Retail workers bullied by disgruntled customers; paramedics and police officers witnessing trauma every day; and harassment and bullying in the workplace – common enough, but unacceptable, in the ACT Government’s opinion.

Today, on the conjunction of National Work Safe Month and World Mental Health Day, Mick Gentleman, ACT Minister for Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety, announced a new Code of Practice ensuring that psychosocial hazards at work “should be treated exactly the same way as physical hazards in the workplace”.

The Code of Practice will come into effect on 27 November. It introduces a process to identify psychosocial hazards; assess the risks; control the risks; review control measures; record the risk management process and outcomes; and conduct work health and safety investigations.

Work-related psychological injuries have longer recovery times, higher costs, and require more time away from work, the Code of Practice states. They can cause psychological harm (anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and sleep disorders) and physical injuries (musculoskeletal injury, chronic disease, physical injury after fatigue).

They can be caused by job demands; low job control; poor support; lack of rôle clarity; poor organisational change management; inadequate reward and recognition; poor organisational justice; traumatic events or material; remote or isolated work; poor physical environment; violence and aggression; bullying; harassment; and conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions.

Greg Brown, the ACT Ambulance Service’s acting chief officer, urged ACT employers to consider how they supported workers’ mental health. “Do you have processes in place to support them when hazards are present and they come to harm because of psychosocial risk in the workplace? …

“Every employer, be they government or non-government-based, has a responsibility to look after their staff. Every staff member is vital to the operation of their organisation. So therefore anything that an employer can do to limit the risk of psychosocial hazards to their employees is important.”

First responders (emergency, health and community services) “often bear the brunt of people suffering from mental health crises … [or] physical injuries”, Mr Brown said. ACT Ambulance crews and communications centre call takers experience occupational violence (verbal or physical abuse) twice a week, on average.

Recently, ACTAS graduated 12 peer support officers, bringing the total to 38, to support paramedics, patient transport officers, and communication centre call takers.

“We come to work every day to support our community,” Mr Brown said. “We deserve to go home in a well-meaning way ourselves.”

The ACT Government also intends to expand peer support across its agencies.

ACTAS has rolled out an occupational violence framework so staff can disengage when they feel at risk; it raises situational awareness for staff, so they do no become victims of occupational violence.

“The ACT Ambulance Service has a theory whereby if we don’t look after our own people, we can’t look after anybody else,” Mr Brown said.

Last financial year, incidences of occupational violence towards ambulance workers decreased quarter on quarter.

But, Mr Brown said: “The numbers are irrelevant. Behind each number is a name, and behind each name is a family. We need to eliminate all these risks in the workplace.”

WorkSafe ACT provides training about psychosocial hazards to Canberra employers. It will have a stall in City Walk, Civic, tomorrow, and will be in shopping centres throughout this month.

Mr Gentleman encouraged people having issues at work to seek support: to call Lifeline (13 11 14), or 000 in an emergency.

The Code is a response to the Boland Review of nationally agreed template work safety laws, and deals with how businesses manage workplace psychosocial hazards. The ACT Government has agreed to all recommendations, and will implement them.

Earlier this year, the ACT Government introduced legislation requiring businesses to report sexual assaults at work to WorkSafe ACT.