Eating the Elephant: A Practical Guide to Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace

Elizabeth Eldridge
2 hours ago
8 min read

How do you eat an elephant?

It's an old saying with a simple answer: one bite at a time.

I can't think of a better way to describe Psychological Health and Safety management.

When leaders first hear terms like psychological risks, psychosocial hazards and psychological safety, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. There seems to be so much to learn, so many moving parts and so many questions.

So where do we even begin?

The good news is that creating a psychologically healthy and safe workplace isn't about doing everything at once. Like any meaningful organizational change, it happens through small, intentional steps that build on one another over time.

That's exactly what my upcoming blog posts will cover.

Over the coming months, we'll break Psychological Health and Safety down into manageable, practical pieces. We'll explore the foundations, unpack each of the 13 psychosocial factors identified in Canada's National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, and most importantly, we'll focus on what these concepts actually look like in real workplaces.

No complicated jargon. No overwhelming checklists. Just practical ideas you can start applying “one bite at a time”.

Why Everyone's Talking About Psychological Health and Safety

A generation ago, workplace health and safety conversations focused almost exclusively on physical hazards. Could someone fall? Could they be injured by machinery? Were they wearing the right personal protective equipment?

Those questions are still incredibly important, but today we know that not every workplace injury is visible. Long before someone experiences burnout, takes a stress leave, develops anxiety related to work or decides to resign, there are often workplace conditions quietly increasing the risk.

Poor communication. Unclear expectations. Chronic excessive workload. A lack of recognition. Workplace conflict. Harassment and bullying. An unhealthy organizational culture.

Individually, they may seem manageable. Together, they can significantly affect how people feel, perform and function at work.

That's where Psychological Health and Safety management comes in.

Rather than waiting until people become unwell, Psychological Health and Safety encourages organizations to proactively identify workplace conditions that support employee wellbeing and reduce unnecessary psychological harm. It's prevention rather than reaction.

Let's Start With Some Definitions

One of the biggest challenges with Psychological Health and Safety is that several related terms are often used interchangeably. They're connected, but they aren't the same thing.

Mental Health

Every single person has mental health, just as every person has physical health.

Mental health exists on a continuum. It changes throughout our lives depending on our experiences, relationships, physical health and countless other factors.

Someone can experience excellent mental health today and struggle a few weeks or months from now. Likewise, someone living with a diagnosed mental illness can also experience periods of positive mental health. Try thinking of it this way: just because someone lives with a chronic physical health condition like diabetes, it doesn't mean they'll always be physically unwell.

Psychological Health

Psychological health refers to our cognitive and emotional wellbeing: our ability to think clearly, manage emotions, cope with challenges, build relationships and function effectively in daily life.

While many factors influence psychological health, workplaces play a much larger role than many people realize.

Psychological Safety

This is probably the term that receives the most attention today. Popularized through research on high-performing teams, psychological safety refers to an environment where people feel safe to speak up.

Employees feel comfortable asking questions. Sharing ideas. Admitting mistakes. Offering constructive feedback. Respectfully disagreeing without fear of embarrassment, ridicule or punishment.

Psychosocial Factors

This is a term you'll hear a lot throughout this series and it's one that can feel a bit abstract at first. It helps to break the word down.

The first part of the word, psycho, refers to the psychological side of things: our thoughts, emotions, mental processes and overall psychological wellbeing.

Social refers to our interactions with others: relationships, communication, teamwork, leadership and the broader workplace environment.

When you combine the two, psychosocial factors are the workplace conditions that influence both how people feel internally and how they experience their work environment with others.

In simple terms, psychosocial factors are aspects of work and the workplace that influence employees' psychological health and safety. They include things like organizational culture, leadership, workload, workplace relationships, recognition, role clarity and opportunities for growth.

Just as physical health and safety is influenced by both risk factors and protective factors, the same is true for psychological health and safety.

For example, a slippery floor, unguarded machinery or poor housekeeping can increase the risk of a physical injury. On the other hand, proper training, well-maintained equipment, effective safety procedures and appropriate personal protective equipment help reduce those risks and keep people safe.

Psychological Health and Safety works in much the same way. Some psychosocial factors can increase the risk of psychological harm. Chronic excessive workload, unclear expectations, workplace conflict, harassment and bullying are just a few examples. Other psychosocial factors act as protective factors. Supportive leadership, meaningful recognition, respectful communication, opportunities for growth and a positive organizational culture all help protect and strengthen employees' psychological health and wellbeing.

The goal isn't simply to reduce the negatives. It's also about putting systems in place to intentionally build and strengthen the workplace conditions that help people feel supported, engaged and able to bring their best selves to work. As I often say, a psychologically safe and healthy workplace doesn't happen by accident!

Understanding these workplace conditions is one of the first steps toward creating a psychologically healthy and safe workplace, and it's exactly what Canada's National Standard helps organizations do.

Canada's National Standard: A World First

Canada was the first country in the world to publish a national standard dedicated to Psychological Health and Safety in the workplace. Released in 2013 by CSA Group in collaboration with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Standard provides organizations with a voluntary framework for creating psychologically healthy and safe workplaces.

Unlike legislation, it doesn't prescribe a checklist of rules. Instead, it offers evidence-informed guidance that organizations of every size and industry can adapt to their own workplace.

The Standard continues to evolve as new research emerges and workplace realities change, reflecting the growing recognition that psychological health deserves the same thoughtful attention we've long given physical safety.

