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Implementing CAN/CSA-Z1003-13 Psychological health and safety in the workplace —What’s in it for your business?

By: Marc Keough

Are you familiar with the CAN/CSA-Z1003-13 standard?

Has your business implemented this standard into day-to-day operations? CAN/CSA-Z1003-13 was published in 2013 and sets guidelines for promoting psychological health and safety in the workplace, aiming to prevent psychological harm, support employee well-being, and improve overall organizational effectiveness through a systematic approach to managing mental health and safety risks.

Given the mental health epidemic, it seems puzzling that this isn’t regulation. However, your business could benefit significantly by acting and implementing best practices to align with the standard.

 

What are the costs to employers in Canada?

It should come as no surprise that most adults spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, 70% of Canadian employees are concerned about the psychological health and safety of their workplace, and 14% don’t think theirs is healthy or safe at all. Such workplaces can take a detrimental personal toll as well as contribute to staggering economic costs.

About 30% of short- and long-term disability claims in Canada are attributed to mental health problems and illnesses. The total cost from mental health problems to the Canadian economy exceeds $50 billion annually. In 2011, mental health problems and illnesses among working adults in Canada cost employers more than $6 billion in lost productivity from absenteeism, presenteeism, and turnover.

Since public mental health services are underfunded and have long wait times, many people rely on their employer-based benefits or bear the personal cost of private services. Canadians spend an estimated $950 million a year on psychologists in private practice. About 30% of this is paid out-of-pocket, while the remainder is paid through employment-based private health insurance plans.

 

What are the costs to employers in Canada?

There are four significant benefits that make up the business case for improving workplace psychological health and safety:

  1. Risk Mitigation: Reduces the likelihood of workplace incidents and legal liabilities related to psychological health issues.
  2. Cost Effectiveness: Lowers costs associated with absenteeism, presenteeism, and healthcare by addressing mental health proactively.
  3. Recruitment and Retention: Attracts and retains talented employees by fostering a supportive and healthy work environment.
  4. Organizational Excellence and Sustainability: Enhances overall organizational performance and sustainability through a committed approach to employee well-being.

Above and beyond these potential consequences it’s important to understand that we are living in a time in human history that is afflicted with one of the worst epidemics of our age: The loneliness epidemic. More people are living alone than ever in human history. Social media has vastly contributed to disconnect people from true authentic in person interactions. The dissolution of the family nucleus and the proliferation of broken homes have only exponentially aggravated the mental health problem.

Considering this backdrop, it is in every employer’s best interest to promote a psychological safe space at work where people can find agency, purpose, and a sense of belonging. Not only can work help mitigate the negative affects of loneliness but it can actually promote a sense of wellbeing which in turn will promote engagement and ultimately positive business returns.

 

What are the consequences for employers who fail to protect employee mental health?

  1. According to HR Insider, companies have both a moral and legal obligation to provide a mentally healthy, aka psychologically safe, workplace. That duty comes from at least five different sets of laws imposing potential liability on employers for harassment and toxic work environments:

    1. OHS Laws: All jurisdictions now require employers to implement policies and programs to prevent not only workplace violence but also harassment (including sexual harassment). Harassment typically includes behaviors designed or likely to induce fear, stress, anxiety, humiliation, and other emotions linked to mental distress and disorder.
    2. Workers Comp: While normal work-related stress isn’t covered, mental stress may be deemed a workplace injury covered by workers comp when it’s the product of workplace violence, harassment, and other undue behaviors.
    3. Constructive Dismissal: Failure to protect employees from workplace harassment and stress can result in wrongful dismissal lawsuits, including constructive dismissal if employees leave the company. This can result in termination notice, punitive, and other aggravated damages.
    4. Human Rights: Failing to protect employees from harassment is a form of discrimination to the extent victims are targeted because of their race, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, and other characteristics protected by human rights laws.
    5. Tort Laws: Failure to ensure a psychologically safe work environment can expose employers to tort liability, including lawsuits for money damages by victims based on theories encompassing everything from negligence and infliction of mental distress to the new tort of online harassment.

 

What are the steps in the CSA to achieve a psychologically safe workplace?

This CSA Standard specifies requirements for a documented and systematic approach to developing and sustaining a psychologically healthy and safe workplace and provides complementary information to support the execution of the standard.

As stated in the introduction section of the standard, the vision for a psychologically healthy and safe workplace is one that actively works to prevent harm to worker psychological health, including in negligent, reckless, or intentional ways, and promotes psychological well-being. Psychological health and safety is not just about the absence of harm but the presence of well-being. This voluntary Standard has been developed to help organizations strive towards this vision as part of an ongoing process of continual improvement.

