Psychosocial risk assessment

The better you know the working conditions of your employees, the better you will be able to protect their health. Assessing psychosocial stress at work helps you determine when occupational safety measures are necessary and which measures are suitable to prevent health hazards.

The aim of a risk assessment is to identify work-related demands, prevent accidents and work-related illnesses and thereby maintain the health and motivation of employees.

Risk assessment is required by law

According to the German Occupational Safety and Health Act (ArbSchG), every employer is obliged to assess the risks associated with the work of his employees.
Hazards to life, physical and mental health should be avoided as far as possible, or at least should be kept to a minimum.
In order to prevent or reduce a hazard, occupational safety measures are derived.

Stress is not strain

As part of a psychosocial risk assessment, only the objective conditions and requirements of the activity are recorded. Psychosocial risk assessment, therefore, is not a matter of assessing the mental condition or health of the employees.

Mental stress is the totality of all external conditions and requirements of the activity. It therefore includes everything that affects a person from the outside during work. It is objectively measurable
Strain on the other hand is the inner reaction of the individual to the mental stress depending on his or her current condition. Mental stress is subjective and person-related.

A hazard exists when the well-being of a person is endangered by the stress.

Source: DIN EN ISO 10075-1 (2017)

Certain key factors are of particular importance for the mental health of employees across all activities and sectors. These key factors can be summarized into five characteristic areas and used in the sense of a checklist: What is the level of stress for your employees in the following areas?

work content / task

Completeness of the task, decision latitude, variety, information supply, responsibility, qualification, emotional demands
work organization

Working time, workflow, communication / cooperation
social relations

With colleagues, supervisors
working environment

Physical and chemical factors, workplace design, work equipment
new forms of work

Spatial mobility, atypical employment relationships, time flexibility

Every activity comes with different requirements and working conditions. Therefore, mental stress can occur in very different areas. As a manager, it is your task to consider and address these specific demands in the context of a psychosocial risk assessment. You can read more about this in the literature tips for further reading.

4 steps to psychosocial risk assessment

Identify and evaluate all the hazards to your employees associated with their work. Proceed systematically, for example by using scientifically proven tools for risk assessment.
You have identified potential hazards? Establish measures to protect the health of your employees.
Stay on track and make sure that the measures you have defined are actually implemented.
Could the hazards be reduced or minimized? Check whether and what effect the measures have had.

Risk assessment of mental stress in your company

Would you like to learn more about the working conditions of your employees? Talk to your employer, works/staff council, company physician or occupational safety specialist about the psychosocial risk assessment.
Are you yourself responsible for occupational health and safety issues and need further information or advice on carrying out a risk assessment of mental stress? Take advantage of the free digital training program

Psychosocial risk assessment

Risk assessment is required by law

Stress is not strain

Where work-related stress stems from

4 steps to psychosocial risk assessment

Risk assessment of mental stress in your company

Further reading for professionals