The Most Concerning Psychosocial Hazard in the Aged Care Sector?

The current regulatory landscape requires aged care organisations to identify and manage health and safety concerns, including psychosocial hazards. The research shows high job demands are a potent risk.

If it’s done right, what begins as a company-wide effort to become compliant with health and safety regulations can turn into a driver of employee wellbeing and positive cultural and financial gains.

You could argue the aged care sector would seize outsized benefits from this attitude, considering 54% of surveyed workers in mid-2022 had considered leaving the profession entirely.

In an earlier article on wellbeing in the aged care sector we looked at the research to identify where the challenges were. This article will look at some of that same data from a regulatory perspective, with a focus on a psychosocial hazard risk specifically listed by Safe Work Australia.

(To understand what a psychosocial hazard is and your obligations, see our guide.)

What are “high job demands”?

Safe Work Australia defines high job demands as high levels of physical, mental or emotional effort required by the occupation. Importantly, it’s not about being somewhat busy. High job demands are only a hazard when they are “severe (e.g. very high), prolonged (e.g. long term), or frequent (e.g. happens often)”.

In aged care, there are reasons to believe that those thresholds are reached in every realm – the physical, mental and emotional.

Physical demands

A survey conducted by the Health Workers Union (HWU) found that over half of workers reported working one or more hours of unpaid overtime every week and 26.1% reported working three or more. A small group (5%) reported working more than seven hours each week.

While some overtime is certainly not in and of itself a psychosocial hazard, Safe Work Australia suggests reviewing overtime as part of the mandated identification process and WorkSafe QLD specifically mentions “excessive overtime” as something that should be tracked.

A relatively high number of workers (15.49%) in the HWU survey said they were “rostered to work a shift with a ratio of one to 30 residents or more”. An even higher amount (over 36.93%) said they didn’t have “enough time to see to residents’ basic care or emotional needs”.

All of the above point to risks that have to be identified and managed in an ongoing manner, according to the model legislation. This is on top of other health and safety management, such as the musculoskeletal risks highlighted in our previous article.

Mental demands

Under its guidance around what constitutes a high level job demand, Safe Work Australia lists as an example “not having the right skills for the task”.

In the HWU survey, over a quarter (27%) of staff said they had been “required to work with residents with mental health concerns without appropriate training or experience”.

This sort of training isn’t the only sort that might be required in an aged care facility. Everything from correct first-aid care to proper movement assistance could prove practical. Making note of the skills needs of various staff and making sure training is provided in a sustainable way is the kind of approach expected under the model legislation.

Another research-revealed mental demand is acculturation stress. Our last article referred to the prevalence of overseas-born workers in aged care, and how a lower level of English language proficiency is a significant stressor in an environment where frequent communication is key. Again, this would be something to track and manage if it applies to your organisation.

Emotional demands

According to the HWU survey, 79% of all staff and 86% of care and nursing staff have reported being abused by residents or visitors. In and of itself this kind of hazard, while perhaps unavoidable, needs to be identified. There also need to be steps in place to avoid such behaviour where it can be avoided and assistance given to workers where it can’t be.

Another high level demand, as identified in our last article, is emotional labour. This is where workers put on an emotional front for the sake of clients and visitors. Examples of this in aged care include breaking bad news about a client’s health to their family or remaining friendly during an aggressive conversation.

High levels of emotional labour in nursing have strong links with burnout, so where appropriate organisations are required to identify it as a risk and manage it in an ongoing manner.

Becoming compliant, and going further

While this article only deals with high job demands, there are a host of different psychosocial hazards that organisations are required to manage under the model WHS legislation – everything from poor support and poor organisational justice to lack of role clarity and traumatic events.

To get on top of the regulatory demands, it can help to partner with an organisation such as Healthy Business. Our philosophy is to start with an assessment of your current maturity level when it comes to wellbeing, and collaborate on a plan to assist with mitigating and managing them in an ongoing way.

This is only the beginning, however. Healthy Business’ mission is to help organisations thrive – to get beyond just compliance. A healthy and engaged workforce drives success, financially and otherwise.

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Get in touch with us today.