 1986
PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS - HAZARDS
Job content
Lack of variety or short work cycles, fragmented or
meaningless work, under use of skills, high
uncertainty, continuous exposure to people
through work
Workload & work pace
Work overload or under load, machine pacing, high
levels of time pressure, continually subject to
deadlines
Work schedule
Shift working, night shifts, inflexible work
schedules, unpredictable hours, long or
unsociable hours
Control
Low participation in decision making, lack of
control over workload, pacing, shift working,
etc.
Environment & equipment
Inadequate equipment availability, suitability or
maintenance; poor environmental conditions
such as lack of space, poor lighting, excessive
noise
PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS HAZARDS
Organisational culture &
function
Poor communication, low levels of support for
problem solving and personal development,
lack of definition of, or agreement on,
organisational objectives
Interpersonal relationships at
work
Social or physical isolation, poor relationships
with superiors, interpersonal conflict, lack of
social support
Role in organisation
Role ambiguity, role conflict, and responsibility
for people
Career development
Career stagnation and uncertainty, under
promotion or over promotion, poor pay, job
insecurity, low social value to work
Home-work interface
Conflicting demands of work and home, low
support at home, dual career problems
Health Outcomes
• Behavioural
physical inactivity, excessive
drinking & smoking, poor diet & sleep
• Affective
• Cognitive
• Medical
anxiety, depression, distress
decision-making, attention
hypertension, heart disease, woundhealing, musculo-skeletal disorders,
gastro-intestinal disorders, impaired
immuno-competence
• Organisational job satisfaction, morale, performance,
turnover, absence, organisational
commitment, errors
How do employers identify
problems?
• Employers tend to notice one of four things:
1.Sickness absence
2.Line managers and colleagues noticing short-term
changes in performance and behaviour
3.Performance management and appraisals
4.Individuals reporting problems (eg to OH or HR) or
accessing services
– Employers assume much of this financial burden
both in direct treatment costs and through
absenteeism, reduced productivity, and more
frequent work-related accidents
Standards Overview 1
• Council Directive 89/391/EEC on the introduction of
measures to encourage improvements in the safety and
health of workers at work
• European Commission guidance on risk assessment at
work
• ILO-OSH 2001 guidelines on occupational safety and
health management systems
• The Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series
(OHSAS)
• ILO Convention 187: Convention concerning the
promotional framework for occupational safety and
health
Standards Overview 2
• Standards directly referring to the concept of
psychosocial risk, and those specifically referring to the
concepts of work-related stress, workplace violence,
harassment and bullying have only been formulated in
very few countries
• Currently there are a three complementary European
approaches to addressing psychosocial risks at work:
– European Commission’s Guidance on Work-Related
Stress (2000)
– European Standard (EN ISO 10075- 1&2) on
Ergonomic Principles Related to Mental Work Load
(European Committee for Standardization, 2000)
– The European Commission’s Green Paper on
Promoting a European Framework for Corporate
Social Responsibility (2001)
Standards Overview 3
• Framework agreement on work-related stress
• Framework agreement on harassment and
violence at work
• Ergonomic principles related to mental workload
(European standard: EN ISO 10075)
• Council Directive 90/270/EEC on the minimum
safety and health requirements for work with
display screen equipment
Recognised gaps in research
(knowledge), policy & practice
• Lack of awareness across the enlarged EU –
often associated with lack of expertise, research
and appropriate infrastructure
• Responsibility for understanding and managing
the interface between work, employing and
mental health varies across countries
• Lack of agreement on appropriate strategies and
their implementation
• Lack of comprehensive framework to promote
harmonisation and clarity across the EU
Presentation Outline
• PRIMA-EF
• Key principles of best practice in psychosocial
risk management: policies, risk assessment,
interventions
• European approaches to PRIMA: Focus on
HSE’s Management Standards for work-related
stress
• Key issues of importance
• Way forward
PRIMA-EF
• Developing a European Psychosocial Risk Management
Framework
• FP6 - 2 year project
• 6 partners, 5 CCs: IWHO (lead), BAuA, ISPESL, TNO,
CIOP, FIOH
• 2 international organisations (WHO, ILO)
• 6 liaison organisations: 3 international (US NIOSH,
University of South Australia, Singapore Ministry of
Manpower) – 3 EU (Institute for Social Policies Bulgaria, HSE - UK, Cyprus International Institute Harvard-Cyprus Initiative for the Environment & Public
Health)
• 9 advisory organisations: DG-Employment, DG-SANCO,
EASHW, European Foundation (Dublin), ICOH-WOPS,
ETUC, ETUI, ETUI-REHS, BUSINESSEUROPE,
UEAPME,CEEP, UNIZO
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
PRIMA-EF Outputs 1
• Definition of European Psychosocial Risk
Management Framework
• Development of social dialogue and corporate
social responsibility indicators
• Survey involving stakeholders on a tripartite basis
• Review and analysis of available methodologies to
evaluate the prevalence and impact of psychosocial
risks at work and work-related stress > indicator
models
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
PRIMA-EF Outputs 2
• Comprehensive review and analysis of case studies
of evidence-based, best practice interventions in
different occupational sectors, worker groups,
