Danish research into interventions for psychosocial hazards assessed nine Danish companies participating in the Danish "Agreement to problem-solve" labour inspection strategy. Each company was working on specific psychosocial issues, including bullying, unclear demands and high workload, and were assessed based on what measures they implemented and how well they worked.
The study led to a revision of the Hierarchy of Controls (HoC) resulting in a P-HoC - and highlighted the need for further investigation of the P-HoC’s impact and explore alternative frameworks for better psychosocial hazard outcomes. The study also emphasised the need for a more robust application of higher-level and multifaceted interventions to improve the psychosocial working environment.
The researchers, from the centre, say the companies' experiences show that interventions high on the hierarchy, such as hiring new staff or restructuring work, had a major impact on the psychosocial working environment. But it also showed that using a combination of comprehensive organisational and individual measures from different levels of the hierarchy was crucial for the best outcomes.
The levels of the revised P-HoC in the study include –
- Eliminate working conditions that threaten safety, health and wellbeing by implementing measures that directly remove sources of psychosocial risk like harassment, bullying or excessive workloads, or reduce quantitative demands by hiring more staff or providing additional resources
- Substitute safer and healthier work processes and practices through measures that balance workers' influence and demands and "replace harmful practices with those that promote mental health", such as substituting rigid schedules with flexible working hours, or introducing job rotation
- Re-engineer the work environment for safety, health, and wellbeing, which entails measures to redesign the physical or organisational environment to improve psychosocial wellbeing, such as improving ergonomic design, creating collaborative spaces and enhancing lighting, ventilation and noise reduction, and fostering a supportive work culture
- Administrative controls (company strategies, policies, communicative practices and guidelines), which include measures to develop and implement organisational strategies and guidelines that promote mental health, like stress management programs, clear communication channels and mental health awareness campaign
- Encourage personal change, with individual measures like training, mindfulness interventions, and individual psychological intervention, which are on the lowest level on the hierarchy – these should be viewed as supplementary to comprehensive organisational strategies
The researchers commented on their study - "Psychosocial hazards in the workplace contribute to mental disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and musculoskeletal ill‐health," they say. "We believe that workers should not have to adapt to harmful working conditions; rather, employers should create working conditions where people can stay healthy."