Psychosocial risk factors in the workplace

An abundance of scientific evidence from around the world points to the adverse effects of workplace psychosocial risks on mental health1 and physical health. Over the past few years, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) and its collaborators have developed a Tool for Identifying Psychosocial Risk Factors in the Workplace, which allows these risks to be identified and analyzed, and approaches to reducing their impact in the workplace to be proposed.

In the implementation of Québec’s 2013-2020 Climate Change Action Plan, the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux mandated the Institut national de santé publique du Québec with conducting an exploratory study on the psychosocial effects experienced by workers as the result of four extreme weather events, the frequency of which will be exacerbated by climate change: heat waves, flooding, storms, and forest fires.

This collection of fact sheets, which was prepared in response to numerous requests for simple and accurate information on psychosocial risk (PSR) factors in the workplace, is intended to serve as a practical tool for occupational health workers as a whole. The fact sheets were drawn up by experts from the Équipe de prévention des risques psychosociaux du travail et promotion de la santé des travailleurs (Team for the prevention of psychosocial risk factors in the…