enterprise sizes and European countries
• Inventory of different approaches > Special
reference to approaches that promote best practice
in occupational health and safety and the
management of psychosocial risks through
corporate social responsibility and social dialogue
principles and to gender-friendly approaches
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
PRIMA-EF Outputs 3
• Guidelines for: employers; trade unions;
occupational health and safety professionals
(such as occupational health psychologists)
and practitioners
• PRIMA-EF guidance sheets, book and
brochure
• www.prima-ef.org
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
PRIMA-EF Outputs
Added Value
• Clarity of best practice principles, standards and
actions
• Indicator models for monitoring
• Integrative framework that can be used for the EU
overall and across member states
• Can be used as part awareness campaign linking
policy to practice
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
PRIMA-EF Framework,
Enterprise Level
Management and organisation of work processes
PRODUCTION
Design, development and operation of work and production
Outcomes
Innovation
Productivity &
Quality
Risk Assessment
and Audit
Translation/Action
Plans
Risk Reduction
(Interventions)
Programmes
Quality of
Work
Workers’
Health
Organisational
Learning
Evaluation
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
Societal
Outcomes
PRIMA-EF Framework, Policy Level
The macro level risk management policy process
POLICIES AFFECTING THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORK
(economic, public health, labour market, trade policies, etc.)
Outcomes
Innovation
Economic
Performance
Risk & Health
Monitoring
Translation/Policy
Plans
Intervention
Programmes
Quality of Work
Public &
Occupational
Health
Societal
Learning
Policy
Evaluation
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
Labour Market
Impacts
Policy Level
• Hard vs soft law
• EU, national vs enterprise level
• Stakeholder agreements
• CSR
• The role of international organisations
Ethics and Corporate Social
Responsibility
• PRIMA is about people, their mental and
physical health status and business and
societal interests
• Protecting the psychosocial health of
people is not only a legal obligation, but
also an ethical issue and falls within the
remit of corporate social responsibility
Good PRIMA is good business
• Best practice in relation to PRIMA essentially
reflects best practice in terms of:
– organisational management, learning and
development
– social responsibility and the promotion of quality of
working life
• It leads to:
–
–
–
–
higher productivity
higher quality of products and services
greater attractiveness at the labour market
greater capabilities for innovation
Psychosocial risk assessment
should
• be based on data collected through tools such as
surveys, individual or group discussions or observation
methods
• take into consideration diversity issues and should not
ignore the wider context, such as occupational sector
characteristics or socioeconomic and cultural variations
across member states
• recognise and make use of the knowledge and expertise
of working people in relation to their jobs
• treat information at the group level (not catalogue
individual views about work) and measure consensus in
expert judgments on working conditions
Practice PRIMA should a continuous process –
part of normal business operations
• In every day practice, psychosocial risks
have many causes. As a consequence
there are no quick fix solutions; a
continuous management process is
required
• To be effective it is important to
understand the most important underlying
causal factors before solutions are
selected
Ownership by all stakeholders
• It is important that the main actors
involved in PRIMA are responsible for the
work to be done and have ownership of
the process
• They can be supported by internal or
external experts or by external service
providers but outsourcing ownership to
service providers is a failure factor
Evidence-informed practice
• PRIMA is a systematic, evidence-informed,
practical, problem solving strategy. It should aim
at producing a reasoned account of the most
important psychosocial factors associated with
ill-health for a specific working group and one
grounded in evidence
• Most important of all is that the solutions chosen
are fit for purpose
Different levels of interventions with
focus on measures at source
• The emphasis in European legislation on health
and safety is on primary risk prevention targeted
at the organisation as the generator of risk
• However specific actions targeted at the
individual level can also play an important role
depending on the extent and severity of the
problem within organisations and its effect on
employee health
Success Factors for Interventions
for Work-related Stress 1
Intervention Content:
• Aspects and elements of design of intervention:
- Theory-based intervention and evidence-based
practice
- Conducting a proper risk assessment
- Tailored-focus/ adaptable approach
- Systematic and stepwise approach
- Accessible to all key stakeholders and userfriendly format
- Comprehensive stress management approach
- Competency building skills development
Success Factors for Interventions
for Work-related Stress 2
Intervention Design:
• Evaluation of intervention:
- Strong study design with control
- Planned systematic evaluation as part of
intervention design
- Intervention evaluation should be linked to
intervention aims, goals, and identified problems
- Use of a variety of outcomes measures and
evaluative approaches (including process
evaluation)
- Short-term and long-term follow-up up over several
time points
- Comparative analysis across groups and subgroups within intervention
Success Factors for Interventions
for Work-related Stress 3
Intervention Context:
