One way to achieve a psychologically safe workplace is to create and implement a Comprehensive Workplace Health and Safety (CWHS) Program. This program is a series of strategies and related activities, initiatives and policies developed by the employer, in consultation with employees, to continually improve or maintain the quality of working life, health, and the well-being of the workforce. These activities are developed as part of a continual improvement process to improve the work environment (physical, psychosocial, organizational, economic), and to increase personal empowerment and personal growth.

|  Source: https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/mentalhealth_work.html

Workplaces are encouraged to implement the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. Championed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), and developed by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group) and the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ), the Standard is a voluntary set of guidelines, tools and resources focused on promoting employees’ psychological health and preventing psychological harm due to workplace factors

|  Source: https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/what-we-do/workplace/national-standard

Purpose of The Standard

The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (the Standard)

 is a set of voluntary guidelines, tools and resources intended to guide organizations in promoting mental health and preventing psychological harm at work.

Launched in January 2013, it has garnered uptake from coast to coast to coast, internationally and across organizations of all sectors and sizes.

|  Source: https://youtu.be/w-Geb1fkM58

Learn more at https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/what-we-do/workplace/national-standard.

What else can employers do?

Below are strategies that employers can use to encourage positive mental health:

Encourage active employee participation and decision making

Clearly define employees’ duties and responsibilities

Promote work-life balance

Encourage respectful and non-derogatory behaviours

Manage workloads

Allow continuous learning

Have conflict resolution practices in place

Recognize employees’ contributions effectively

Additionally, employers can:

Consider the psychological impact of the change when implementing a new process or procedure 

Assess/develop a plan to address psychological safety in your workplace

Develop a policy statement reflecting your organization’s commitment to making workplace mental health a priority. A policy demonstrates leadership and commitment. Alternatively, your health and safety policy should address commitment to addressing psychosocial risk factors as well as physical hazards

Explicitly include mental health and psychological safety in your health and safety committee mandate.

Develop policies and practices for workplace harassment, violence and bullying. Review your current policies and procedures and consider how they might be positively or negatively contributing to issues of violence and harassment.

Provide education and training that ensures managers and employees know how to recognize hazards such as harassment, bullying, and psychologically unhealthy work conditions. This training provides concrete ways for co-workers to recognize and talk about mental health issues in general. Managers can additionally contribute to a positive work environment if they have the skills and knowledge to identify and respond to issues before they escalate.

Educate all health and safety committee members about the importance of mental health in the workplace.

Ask the worker representative(s) on the committee to bring forward general workplace mental health issues that affect their workforce rather than any individual’s particular situation. Require that individual privacy and confidentiality be respected at all times.

Develop substance abuse policies (i.e., use of illicit drugs at work, alcohol consumption at work, inappropriate Internet use, etc.) and make sure that all employees are aware of them.

|  Source: https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/mentalhealth_address.html