Download The Standard (CSA-Z1003) HERE.

The 13 Psychosocial Factors

At the heart of The Standard are 13 psychosocial factors: workplace conditions that research tells us influence employee psychological health and safety, and ultimately, organizational performance.

They are:

Organizational Culture
Psychological and Social Support
Clear Leadership and Expectations
Civility and Respect
Psychological Demands
Growth and Development
Recognition and Reward
Involvement and Influence
Workload Management
Engagement
Balance
Psychological Protection (aka Psychological Safety)
Protection of Physical Safety

Think of these factors as pieces of a puzzle. No single factor creates a psychologically healthy workplace on its own. Instead, they work together, strengthening (or weakening) the employee experience.

Over the coming months, we'll explore each of the 13 psychosocial factors (PSFs) in detail.

Today, we'll start with the foundation that influences every other factor.

PSF No. 1: Organizational Culture

Ask ten employees to describe their workplace culture, and you'll probably hear ten different answers. That's because culture isn't something you can hold in your hand. It's something you experience.

Culture isn't your mission statement. It isn't the framed values hanging in reception. It isn't the carefully crafted paragraph on your website. In fact, when an organization leaves culture up to chance rather than designing it with intention and strategy, sometimes these things actually clash with the realities of the culture.

Culture is what people experience every single day. When you hear someone in your workplace say something like “That’s the way things are done around here,” they’re likely referring to a cultural norm. I like to explain culture as "the things we all know to be true even though it's not written down anywhere".

It's how decisions get made. How leaders communicate. How conflict is handled. How mistakes are treated. Whether people feel respected. Whether promises are kept. Whether employees genuinely believe leadership cares about them.

Culture isn't what organizations say they value. It's what employees observe each day.

Culture Is Always Being Shaped

One of the biggest misconceptions is that organizational culture belongs solely to leadership.

Leadership certainly has enormous influence, but culture is co-created... by everyone.

Every conversation. Every meeting. Every difficult discussion. Every decision. Every email. Every interaction either strengthens or weakens culture. That's why culture isn't something you launch. It's something you practice. Culture is a living, breathing thing!

Renters vs. Owners

One of my favourite ways to think about workplace culture is through the idea of renters versus owners. (I love this analogy so much I even have a keynote and training session built on it!)

Imagine two neighbours. One owns their home, the other rents.

Neither is better than the other, but their mindset is often different.

Owners tend to notice problems. They invest in improvements. They fix what's broken because they feel responsible for the long-term success of the property.

Renters are often more likely to assume that someone else will handle major issues.

The same thing can happen at work.

People with an owner mindset ask:

"How can I help?"
"What could I do differently?"
"How does my behaviour affect the team?"
"What solution can I contribute?"

People with a renter mindset are more likely to think:

"That's management's problem."
"Someone else should deal with that."
"It's not my responsibility."

Healthy cultures happen when leaders consistently create conditions where ownership is encouraged, recognized and rewarded. People are far more likely to take ownership when they feel trusted, included and respected.

A Few Questions to Reflect On

If you're wondering about your own workplace culture, ask yourself these questions:

Can every member of your team explain, in their own words, the organization's mission and values? Could they give examples of how the work that they, their peers and their leaders do each day serves the mission, and how they breathe life into the organization's identified values?
Would employees describe our workplace the same way leadership would?
Do people feel comfortable speaking honestly, even when the message is difficult?
When mistakes happen, do we focus on blame or learning?
If someone started working here tomorrow, what behaviours would they quickly learn are rewarded?

Better yet, have these conversations with your teams. Sometimes the answers are encouraging. Sometimes they're uncomfortable. Either way, they're valuable!

You Don't Have to Fix Everything Tomorrow

This is where many organizations get stuck. They identify opportunities for improvement and immediately start building lengthy action plans.

The reality is that meaningful culture change rarely happens overnight.

Small, consistent improvements often have a far greater impact than ambitious initiatives that lose momentum after a few months.

Maybe this month you improve understanding of your mission and values. Next month you clarify roles and expectations. Later, you introduce better feedback conversations.

Those individual improvements begin influencing the broader culture over time.

Looking Ahead

If today's article left you realizing that Psychological Health and Safety is much broader than you thought, you're not alone.

The encouraging news is that you don't need to become an expert overnight.

Keep tuning is as I break down each of the 13 psychosocial factors into practical, relatable strategies that leaders, HR professionals, health and safety committees and organizations of every size can begin applying immediately.

If you'd like to explore these topics with your own team I've also developed a brand new modular workshop series that follows this same journey, starting with an introduction to Psychological Health and Safety before diving into each psychosocial factor in greater depth. Each session is designed to make these concepts practical, engaging and immediately applicable in the workplace. (This workshop package is so new it hasn't made it on to my website yet, but email me for details!)

Remember, creating a psychologically healthy and safe workplace isn't about finding one big solution. It's about making one good decision after another.

One conversation. One improvement. One small bite at a time.

Thanks for reading! Tune in next time for a deep dive on Factor #2: Psychological and Social Support.

Elizabeth Eldridge is a Psychological Health & Safety Consultant based in southern New Brunswick, Canada. In addition to keynote speaking, event emceeing, consulting services and corporate training on mental health in the workplace, she supports organizations across the country on the adoption of Canada's best practice guidelines on psychological health and safety management. She is also the Founder & President of Arpeggio Health Services which provides standardized education programs like Mental Health First Aid, The Working Mind, QPR Suicide Prevention and more.