• Implementation success factors:
- Top-down and bottom-up approach
- Facilitate dialogue and communication among
key stakeholders
- Raising awareness on psychosocial issues
and their management within organisation
- Accessibility and usability of tools, methods
and procedures across all members of the
organisation
Key Priorities for Action in Interventions
Developing Capacity Building Programmes to support continuous improvement cycle
Evaluating and researching process issues and mechanisms that underpin Interventions
Developing the knowledge base on preventative approaches for work-related stress
Research into practice
Developing a framework on guidance and standards for work-related management and prevention and
in their evaluation
Movement towards increased multidisciplinary research and practice
Awareness raising on psychosocial issues in workplace and work-related stress at the level of the
employee and the organisation
Building the business case for psychosocial risk management
More research examining and evaluating comprehensive management interventions
More high quality intervention research and evaluation examining long term effects
Developing and maintaining social dialogue among stakeholders
Increased research and evaluation for organisational level intervention with a complex system
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
European Approaches to
Psychosocial Risk Management 1
• Health circles – Federal Association of Company
Health Insurance Funds (BKK) – Germany
• Istas21 (CoPsoQ) Method - Trade Unions’
Institute of Work, Environment and Health
(ISTAS) – Spain
• The SOBANE Strategy applied to the
management of psychosocial risks - Belgium
European Approaches to
Psychosocial Risk Management 2
• SME-vital – Health Promotion Switzerland –
Switzerland
• The Prevenlab-Psicosocial methodology –
UIPOT, University of Valencia – Spain
• Work Positive pack with HSE’s Management
Standards – Health and Safety Authority, Health
and Safety Executive and National Health
Service – Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales
HSE’s Management Standards
for Work-related Stress
1. Statements of good management
practice on six common sources of workrelated stress
2. A ‘toolkit’ for the assessment and
reduction of exposure to these six
sources of work-related stress
Background
• 1990s HSC consultation exercise about how
work-related stress should be tackled
• Opted for standards of good management
practice for a range of stressors rather than
regulation
• Rationale: managers familiar with a standards
approach in OSH. Also enable measurement of
performance (employee health and
organisational performance)
6 Management Standards
• Demands
Content of Work
– amount and difficulty
• Control
– how and when work is done
• Support
– regular and sustained encouragement
• Relationships at work
Context of Work
– unacceptable behaviour, respect, conflict
• Role
– ambiguity, conflict
• Change
– Management and communication of organisational change
Each standard contains… (1)
• [1] ‘platform statement’ that represents
good practice
• E.g. Demands:
– employees indicate that they are able to deal
with the demands of their jobs, and
– systems are in place for individuals’ concerns
to be raised and addressed
Each standard contains… (2)
• [2] States to be achieved (i.e. what
should be happening)
• E.g. Demands
– The organisation provides employees (including
managers) with adequate and achievable demands in
relation to the agreed hours at work
– People’s skills and abilities are matched to the job
demands
– Jobs are designed to be within the capabilities of
employees
– Employees’ concerns about their work environment
are addressed
Implementation
– The gap between the state to be achieved and
the current situation, as perceived by the
workgroup can be ascertained through the Risk
Assessment process
• Indicator Tool
• Analysis Tool
• Interventions
Key issues of importance 1
• Policy evaluation and its
accompanying infrastructure across
the EU
• Policy level interventions:
– lack of recognition as key area
underpinning primary, secondary and
tertiary prevention
– Process and outcome evaluation
– Longitudinal research
– Multidisciplinary approach
• Facilitation of social dialogue and
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
Key issues of importance 2
• Promotion of comprehensive approach
to psychosocial risk management –
linked to best business practices and
to broader community and societal
levels
• Awareness, education, development of
expertise (also of inspectors)
• Occupational health services
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
Key issues of importance 3
• Monitoring – micro and macro levels >
Different levels of indicators needed
Lack of evaluation at both levels and
especially at macro level
Monitoring tools
• Standards development
CSR link: stakeholder communication,
internal and external reporting, values and
systems
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
Way forward
• Developing PRIMA framework in other
countries
• WHO Network of CCs in OH > work with
developing countries underway > adaptation
of framework in the future
• Training materials > PRIMA-eT
• Standard development > PAS1010: BSI
(December 2010)
• Establishment of PRIMA Network of
© PRIMA-ef Consortium
PAS 1010
on Psychosocial Risk Management
• Will provide clarity on the basis of a framework unifying
different approaches
• Will increase business accountability and allow
uniformity to spread through stakeholders
• Will promote dialogue among stakeholders which is
expected to facilitate improvements in the area of
psychosocial risk management and allow occupational
health to be contextualised in relation to other business
activities
• Ready by December 2010
Thank you!
Stavroula Leka
[email protected]
www.nottingham.ac.uk/iwho
www.prima-ef.org
© PRIMA-ef Consortium