Affiliations 

  • 1 Psychosocial Safety Climate Global Observatory, Centre for Workplace Excellence, Justice & Society, University of South Australia, Australia
  • 2 Division Work and Health, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Germany
  • 3 School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • 4 Nottingham University Business School, United Kingdom
  • 5 French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS), Centre for Comparative Labour and Social Security Law (COMPTRASEC), International Research Chair in Comparative Studies on Occupational Health at Work (CECST) GPR HOPE, Idex, University of Bordeaux, France
  • 6 Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO (TNO), The Netherlands
  • 7 National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark
  • 8 Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea
  • 9 Health and Safety Business Unit, WorkSafe Victoria, Australia
  • 10 WorkSafe New Zealand, New Zealand
  • 11 Consultation, Research & Development Department, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Malaysia
  • 12 Monash Business School, Peninsula Campus, Monash University, Australia
  • 13 Department of Law, Kindai University, Japan
  • 14 WorkSafe British Columbia, Canada
  • 15 Regulations, Market Surveillance and International Affairs, Swedish Work Environment Authority, Sweden
Ind Health, 2024 Nov 26;62(6):353-366.
PMID: 39085135 DOI: 10.2486/indhealth.2024-0092

Abstract

Worker psychological health is a significant global imperative that requires national policy action and stakeholder engagement. While national policy is a critical lever for improving worker psychological health, some countries are more progressive than others in relation to policy development and/or implementation. At the Joint Congress of the International Commission on Occupational Health, Scientific Committee on Work Organization and Psychosocial Factors and the Asia Pacific Academy for Psychosocial Factors at Work in Tokyo (September 2023), a Global Roundtable was held that to initiate international dialogue and knowledge exchange about national policy approaches for work-related psychological health. The Global Roundtable involved experts from diverse regions alongside an engaged audience of congress attendees and facilitators. Qualitative data were analysed against the five components of the National Policy Index tool comprising, policy priority, specific laws, nation-wide initiatives, sector-oriented initiatives, national survey and/or studies. Analysis revealed that while work-related psychological health is a policy priority across many countries, at the same time, there are global gaps in both legislation specificity and active regulation across different countries. For future policy development across countries, it will be beneficial to continue and deepen international discourse and for countries to share their approaches with others.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.