The Definitive Guide to Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) Training in Canada
Aligning your organization with the National Standard of Canada for PH&S, ensuring compliance, and building resilience.
What is PHS?: Defining Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) in the Canadian Workplace
PHS is defined as the promotion of employee mental health and the prevention of psychological harm from negligent, reckless, or intentional conduct. It is as important as managing physical safety in the workplace.
Assessing Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) ensures workplace policies are effective, and while using an accredited assessor is highly recommended, the MHCC's Opening Minds initiative provides the necessary training.
The Canadian PHS Benchmark: The National Standard (CSA Z1003)
The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (CSA Z1003) is the voluntary framework used by Canadian organizations to systematically improve PHS. It provides guidelines for creating and sustaining a psychologically healthy environment.
This Standard is built around 14 Psychosocial Factors that all organizations must measure and address:
1. Psychological Support: Support for employee mental health.
2. Organizational Culture: Values and beliefs promoting respect and trust.
3. Clear Leadership & Expectations: Effective leadership and defined roles.
4. Civility & Respect: Courteous and considerate interactions.
5. Psychological Competencies & Demands: Having the skills and resources to meet job requirements.
6. Growth & Development: Opportunities for learning and advancement.
7. Involvement & Influence: Meaningful participation in decision-making.
8. Workload Management: Reasonable and manageable tasks and hours.
9. Engagement: Feeling valued and connected to the work.
10. Work-Life Balance: Ability to manage demands of work and personal life.
11. Psychological Protection: Safety from harassment, discrimination, and violence.
12. Physical Safety: Safety from physical harm related to psychological factors (e.g., fatigue).
13. Benefit and Compensation: Fair and equitable remuneration.
14. Other Factors: Other unforeseen factors.
The Foundation: The National Standard of Canada (CSA-Z1003)
In Canada, the framework for PH&S is built on the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (CSA-Z1003-13). While voluntary, it is recognized as the world's first systematic guide and is increasingly seen as a baseline for legal due diligence.
The Three Strategic Pillars of PHS
The Standard operates on three interconnected pillars for a psychologically healthy workplace:
Prevention of Harm
Identifying and eliminating psychosocial hazards (e.g., bullying, excessive demands) that could lead to psychological injury.
Promotion of Health
Creating a positive work environment and culture that actively supports employee mental well-being, engagement, and productivity.
Resolution of Incidents:
Implementing clear, fair, and accessible processes for addressing, investigating, and resolving psychological health issues and complaints.
The Employer's Legal Duty: Provincial OH&S Requirements and Compliance
Under the General Duty Clause found in provincial OHS Acts across Canada, employers have a legal obligation to protect the psychological health of their workers. PHS implementation provides the necessary strategic framework to meet this high standard.
Due Diligence and Compliance with Legislation
The core legal imperative for every employer is Due Diligence: the documented proof that all foreseeable harm—both physical and psychological—has been addressed. This means the employer must go beyond basic compliance, actively implementing and maintaining systems to prevent injury across every psychosocial risk factor. Read: Two Canadian Supreme Court Rulings That Changed Workplace Mental Health Forever
Provincial OH&S Requirements: Examples from Across Canada
While the National Standard is voluntary, provincial OH&S legislation mandates the protection of all worker health, including psychological health.
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Federal employers must address psychological hazards through the implementation of detailed prevention programs, particularly regarding workplace harassment and violence.
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BC is one of the most prescriptive, requiring employers to identify and control psychological hazards, including stressors like excessive workloads and lack of communication, directly aligning with the 13 Psychosocial Factors.
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Specific requirements cover harassment and violence programs, making PHS implementation a clear path to compliance.
Key Elements of PHS Policy and Strategy
A comprehensive PHS policy and strategy is built upon the foundational pillars (i.e. the prevention of harm, promotion of health and resolution of incidents) that address the holistic well-being and security of an organization's people and operations. These elements work together to foster a culture of health, resilience, and ethical conduct.
The 14 Psychosocial Factors
The Standard is built around the 14 psychosocial factors that influence psychological health at work. Mastering these is key to risk mitigation. The Opening Minds PHS programs ensure your team can assess, measure, and influence these factors effectively, moving beyond mere recognition to effective control.
The 14 factors are not isolated; they operate within an ecosystem. For instance, low Organizational Culture often exacerbates issues with Workload Management and reduces an employee's perceived sense of Psychological Protection. Good PHS requires a holistic assessment, which is why PHS training emphasizes the connections between these factors in your unique operational environment.
