Psych Health and Safety Podcast

In this episode we chat with Candice Schaefer, Head of Employee Health & Performance at Spring Health. We start out with a chat about the current state of workplace mental health in the US, and the impact of the pandemic on employer attitudes to worker mental health. Candice talks about the tech industry's approach to workplace mental health, the framing of mental health supports as an employee benefit in the war for talent, and the changing expectations of employees about their mental health and the subsequent impact on employment decisions.

In this episode we chat with Dr Chris Doyle, Group Head of Environment, Health & Safety at Lendlease. Chris shares his experiences in creating a values-driven transformational change in a global organisation and discusses the realities of the intersection between safety and ethics in operations. He describes Lendlease's approach to project scoping in considering worker lived experience, and shares his thoughts on the role of emerging technologies in psych health and safety.

In the first episode of Psych Health and Safety USA, we’ll be talking to a group of global psych health and safety podcast hosts about the world of work and what it looks like in their respective countries. We’ll discuss their experiences and their perspective on how the U. S. compares and what can be done to bridge any gaps. We’ll talk about the various standards and policies that have been implemented to improve psych health and safety.

In this episode we welcome back Jennifer Low from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to chat about the newly published Psychosocial Amendments to the Model WHS Regulations. As an employer representative on the Safe Work Australia National Committee, Jen shares some insights into the discussions and decision-making leading up to the published Amendments. She gives us a run-down of new definitions, and the approach to managing risk and identifying control measures. We discuss what these Amendments mean for the existing Codes of Practice published in different jurisdictions, and what additional guidance employers can expect to see from Safe Work Australia in support of the Regulations.

In this special episode we invite back six of our past guests to help us celebrate our 100th episode. Dr Rebecca Michalak provides an update on the business response to sexual harassment in Australia, Wade Needham discusses how psych health and safety contributes to corporate sustainability goals, Peter Kelly shares some insights on the future of psych health and safety regulation in the UK, Hayley Farrell offers hints and tips for organisations considering becoming certified to ISO 45003, David Burroughs sheds some light on mental health facts and fictions, and Mary Ann Baynton foreshadows a revision to the Canadian Standard on its upcoming 10th birthday.

In this episode we chat with Brian Long, General Manager Health Safety and Environment at Mirvac. Brain shares his observations of the current and emerging state of psychological health and safety in the construction industry, and the main differences between construction and retail when it comes to workplace mental health. We discuss the idea of adaptive capacity at an individual level and its relationship to psychological health. Finally, we chat about some of the barriers to health and safety practitioners becoming more involved in psych health and safety and discuss how these barriers can be addressed.

In this episode we chat with Catherine Dunlop, Partner at Maddocks lawyers. Catherine takes us through the recent High Court Kozarov decision upholding a workers compensation claim for vicarious trauma. She discusses the implications of the decision for employers, and shares her thoughts on the upcoming psychological health and safety regulations.

In this episode we chat with Liam O’Brien, Australian Council of Trade Unions Assistant Secretary. Liam shares some background on the past efforts of workers and unions to drive reform for psychological health and safety. We discuss the improvements in psych health and safety already achieved in workplaces, along with the opportunities for improvement that remain. Liam shares his views on current regulatory reform efforts in Australia, along with a perspective on the next areas of legislation requiring reform to ensure that psychological health and safety achieves parity with physical health and safety.

In this episode we chat with Rob Briner, Professor of Organizational Psychology at Queen Mary University of London. He shares his views on the growth of employee wellbeing and workplace mental health initiatives, and explains why organisations should focus on problem identification and diagnosis before seeking solutions. We discuss what evidence-based practice looks like when conducting organisational diagnosis, and the benefits for organisations who choose diagnosis first rather than purchasing a popular solution. He shares advice on how to select an intervention, following diagnosis, in the absence of good evidence of efficacy. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12347339_Psychosocial_Risk_Assessment_Problems_and_Prospects https://cebma.org/

In this episode we chat with Tom Holliss, Chief People Officer at Zappi. He shares Zappi’s ‘agile-HR’ approach to People policies grounded in compassion and trust, provides examples of how these approaches can work at scale and across industries, and discusses some of the challenges or barriers organisations might face when attempting to shift to a more compassionate culture.