Psychosocial hazard #2 – Low job control

Why is low job control a psychosocial hazard?

This hazard involves workers who have little control or say over the work or aspects of the work including how, when and where the work is done

Some questions that you might ask to assess whether there are any low job control related psychosocial hazards in your workplace include:

• Do people require permission or sign-off before being allowed to progress routine or low risk tasks?
• Are people not permitted to make decisions that are within the scope of their abilities?
• Is work subject to prescriptive processes that do not allow workers to apply their skills or judgment?
• Are changes made to people’s work areas without consulting them?
• Are changes made to work processes, systems or resources without consulting the affected workers?
• Do you have managers who micro manage people to ensure that they are on top of things and people don’t make mistakes?
• Do work processes and systems limit people’s ability to take breaks or change tasks?
• Do excessive work demands make it difficult for workers to take breaks or to maintain reasonable working hours?
• Are workers often in situations which expose them to aggression or abuse?
• Is the physical work environment something that workers cannot control or get relief from (eg working in adverse climatic conditions or dusty or smoky environments)?

This list is not exhaustive and while we have based these posts on the model code produced by Safe Work Australia, there can be differences in the specific details for each State or Territory. So you need to check that in the jurisdiction in which your workplace lies.