UNDERSTAND THE WORK. MANAGE THE RISK.
Psychosocial Risk Management in Kenya.
A practical guide to understanding, identifying and managing psychosocial risks at work.
What is a psychosocial hazard? When does workplace pressure become a risk? Who is responsible — and what should an organisation actually do?
Start with the basics ↓01 UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
What is psychosocial risk?
The risk of psychological or physical harm arising from how work is designed, organised, managed or experienced.
Psychosocial risk management looks at the conditions of work, the people exposed and the controls needed to prevent or reduce harm.
The hazard is not the harm.
FOUR DIFFERENT THINGS- 01 / THE SOURCE
Hazard
A condition of work with the potential to cause harm.
Excessive workload - 02 / THE EXPERIENCE
Exposure
How often, how long and how intensely people experience it.
Repeated long hours with insufficient recovery - 03 / THE POSSIBILITY
Risk
The likelihood and potential severity of harm, taking controls into account.
Increased likelihood of fatigue and psychological strain - 04 / THE OUTCOME
Harm
The psychological or physical health consequences that may occur.
Possible burnout, ill-health or reduced capacity
An illustrative pathway, not an inevitable outcome. A hazard can be present before anyone shows signs of harm.
What are psychosocial hazards?
They can arise from many aspects of work. Common examples include:
Work demands
Excessive workload, unrealistic deadlines, prolonged hours or inadequate staffing.
Low job control
Little influence over how or when work is carried out.
Poor role clarity
Conflicting expectations, unclear responsibilities or uncertain priorities.
Inadequate support
Limited access to practical support from managers, colleagues or the organisation.
Harmful workplace behaviour
Bullying, harassment, discrimination, violence or aggression, including from clients.
Leadership and management practices
Inconsistent expectations, poor communication, unfair treatment or harmful leadership behaviour.
Poorly managed change
Uncertainty, inadequate consultation or poor communication during restructuring and transition.
Job insecurity
Uncertainty about continued employment or poorly managed redundancy processes.
Remote or isolated work
Conditions that limit access to support, communication or connection.
Consider the demands, available resources, recovery, exposure and controls. A short, supported busy period differs from sustained overload with no opportunity to recover. Hazards can also combine and amplify each other.
02 FROM SIGNALS TO RISK
What tells us there may be a problem?
Often, organisations see the signals before they understand the underlying risk.
- Increasing absence
- High turnover
- Repeated overtime
- Workplace conflict
- Declining engagement
- Errors or reduced performance
- Employee complaints
- Support requests
- Manager observations
- Workforce survey results
Increasing absence is a signal.
The underlying issue might be excessive workload, bullying, unclear roles or poor change management — or something unrelated to work. Check the conditions and speak with workers before drawing conclusions.
- 01Signal
- 02Investigation
- 03Hazard
- 04Exposure
- 05Risk
- 06Control
Use employee voice, work observations, workforce data and structured assessment together. A pulse survey or check-in alone cannot establish the cause or complete a risk assessment. Monitor signals and review after taking action.
Map the system before changing it.
Use the Workplace System Mapping Worksheet to explore the behaviors, pressures, incentives and decisions that may be keeping a recurring workplace problem in place. It is an initial mapping exercise—not a full psychosocial risk assessment.
03 ASSESSING PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK
Ask about the work. Then assess the risk.
What conditions could cause harm, who may be exposed, and what controls are required?
Employee stress or wellbeing data can help you begin. Assessment must also examine hazards, exposure and the effectiveness of controls, with meaningful worker consultation.
- 01
What are the hazards?
Identify conditions within work that could contribute to psychological or physical harm.
- 02
Who is exposed?
Consider teams, roles, locations and groups. Include contractors and others affected by the work.
- 03
What is the exposure?
Consider frequency, duration and intensity, and how hazards interact. Speak with the people doing the work.
- 04
What could happen?
Consider the likelihood and potential severity of harm. You do not need to wait for someone to become unwell.
- 05
What controls exist?
Record what is already in place to prevent or reduce exposure, rather than simply listing policies.
- 06
Are those controls working?
Check actual practice, worker feedback, workforce signals and incidents.
- 07
What further action is needed?
Choose proportionate controls, assign an owner and a due date, then review the risk that remains.
Record the hazard, exposed groups, risk judgement, current controls, additional actions, accountable owner and review date. Check that the actions reduce exposure in practice.
04 CONTROLLING THE RISK
Change the conditions creating the risk.
Identifying a hazard is only the beginning. The strongest controls usually address its source.
Use a practical order of priority: remove the hazard where possible, reduce exposure, strengthen protection and support recovery. This is a simplified guide for action, not a replacement for a formal control hierarchy.
Eliminate
Remove unnecessary work, stop harmful practices or redesign the activity so the hazard is removed.
Reduce
Review priorities, resources and deadlines. Clarify roles, improve scheduling and enable recovery time.
Protect
Add clear escalation routes, practical supervision, safe reporting and role-appropriate capability.
Recover
Provide suitable support, adjustments and return-to-work arrangements when harm or difficulty occurs.
Make the workload manageable.
- Review priorities and remove unnecessary work.
- Adjust resources and unrealistic deadlines.
- Clarify who can make trade-offs.
- Protect breaks and recovery time.
- Escalate remaining risk beyond the line manager when their authority or resources are insufficient.
