Psychosocial risks and mental health
Patrick Gordinne Perez2024-11-23T11:30:19+00:00The Ministry of Labour has published a questionnaire on mental health. Are you obliged to assess these risks? How do you assess psychosocial risks in your company?
Occupational hazards: Psychosocial risks
Obligation of the company
One of your obligations as an employer, regardless of the size of your workforce, is to ensure the health and safety of your employees in the course of their work.
This obligation implies the need to eliminate or reduce occupational hazards that may occur during the working day (e.g. falls from heights, collisions with objects, contact with operating machinery, cuts from handling work equipment, etc.).
Psychosocial risks
These risks include psychosocial risks (e.g. excessive workload, unfavourable working climate, working time that does not allow for reconciliation with family life, lack of supervision, etc.).
Prevention service
The most advisable way to prevent occupational risks for workers is to outsource their protection; that is, to contract an external occupational risk prevention service (SPA) -unless the law obliges you to set up your own prevention service-.
This SPA will prepare both the assessment of occupational risks and the planning of the preventive activity that all companies must carry out.
It is compulsory to set up your own prevention service in the following cases:
- If your company has more than 500 workers.
- If your company has between 250 and 500 workers and carries out any of the activities considered by law to be particularly dangerous.
- In cases where the Labour Authority so decides.
Most basic packages offered by PES do not include the assessment of psychosocial risks.
You should therefore request such an assessment additionally from your prevention service.
The INSS mental health questionnaire is a good tool to complement the prevention of psychosocial risks in your company, and can be used to obtain advice and recommendations from the INSS.
Obligations of the Company
Prevention plan for psychosocial risks
Your company is obliged to draw up and maintain an occupational risk prevention plan.
Specifically:
- This document must include an assessment of the risks existing in the company, taking into account the nature of its activity and the specific characteristics of all jobs.
- If the assessment identifies any health risks, the prevention plan should plan how they can be avoided.
Updated
The risk assessment must be carried out at the start of the activity and must be reviewed as the working conditions change (technological changes, refurbishment of the premises, etc.).
Work organisation
Psychosocial risks: Stress
Well, risk prevention is not only intended for companies with risky activities or using potentially dangerous machines or tools.
There are also risks arising from the way work is organised that can lead to stress, fatigue or violence.
Therefore, companies are also obliged to assess and prevent these psychosocial risks in their prevention plan.
Example of psychosocial risks:
- If you have night work or shift work in your company, the prevention plan must include measures to prevent such conditions from negatively affecting health (reducing the workload in the night shift, keeping the same employees in their shift group so that they can maintain stable friendly relations…).
- If one of your employees tells you that he/she is suffering from stress because of his/her responsibility, you are obliged to analyse the situation and to introduce some measures to eliminate or reduce this stress.
For example, you can put an assistant on the job or propose a reduction in working hours.
Protocols to prevent psychosocial risks
In order to prevent situations of violence or harassment at work, it is advisable to have protocols for action.
If you seriously fail to fulfil your preventive obligations (for example, if you do nothing in response to a well-founded complaint of harassment), those affected may request the termination of their contract with the right to compensation for unfair dismissal.
If you receive an inspection
Checking Psychosocial Risks
If you receive an inspection and are asked for your prevention plan, the inspector will check what preventive activities you have carried out in the area of psychosocial risks:
- They will require you to assess those types of risks (if you have not done so), or to complete the assessment if it is insufficient.
- After a period of time (within the period specified in the diligence), the Inspectorate will check whether you have taken the required measures.
- If you fail to do so, you will be fined between €2,046 and €40,985.
Your company’s risk prevention obligations include preventing stress, fatigue or violence at work.
Failure to do so may result in a sanction from the Inspectorate.