Psychological health and safety questions for health and safety committees

Traditionally health and safety committees focused on physical hazards and risks. Today, the link between a worker’s focus and attention and their risk for injury and accident is well documented (National Safety Council, 2023). Psychological health and safety at work affects focus and attention.

Psychologically safe committees

Before your committee begins incorporating psychological health and safety into your process, it’s important to understand if your process is psychologically safe and effective in motivating positive change. The following questions can be a starting point:

• Is it clear how this committee can protect health and safety in a practical way? 
  • Does this committee’s work result in positive changes? If not, be creative and collaborative in a discussion about how this can be improved.
• Are the roles, processes and expectations clear? 
  • Do all committee members fulfill their stated obligations?
• Does your hazard identification report form include identification of psychosocial hazards?
• Are all committee members (management, union, employees) trained to identify and share hazards in a psychologically safe way? 
  • Is communication inclusive, solution-focused and respectful at all times, rather than accusatory or blaming?
  • Do all committee members have onboarding instructions, including review of the terms of reference, which support psychologically safe interactions? 
  • Are all members held accountable for psychologically safe interactions?
• Does your incident report form support psychological injury identification as well as physical injury? 
• Is ongoing health and safety education offered to all committee members, including training on psychological health and safety?

Exploratory psychosocial hazard questions

The questions that follow are intended to help health and safety committees integrate psychological health and safety into their existing processes. 

Each psychosocial factor, as identified in the National Standard of Canada on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, has been adapted for health and safety committees. The exploratory questions for committee members to discuss can also be asked of workers. There are separate questions that can be asked of leaders. This approach allows committee members to consider where a formal hazard investigation may be warranted. 

These questions can be part of an anonymous survey, a focus group discussion or individual interviews. The responses can support recommendations for psychosocial risk mitigation and overall improvement.

For help with potential low-cost or no-cost strategies to mitigate risk, review the ideas in Evidence-based actions for psychological health and safety. A link for evidence-based actions for each factor is included below. 

For various approaches to evaluating outcomes, review Evaluation planning for psychological health and safety.

Balance

Questions for committee members:

• How does our organization promote work-life balance? 
• What risks might this practice present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• What approaches, if any, do we have to help prevent burnout?

These Evidence-based actions for balance can help inform your recommendations.

Civility and respect

Questions for committee members:

• How does our organization effectively address inappropriate behaviour by co-workers, customers or clients? 
• What risks might this practice present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Do you think employees from all backgrounds are treated fairly in our workplace? 
• How do you ensure this?

These Evidence-based actions for civility and respect can help inform your recommendations.  

Clear leadership and expectations

Questions for committee members:

• Does every employee know what they’re expected to do at work? If not, why not? 
• What risks might this practice present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Do you think supervisors support every employee to do their job successfully? 
• What are the challenges to giving this support?

These Evidence-based actions for clear leadership and expectations can help inform your recommendations.

Engagement

Questions for committee members:

• Are all employees committed to the success of their team? If not, why not? 
• What risks might this practice present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Do you believe all employees feel proud of the work they do? 
• What leadership strategies help to promote this experience?

 These Evidence-based actions for engagement can help inform your recommendations.

Growth and development

Questions for committee members:

• Do all employees receive feedback that supports their personal growth? How does this happen? 
• What risks might this practice present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Do you think all supervisors provide helpful feedback on employee performance? 
• If so, how?

 These Evidence-based actions for growth and development can help inform your recommendations.

Involvement and influence

Questions for committee members:

• Are all employees’ opinions and suggestions considered at work? How does this happen? 
• What risks might this practice present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Do you think all employees feel comfortable talking to their immediate supervisor about how they do their work – as opposed to simply which tasks they must complete? 
• What supports this level of comfort?

 These Evidence-based actions for involvement and influence can help inform your recommendations.

Organizational culture

Questions for committee members:

• Do employees and management trust one another? If not, what’s getting in the way? 
• What risks might this level of trust present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Do you think employees feel a sense of community at work? 
• How do we support this?

These Evidence-based actions for organizational culture can help inform your recommendations.

Psychological competencies and demands

Questions for committee members:

• Does the organization prepare employees to deal with the psychological demands of their job? How’s this done, especially in terms of dealing with customers or clients? 
• What risks might this practice present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Does promotion to leadership positions consider the “people skills” necessary? 
• How does this process happen?

 These Evidence-based actions for psychological competencies and demands can help inform your recommendations.

Psychological protection

Questions for committee members:

• Would employees describe their workplace as being psychologically safe? For example, would they say they’re free from psychological harm? 
• What risks might the current work environment present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Do you think employees feel this organization makes efforts to prevent harm from bullying and harassment? 
• If so, how?

 These Evidence-based actions for psychological protection can help inform your recommendations.

Psychological and social support

Questions for committee members:

• Are employees with disabilities supported to do their jobs effectively? If not, what are the barriers?
• What risks might this level of support present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

Questions for leaders:

• Are employees helped to cope with work stress? 
• If so, how?

 These Evidence-based actions for psychological and social support can help inform your recommendations.

Workload management

Workload management is usually outside of scope for health and safety committees. This can present a significant risk to the psychological safety of employees. You can engage leaders in a discussion about this psychosocial factor with the following questions:

Questions for leaders :

• Do all managers and team leaders have the skills, resources and time needed to do our jobs well? 
• What risks might these factors present to psychological safety? 
• What do we recommend for risk mitigation?

These Evidence-based actions for workload management can help inform your recommendations.

Share this with those who are members of health and safety committees.