Counselling, resilience programmes and wellbeing initiatives may help people cope or recover. They do not automatically remove the workplace condition creating the risk. A mature approach combines practical prevention with appropriate support.
05 RESPONSE & RECOVERY
What happens when someone is already struggling?
People need a reliable response, whoever notices the concern first.
Prevention cannot eliminate every difficult situation. Design response capability into the organisational system, with clear roles, boundaries and pathways.
Recognise and respond
- Recognise early signs of distress.
- Start a supportive conversation without diagnosing.
- Know when and how to escalate.
- Respond promptly to urgent safety concerns through defined emergency arrangements.
- Provide clear referral pathways.
Support sustainable recovery
- Handle confidentiality and records appropriately.
- Agree practical workplace adjustments.
- Coordinate support within role boundaries.
- Plan return to work and follow-up.
- Review contributing work conditions to reduce recurrence.
Use anonymised learning to improve controls. Personal support information should remain protected and separate from general organisational reporting.
06 OWNERSHIP & ACCOUNTABILITY
Shared responsibility. Clear accountability.
Everyone has a part to play. Someone must remain accountable for whether the risk is actually being managed.
- The organisation
- Establishes systems, resources, policies and controls to manage risk. Worker participation does not transfer this accountability to employees.
- Leaders
- Set expectations, allocate resources, make decisions and provide oversight.
- Managers
- Manage everyday work, notice emerging problems, implement controls and escalate risks they cannot resolve.
- Workers
- Participate in consultation, follow agreed systems, raise concerns and help identify workable solutions.
- HR, OSH and specialists
- Provide expertise, evidence, coordination and assurance within clearly defined roles.
When many people can take action but nobody owns the result, an organisation has activity — not accountability.
Assign owners with the authority to act. Monitor controls, overdue actions and remaining risk. Review after incidents, significant changes and at agreed intervals, with worker participation.
07 THE KENYAN CONTEXT
Psychosocial risk belongs in workplace health and safety.
Existing health and safety duties and emerging psychosocial guidance are different parts of the picture.
Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007
Section 6 sets out occupier duties concerning workplace safety and health, including risk assessment and preventive and protective measures. Organisations should consider psychosocial risk within their wider approach to managing work-related health and safety.
Read the Act on Kenya Law ↗Code of Practice for Psychosocial Hazard Management
The September 2025 draft was developed by the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services (DOSHS), Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, for public participation and stakeholder input. It covers hazard identification, risk analysis, support, incident response and monitoring.
Conscious Works hosts an unchanged copy for reference. It is a draft, not evidence of a final or legally binding Code. Its current official status has not been confirmed.
Read the draft reference copy (PDF) ↗Source and ownership: Ministry of Labour and Social Protection / DOSHS, Government of Kenya.
Build evidence of hazard identification, worker consultation, assessment, controls, consistent response, monitoring and clear governance. Check authoritative updates when making compliance decisions.
08 INTERNATIONAL GUIDANCE
What is ISO 45003?
A systematic approach to psychological health and safety at work.
ISO 45003:2021 gives guidance on managing psychosocial risks within an occupational health and safety management system based on ISO 45001. It applies to organisations of all sizes and sectors and supports prevention of work-related injury and ill-health and the promotion of wellbeing at work.
Use the guidance to integrate psychosocial risk into everyday health and safety management. Providing a wellbeing programme alone does not demonstrate that these risks are being managed.
09 FOR EXECUTIVES & BOARDS
Five questions worth bringing to the leadership table.
Psychosocial risk can affect health, workforce capacity, absence, turnover, operational performance, culture and reputation. Leadership oversight needs to examine whether controls work and whether decisions are followed through.
- 01
How do we prevent harm?
- 02
How do we identify psychosocial risks early?
- 03
How do we respond consistently?
- 04
How do we support recovery?
- 05
How do we learn and improve?
Ask for evidence: the risks identified, people exposed, controls implemented, actions outstanding and whether conditions are improving.
10 FROM ACTIONS TO A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Connect the pieces. Make the system work.
A policy. An EAP. Surveys. Manager training. Risk assessments. HR procedures.
Many organisations already have useful pieces. The gap is often how they connect, who owns the decisions and whether they change the conditions of work.
Prevention
Identify hazards and control risks at source.
Risk intelligence
Connect workforce signals and evidence to understand emerging pressure points.
Response
Recognise concerns and handle them consistently.
Recovery
Support adjustments, return to work and sustainable reintegration.
Governance & improvement
Assign ownership, measure progress, review and improve.
From psychosocial risk management to PHSMS™.
Conscious Works’ Psychological Health & Safety Management System brings these capabilities together into one practical organisational system: prevent harm, identify risk early, respond consistently, support recovery, learn and improve.
PHSMS™ helps organisations put the discipline into practice alongside existing systems and relevant guidance.
START WITH CLARITY
Where does your organisation stand?
You do not need to build everything at once. Start with visible risks, available evidence, existing controls, ownership and the most important gaps.
Ministry of Labour / DOSHS draft Code — reference copy (September 2025)Kenya Law / Occupational Safety and Health ActISO / ISO 45003:2021
Conscious Works practical guidance. Regulatory references reviewed 4 October 2026. Draft Code: reference copy; current official status unconfirmed.Back to the basics ↑