Step 01
Context
A service team is carrying vacancies and accumulating overtime. Consultation and roster records indicate sustained exposure to excessive demands.
Psychosocial risk management
A psychosocial risk register that leads to action.
Make the link between the hazard, the people exposed, the control and the evidence clear enough for someone to act on it.
What is a psychosocial risk register?
A psychosocial risk register is a structured record of work related hazards, the risks they create and how those risks are managed. It helps teams track decisions, ownership and review. It should reflect actual work and consultation, rather than a generic list of hazards.
What a useful entry captures
- Work context: the task, team, location and circumstances.
- Hazard and exposure: the source of potential harm, who is affected and duration, frequency and severity.
- Unwanted event and potential consequences: what could happen and the harm that may follow.
- Assessment: the rationale, method and assumptions, including interacting hazards.
- Existing controls: what is implemented and what evidence supports effectiveness.
- Further action: a named owner, resources, due date and implementation status.
- Remaining risk: the assessment after existing controls, using your agreed method.
- Review: when to check again, the verification results and changes made.
These are practical design recommendations, not a universally prescribed statutory register format. Numerical risk ratings can support prioritisation, but the rationale and control decisions matter.
A risk register in practice
Sustained excessive workload
An illustrative example of connecting the work, the control and the evidence.
Step 02
Control response
Adjust service commitments to available capacity, fill priority vacancies and define an escalation trigger for work exceeding safe capacity. Assign an operational owner and review roster and workload evidence with workers.
Step 03
Verification
Check whether the agreed capacity limits are being applied and whether excessive hours and unresolved work are reducing. A completed training session alone would not verify that workload has changed.
See it in Humn IQ®
Keep the control and the evidence connected.
The control effectiveness view brings inherent and residual risk ratings together, helping you identify where the assessment shows a reduction and where further review is needed.
Use this alongside roster records, workload evidence and worker feedback when reviewing your controls.
Humn IQ® | From consultation to assessment
Staff consultation and company risk. Side by side.
The comparison view places people survey scores beside the organisation’s assessed residual risk. Differences give leaders a starting point for questions about exposure, assessment and the controls in place. Survey scores and assessed risk ratings represent different inputs and need interpretation in context.
Keep it connected
Connect the register with consultation, operational records and incident and investigation findings. Use review triggers for organisational change, new information or ineffective controls.
Humn IQ® connects the risk picture with survey information, incidents and evidence. Humn advisory can help you establish the assessment method and control verification approach.
Your questions answered
Can the register be a spreadsheet?
Yes. The quality of assessment, implementation and review matters. Software can help maintain the connections and records as complexity grows.
Is a survey result a risk rating?
A survey result is an input. Assess the work, exposure and controls using your agreed method before drawing conclusions about risk.
Who owns the register?
Agree a custodian and assign accountable owners for individual risks and controls. Ownership should follow the authority to change the work.
Sources and further reading
Requirements vary by jurisdiction. Check the law and approved codes applying to your workplace.
Practical guides
From assessment to evidence.
Looking for a People at Work alternative?
Build on what you already know about your workplace. Humn IQ® brings psychosocial survey information, risk assessment, controls and evidence together in one risk management system.
Explore guidePsychosocial risk. A clearer view from the boardroom.
Give directors and executives the information to ask useful questions, make informed decisions and follow through on psychosocial risk.
Explore guideA psychosocial risk register that leads to action.
Make the link between the hazard, the people exposed, the control and the evidence clear enough for someone to act on it.
Explore guideWhich controls must work to prevent harm?
Focus attention on the controls that matter most. Define what they must do, check their performance and act when they fail.
Explore guidePut the next step into practice.
Talk with Humn about your assessment, controls and evidence needs.
Book a Strategy Session