Addressing Psychosocial Factors in Key Areas:
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Effective PHS requires visible commitment from the top. Leadership development ensures that managers and executives are:
Trained on their PHS responsibilities and legal obligations.
Equipped to foster a positive safety culture and hold themselves and others accountable.
Able to model safe, healthy, and ethical behaviors.
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This is the ethical bedrock, ensuring all PHS policies respect and uphold the fundamental rights and dignity of every individual.
It involves actively preventing discrimination, harassment, and labor abuses, and ensuring fair treatment in all aspects of work. Policies must align with international and national human rights standards.
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This involves the systematic process of identifying, assessing, and controlling threats to the health and safety of personnel and the organization. A robust approach includes:
Regular hazard identification and risk assessment.
Implementing controls to eliminate or minimize risks (e.g., engineering controls, administrative procedures, personal protective equipment).
Continuous monitoring and review of the effectiveness of controls.
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This ensures the organization can effectively handle unforeseen crises, protecting employees and minimizing operational disruption. Core requirements are:
Establishing clear emergency plans (e.g., fire, medical emergencies, natural disasters).
Conducting regular drills and training for all employees.
Maintaining functional emergency equipment and communication systems.
Establishing a business continuity plan to quickly recover essential functions.
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Ability management is the process of supporting employees who are ill, injured, or disabled to remain at work or return to work safely and productively. It includes:
Developing return-to-work and stay-at-work programs.
Providing reasonable accommodations and workplace modifications.
Ensuring compliance with disability legislation.
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Any organizational or technological change (e.g., new equipment, restructuring, new processes) can introduce new PHS risks. This element focuses on a structured process to proactively assess and mitigate these risks before implementation. It ensures PHS is integrated into the change process from the start.
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PHS policy must be integrated into every stage of an employee's journey with the organization:
Recruitment/Onboarding: Communicating PHS expectations and providing initial training.
Ongoing Employment: Regular training, performance management (including PHS metrics), and access to support.
Departure: Exit interviews to capture PHS insights and ensuring proper transition.
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This critical component focuses on actively promoting psychological well-being and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness. Key actions include:
Providing educational programs and resources.
Training leaders to recognize and address mental health concerns.
Offering access to confidential counseling and employee assistance programs (EAPs).
Implementing policies that support a healthy work-life balance and manageable workloads.
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DEI integrates into PHS by recognizing that different groups face unique health and safety risks and barriers.
Diversity acknowledges the spectrum of differences among employees.
Equity means tailoring PHS resources and policies to ensure fair access and outcomes for all, addressing systemic disadvantages.
Inclusion ensures all employees feel valued, respected, and have their specific needs considered in policy development and implementation (e.g., culturally sensitive mental health support, accessible facilities).
Assessing PHS: Measuring Your Starting Point
Assessing your current policy is the mandatory first step to align with the National Standard. It identifies psychosocial hazards specific to your workplace.
Opening Minds E-Course for Leaders
Designed for leaders, this 90-minute e-course clearly defines their crucial role in workplace PHS. It provides the practical skills to actively implement key principles, ensuring the organization aligns with the National Standard and utilizes established best practices from the MHCC's Opening Minds initiative.
Guarding Minds at Work
This is the most widely used, free, and scientifically validated tool in Canada for assessing the Psychosocial Factors. The Guarding Minds at Work uses anonymous employee surveys to provide a detailed report on risk areas.
Opening Minds Scale for Workplace Attitudes (OMS-WA)
Used to specifically measure stigma and discriminatory attitudes toward mental illness among employees, helping organizations evaluate the effectiveness of their anti-stigma programs.
Assessing Your Success
While using an accredited assessor is not mandatory, it's highly recommended for a thorough and reliable evaluation of your system, helping to accurately pinpoint gaps and strengths.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), through its Opening Minds initiative, is the primary organization providing professional development and training that aligns with the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (CSA Z1003). This training equips prospective assessors with the necessary credentials to assess an organization's PHS system against this national benchmark.
There are several avenues to obtain this accredited expertise, such as hiring certified PHS consultants or enrolling internal staff in recognized programs like the Psychological Health and Safety Professional Certificate.
To achieve formal, recognized PHS accreditation for your organization, you must hire an external assessor to audit your Psychological Health and Safety management system against the National Standard.
