Chapter 04 · People & supply chainsHuman Rights & Social Sustainability
Psychosocial risk
Definition
Psychosocial risk is the risk of harm to mental health or wellbeing arising from work design, organisation, relationships, demands or environment.
References
This reference provides supporting context for how “Psychosocial risk” is defined and used.
Overview
What it means in practice
Psychosocial risk should be read as a human-rights and social-sustainability term. Its meaning depends on the affected people, workplace, legal context, severity and evidence available.
In practice, users should state the boundary, actor, method and evidence. That keeps psychosocial risk specific enough for review without turning it into a broader claim.
Why it matters
Psychosocial risk matters because social sustainability language can affect real rights, remedy and accountability. Clear wording helps prevent serious harms from being hidden behind generic risk language.
Common misconception
A common error is to treat Psychosocial risk as a compliance label only. The stronger approach is to state who is affected, what harm or right is at issue, and what evidence or remedy exists.
Review questions
Who or what is covered by the term? What evidence supports it? What limitation, method or affected group would change how a reader interprets the claim?
How it is used
Employers, buyers, suppliers, governments, workers and affected communities use “Psychosocial risk” in workplace policy, sourcing, human-rights due diligence, community engagement and supply-chain management.
In each case, the user should state the affected population, supply-chain boundary, local context, timeframe and evidence from rights-holders; otherwise, the same term may be applied to materially different situations. In this context, it refers to the risk of harm to mental health or wellbeing arising from work design, organisation, relationships, demands or environment.