About the Supplementary Psychosocial Hazard Module

The Safe Work Australia Model Code of Practice (July 2022) identifies 14 psychosocial hazards that employers must identify, assess, and control. The COPSOQ III and PSC-12, when used together, provide comprehensive coverage of 11 of these hazards and the overarching organisational safety climate. However, three hazard domains have significant coverage gaps in those validated instruments.

This Supplementary Psychosocial Hazard Module (SPHM) was developed to close those gaps, providing dedicated assessment of:

1. Traumatic Events and Material Exposure (Hazard 8) — direct, vicarious, and investigative exposure to traumatic content or events, plus the availability and adequacy of support.
2. Remote or Isolated Work (Hazard 9) — physical isolation, limited access to support, communication constraints, and the specific risks of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) and lone working arrangements.
3. Poor Physical Environment (Hazard 10) — the psychological impact of hazardous or uncomfortable physical conditions, distinct from the physical injury risk these conditions also pose.

The SPHM is designed as a companion instrument, not a standalone tool. It should be deployed alongside the COPSOQ III and PSC-12 to produce a complete psychosocial hazard profile covering all 14 Australian regulatory hazards.

Validation status: This module is constructed following psychometric best practice, drawing on established constructs (Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale, Professional Quality of Life scale, HSE Management Standards). However, it has not yet undergone independent psychometric validation. Organisations using this module for formal compliance purposes should note this limitation.

Structure and item design

The module contains 30 items distributed across three domains and nine subdimensions:

Domain 1 — Traumatic Events & Material Exposure (12 items)

• Direct exposure (3 items) — experiencing or witnessing traumatic events first-hand
• Vicarious and investigative exposure (3 items) — exposure through hearing accounts, reviewing material, or investigating incidents
• Cumulative impact (3 items) — ongoing psychological effects of repeated traumatic exposure
• Support and debriefing (3 items) — availability and quality of organisational support following exposure

Domain 2 — Remote or Isolated Work (9 items)

• Physical isolation and access (3 items) — distance from colleagues, emergency support access, communication constraints
• Social disconnection (3 items) — reduced social contact, exclusion from team life, limited supervisor access
• FIFO and roster-specific factors (3 items) — compressed rosters, camp conditions, family separation

Domain 3 — Physical Environment Psychological Impact (9 items)

• Sensory stressors (3 items) — noise, temperature, lighting affecting concentration and mood
• Hazardous conditions anxiety (3 items) — psychological burden of working in dangerous conditions
• Comfort and control (3 items) — physical discomfort, inability to control conditions, cumulative toll

Scoring methodology

Step 1 — Item scoring (0–100)

All items use a five-point Likert frequency scale:

All items are negatively keyed — higher scores indicate greater exposure or worse conditions. The "Support and debriefing" subdimension is reverse-scored at the subdimension level (higher raw scores = more support = lower risk).

Step 2 — Subdimension and domain scores

Subdimension scores are the arithmetic mean of constituent item scores (0–100). Domain scores are the mean of their subdimension scores.

Step 3 — Risk categorisation

These thresholds are provisional pending population-based benchmarking.

Mapping to Australian psychosocial hazards

Interpretation guidelines

Applicability: Not all domains will be relevant to every respondent. An office worker may score zero across Domain 1 (trauma) and Domain 2 (isolation) — this is expected. Focus interpretation on domains relevant to the respondent's work conditions.

Domain 1 sensitivity: Items about traumatic exposure may trigger distress. Ensure EAP or counselling access is available before deployment.

FIFO items: The three FIFO-specific items are only relevant to workers on fly-in fly-out or similar roster arrangements. Where these are scored zero because not applicable, the domain score should be calculated from the remaining six items only.

Complementary use: SPHM results should be interpreted alongside COPSOQ III and PSC-12 findings for a complete picture.

References

Bride, B.E., Robinson, M.M., Yegidis, B., & Figley, C.R. (2004). Development and validation of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale. Research on Social Work Practice, 14(1), 27–35.
Dollard, M.F., et al. (2012). Psychosocial Safety Climate: A New Work Stress Theory. Springer.
Government of Western Australia (2022). Code of Practice: Mentally Healthy Workplaces for Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) Workers.
Safe Work Australia (2022). Model Code of Practice: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work. Canberra.
Stamm, B.H. (2010). The Concise ProQOL Manual (2nd ed.). Pocatello, ID: ProQOL.org.