Psychological health and safety is embedded in the way people interact with one another daily and is part of the way working conditions and management practices are structured and the way decisions are made and communicated. While there are many factors external to the workplace that can impact psychological health and safety, this Standard addresses those psychological health and safety aspects within the control, responsibility, or influence of the workplace that can have an impact within, or on, the workforce.

The Standard delineates several components to an effective Health and Safety Management System. These are:

  1. Commitment, Leadership, and Participation
    • The organization shall have or incorporate into existing policies a current policy statement approved by senior management and the Board of Directors (where applicable) that outlines their commitment to developing a systematic approach for managing psychological health and safety in the workplace. Leadership pertains to those who have key responsibility for the organization’s performance and participation, which is required for successful policy development, planning, implementation, and operation of specific programs, and evaluation of the system and its impacts.
  2. Identification, Assessment, and Control
    • The Standard requires organizations to develop, implement, and maintain a documented risk mitigation process that includes:
      • Hazard identification;
      • Elimination of those hazards that can be eliminated;
      • Assessment for the level of risk for hazards that cannot be eliminated;
      • Preventive and protective measures used to eliminate identified hazards and control risks; and
      • A priority process reflecting the size, nature, and complexity of the hazard and risk, and, where possible, respecting the traditional hierarchy of risk control.
  3. Objectives and Targets
    • The Standard requires organizations to document the psychological health and safety objectives and targets for relevant functions and levels within their organization.
  4. Education, Awareness, and Communication
    • The Standard requires organizations to provide information about factors in the workplace that contribute to psychological health and safety, and specifically how to reduce hazards and risks that potentially cause psychological harm and how to enhance factors that promote psychological health, as well as other communication requirements.
  5. Competence and Training
    • The Standard requires organizations to establish and sustain processes to determine expectations and minimum requirements of workers and, in particular, those in leadership roles (e.g., supervisors, managers, worker representatives, union leadership) to prevent psychological harm, promote the psychological health of workers, and address problems related to psychological health and safety; and provide orientation and training to meet those requirements. It also requires organizations to establish and sustain processes to provide accessible coaching and supports as required, recognizing the potential complexities of psychological health and safety situations, the unique needs of the individuals affected, and the skills needed.
  6. Critical Event Preparedness
    • Organizations might undertake or experience events that pose particular risks or are likely to have particular impacts on psychological health and safety. The Standard requires organizations to establish and sustain processes to ensure the psychological health and safety risks and impacts of critical events are assessed; manage critical events in a manner that reduces psychological risks to the extent possible and supports ongoing psychological safety; incorporate learning from critical events into established plans related to the psychological health and safety system; and ensure there are opportunities for reviewing and for revising guidelines for critical events as applicable.
  7. Monitoring and Measurement
    • The Standard requires organizations to conduct performance monitoring and measurement to determine the extent to which the Psychological Health and Safety Management System (PHSMS) policy, objectives, and targets are being met; provide data on PHSMS performance and results; determine whether the day-to-day arrangements for hazard and risk identification, assessment, minimization, and elimination or control are in place and operating effectively; and provide the basis for decisions about improvements to the psychological health and safety of the workplace and the PHSMS.
  8. Preventive and Corrective Action
    • Organizations are also required to establish and maintain preventive and corrective action procedures to address PHSMS non-conformances and inadequately controlled hazards and their related risks; identify any newly created hazards resulting from preventive and corrective actions; expedite action on new or inadequately controlled hazards and risks; track actions taken to ensure their effective implementation; and implement initiatives to prevent the recurrence of hazards. Organizations are also required to establish and maintain a process to conduct scheduled management reviews of the PHSMS.

Conclusion

The financial impact of non-compliance can be substantial, encompassing direct statutory and regulatory penalties as well as indirect costs related to business operations and reputation management. Therefore, it is crucial for employers to proactively implement and adhere to the CAN/CSA-Z1003-13 standard to mitigate these risks and foster a safer, healthier work environment.

WE can help. WE can provide coaching in leadership skills, communication, recognition, engagement and psychological hazard assessments. WE can guide you through the implementation of the Psychological health and safety in the workplace CSA Standard. WE can help you unleash your power of positive influence. Call or email Marc Keough at WE. 1-877-947-2090 ext.: 2035 mkeough@windleyely.com

 

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