Risk Management

Psychosocial Risk Assessment: Why Does It Matter?

Psychosocial Risk Assessment: Why Does It Matter?

Some of the greatest scientific discoveries have come about entirely by accident.

Penicillin was born when Sir Alexander Fleming took a two week holiday and returned to his lab to find that a mould had grown over elements of his research, and that the unexpected mould deterred the growth of bacteria.

It took another 12 years and the work of two chemists, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain to isolate, test and turn the compound that Fleming had discovered into a useable product, and the urgency of the World War 2 effort to stimulate mass production. Penicillin saved many lives and changed the course of medicine globally.

Fleming, Florey and Chain were each awarded the Nobel prize in 1945 in Physiology or Medicine. From their efforts, we have antibiotics, and also a recipe for turning data into a useable, scaleable positive intervention.

How can we apply this to mental health in the workplace by way of Psychosocial Risk Management?

2020 New-Zealand Mental Health Overview

It is clear that while progress is being made toward addressing mental health in New-Zealand, there is still a long way to go. Mental health exists on a continuum - we are not either mentally healthy, or mentally ill, yet the words mental health still hold connotations to mental illness for many. The reality is that most of us at some stage in our lives will experience depression or severe psychological distress.