The benefits of ISO45003 on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace with Jason van Schie
Welcome to the first episode of Season 4 of The Work Well Podcast! Today we are very excited to have Jason van Schie, psychologist and podcaster, as our guest. Based in Perth, Western Australia, Jason has focused on developing technological solutions in an attempt to make psychological health, safety, and wellbeing accessible at scale and globally.
He is the founder of People Diagnostix, a health technology company that provides psychologically-based solutions internationally to improve health, wellbeing, productivity, and safety outcomes. Jason is also the co-host of one of Brian’s favorite podcasts on workplace wellbeing, the Psych Health and Safety Podcast.
Take a listen!
What is People Diagnostix and what do they offer
As mentioned, Jason is the founder of People Diagnostix, a company that provides technology solutions aimed at preventing mental illness and optimising wellbeing in the workplace.
The two products it offers are FlourishDX and Flourishing At School, targeted at businesses and educational institutions, respectively. In the episode, Jason dives deeper into FlourishDX and his belief that workplace wellbeing is the shared responsibility of employers and employees.
“Whilst a lot of wellness type approaches will focus on improving someone's capacity for self-care and really getting the individual to look after their own wellbeing, what we're also very interested in, is how can employers think about working conditions like workload and autonomy and relationships, the things that they have control over to give people the opportunity to stay mentally healthy and to flourish”.
The Psych Health and Safety Podcast
Jason explains more about the purpose behind the Psych Health and Safety Podcast. Most workplace mental health efforts follow the same approach that only focuses on the individual and how they can build resilience, but our guest has found that if the working environment is not good, it can be really difficult for even the most mindful employee to flourish.
The Psych Health and Safety Podcast is all about finding the cause of these problems and creating structures that eliminate them from within the company itself.
Psychological Health vs Mental Health
Mental health is a term largely used to talk about psychological issues on a general spectrum. However, it is also a term full of preconceived notions and often associated with mental illnesses. And it's really hard to disconnect both in the minds of many.
When we look at the incoming ISO standard, the term ‘psychological health’ is used instead of mental health. This was a conscious decision made by those developing the standard, the idea behind it is to make people understand that psychological health and our mental state goes beyond any illnesses, like anxiety or depression, but rather it has more to do with our state of mind and wellbeing. Psychological health is something that is applicable to everyone.
The ISO45003 Standard
The topic everyone's talking about in the world of workplace wellbeing! The ISO45003 standard, released in June of this year, is the first global standard for mental wellbeing in the workplace.
Jason describes it as ‘a best practice guide on how to prevent work-related stress and other psychological hazards in the workplace’. And it contains resources and guidelines to follow and scale as needed, perfect for small businesses and enterprises alike.
Jason and his team have put together an excellent introductory course on the standard and you can read our guide on All You Need to Know About ISO45003 to find out more.
Integrated models of workplace mental health
ISO45003 is a child standard of ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management) and is filling a gap on the topic of workplace mental health around the world because it addresses the source of the issue: a lack of attention to the psychological effects of flawed workplace systems.
Jason explains for us the three levels of intervention in the integrated model of mental health: mitigating illness, promoting flourishing and preventing harm in the workplace, the latter was recently introduced by this standard.
It is a form of risk management, taking a continuous improvement approach to workplace mental health instead of one-time programmes with a more reactive approach.
Implementing ISO45003 in your workplace
Where do you start implementing these changes? Jason advises taking a look at what your HR team or your health and safety teams are doing right now. If your safety management system aligns with the ISO45001, you're off to a good start.
Another great tip here is that you cannot introduce ISO45003 without a high level of leadership support. For the standard to start paying positive results, managers should be fully aware that psychological hazards are as risky as the physical ones, thus, they should be granted the same priority.
How to work around a manager who has "tried everything"?
Probably the biggest challenge to overcome when starting to implement this standard is approaching a reluctant senior leader. They’ve probably introduced some popular mental health interventions already and feel like they’re on top of things, so they don’t see the point of doing anything else.
Jason has encountered this multiple times and he developed an audit tool, which consists of fourteen yes or no questions to help businesses identify what they can improve upon in their wellbeing strategies. You can find this completely free tool at mentalhealthaudit.com
The future of psychological health and safety at work according to Jason van Schie
COVID-19 and events that occurred in the recent Olympic games have us all thinking about mental health differently, putting the eye on the safety measures rather than the individual or their character.
As a consequence, governments have been making significant changes to their policies. In Australia, there is new legislation on the way. In Ireland and the UK, new definitions of burnout and the phenomenon caused by poorly managed work-related stress are now being taken as a priority.
ISO45003 is a significant step in the right direction for creating psychologically healthy and safe work environments.
If you’d prefer to watch our conversation, you can view it on YouTube through this link.
If you liked this episode, you can take Jason’s easy-to-follow ISO 45003 Foundations Course.
Don’t forget to also check out FlourishDX. They also have a ton of resources and guides to help you take your first steps towards improving workplace wellbeing. And listen to the Psych Health and Safety Podcast to stay up to date about what is new in the world of psychological health and safety!
Our Partners
This episode is brought to you in partnership with AJ Products who are leading the way in Ergonomic and Active workplace furniture solutions at ajproducts.ie
About Your Host
Brian Crooke is a wellbeing educator, speaker and adviser, empowering organisations to promote and sustain wellbeing within their workplaces.
He is the founder of The Work Well Institute and the Work Well Community and is Course Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness at Tangent, Trinity College Dublin. He is the host of The Work Well Podcast.
If you’re looking to bring sustainable wellbeing to your workplace then check out The Work Well Institute’s flagship programme, Developing a Workplace Wellness Programme that Lasts.
In his spare time, Brian is bringing free resistance training to every county and community in Ireland through his parkHIIT social enterprise.
If you have any suggestions for future topics you'd like to hear on the show, email Brian directly, brian@workwellpodcast.com