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National groups issue workplace psychological health tool

The Canadian Standards Association has launched a new national standard for psychological health and safety in the workplace, jointly with the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Canadian Labour Congress.

The standard entitled, “Psychological health and safety in the workplace: Prevention, promotion, and guidance to staged implementation” was designed to help employers, workers, and unions identify psychological health hazards in the workplace.

The new standard provides a systematic approach to developing and maintaining a psychologically healthy and safe workplace. The standard includes tools and information on:

• identification of psychological hazards in the workplace;
• assessment and control of risks in the workplace associated with hazards that cannot be eliminated, such as reasonable job demands and stressors due to organizational change;
• implementation of practices that support and promote psychological health and safety in the workplace;
• growing a culture that promotes psychological health and safety;
• implementing measurement and review systems to ensure sustainability.

“Seven million Canadians will experience mental health problems this year,” said Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress. “I think (the standard) is a great start to take that stigma away, let people acknowledge their problem and then deal with them without fear of repercussion.”

CAUT occupational health and safety officer Laura Lozanski pointed out that while the use of the standard is voluntary, it can be referenced in collective agreements as a health & safety tool or included in other health and safety policies. “It can also be used with other resources aimed to identify psychological hazards, such as the Mental Injury Toolkit launched in October 2012 by the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (ohcow.on.ca),” said Lozanski. 

Lozanski noted that the standard is currently free to download and share. She encouraged health and safety representatives to bring it to the attention of their academic staff association executive, their joint health and safety committee and their members.

CSA standards are reviewed every 5 years. CAUT will be undertaking a survey later this year to determine utilization of this standard within universities and colleges. Questions about the standard and its implementation should be directed to Lozanski (Lozanski@caut.ca) who was one of the three labour representatives on the committee that developed the standard.