The Implementation Roadmap: The Six-Step Process
The launch of Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) can leverage your current infrastructure. PHS is about system refinement, not necessarily a total overhaul; it uses training to sharpen your existing policies, protocols, and procedures. Before any implementation begins, the critical task is mapping out where every employee and leader stands within the PHS system's layered approach to responsibility.
1. Building the foundation: Gaining leadership commitment, establishing a policy, and forming an action team.
2. Training and Education: While specific duties differ by role, the commitment to PHS is universal—everyone shares responsibility for a healthy psychological environment. Use our PHS Roadmap Guide to determine your specific training requirements and path forward.
3. Identifying opportunities: Assessing the current state using data and employee feedback (e.g., surveys, audits).
4. Resolution of incidents: Implementing clear, fair, and accessible processes for addressing, investigating, and resolving psychological health issues and complaints.
5. Setting objective and planning: Creating a targeted action plan to address the highest-priority psychosocial hazards.
6. Implementation and evaluation of corrective action: Executing the plan, measuring results (metrics), and continually improving.
The MHCC Opening Minds Initiative: Your PHS Training Partner
Not everyone requires every training module, but all staff will need some training. To identify your specific needs, consult the Roadmap to PHS Guide.
Introduction to PHS
For PHS to work, it’s important to get all personnel involved. Just as with WHMIS and other OHS initiatives , PHS is a shared responsibility, requiring active participation from every team member.
The Introduction to PHS is a 4-hour, online, facilitator-led program equipping employees to understand their role in shared PHS responsibility.
Introduction to PHS Course Description
The Introduction to Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) course provides a comprehensive overview for participants seeking to enhance workplace mental well-being using structured, evidence-based approaches. It begins by distinguishing PHS from general mental health initiatives, identifying its value for all roles, and exploring its key elements as a management system. The course briefly introduces the Opening Minds PHS Integration Framework and concludes with a practical application where participants analyze a workplace scenario to establish actionable next steps.
Introduction to PHS Course Objectives
This course aims to help participants:
1. Understand the importance of PHS in promoting a safe and healthy workplace.
2. Gain foundational knowledge of the key elements of a PHS as a management system.
3. Gain foundational knowledge of the key elements of a PHS system.
4. Recognize the relationship between the parts and the key elements of a PHS system.
5. Differentiate between mental well-being initiatives and a PHS system.
6. Consider the impact of PHS implementation on workplace well-being and productivity.
7. Identify concrete next steps for advancing PHS in based on their roles in the workplace.
Integration of PHS
Effective Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) training must be integrated for all policy architects and evaluators. Personnel, particularly those in HR, leadership, and safety committees, stand to gain the most from this expertise.
Integration of PHS Course Description
The course, Integrating Psychological Health and Safety in Your Workplace, introduces the OM PHS Integration Framework focusing on Risk, People, and Leadership. Over five modules, participants learn to assess psychological risks, promote inclusion, and develop supportive leadership strategies. The course uses interactive tools and examples to equip learners with the skills to effectively integrate these principles for a lasting impact.
Integration of PHS Course Objectives
Integrating PHS in the Workplace aims to help participants:
1. Clearly describe how Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) is integrated into workplace systems and practices.
2. Explain how the key elements affect PHS within their organization, including elements related to risk, people, and leadership, and their interconnections.
3. Apply the Opening Minds PHS Integration Framework to workplaces, using it to guide the implementation of PHS in the key areas of work, ensuring it is embedded throughout organizational processes.
4. Identify steps to assess PHS integration within their organization to guide resource allocation and system improvements.
5. Recognize gaps in their current PHS practices and address those gaps through the integration of new or improved practices based on the OM Framework.
The iMindify PH&S Solution Ecosystem
iMindify provides accredited training and solutions to address the 14 factors and help you implement the PH&S Standard effectively.
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Implementation of The National Standard; PHS integration into management systems.
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Training employees and leaders with Mental Health First Aid to recognize signs of mental health decline and provide initial support.
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Providing practical tools to manage stress, assess wellness, and promote early intervention for employees and managers with training like The Working Mind.
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Assessing Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) is crucial for policy effectiveness. Although using an accredited assessor is highly recommended, the MHCC's Opening Minds initiative provides the necessary training. Ultimately, achieving formal PHS accreditation requires an organization to hire an external assessor to audit its system against the National Standard.
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