Safety first – from occupational to psychosocial

Over the last eight years or so, our focus has widened from protecting people’s physical health and safety at work to supporting their wellbeing more holistically. In 2019, our people shaped the wellbeing commitments they defined as being important to them – and the commitments they felt our people should make to each other under the SUEZ Wellness for All Charter. This Charter helped shape the support we provided during the pandemic and from the momentum achieved during that difficult time, it continues to do so – and on a scale well beyond our initial aspirations.

More recently, in 2025, we launched our Respect Charter. Like its wellness counterpart, it was developed by our people, for our people. The Respect Charter spells out what it means to share a workplace culture where everyone feels respected, safe, supported and empowered to be their authentic self.

Five principles of respect

The charter rests on simple but powerful principles:

• Every person is important
• We treat everyone fairly
• We welcome different views
• We speak to each other respectfully
• We do what’s right

The aim is to ensure that every individual feels respected and psychologically safe.

From physical to psychosocial: What is safe?

Occupational health and safety remains the foundation. Safe ways of working are built into all our procedures and backed by training, regular ‘Huddle Card talks’, employee feedback, volunteer safety representatives, near-miss reporting and incident investigation, among a range of other measures and initiatives around physical health, work-life balance and mental health.

Doing what’s best for your people and the business involves going further, and this is by addressing psychological safety and ‘psychosocial wellbeing’. The first is about the individual and the second concerns the organisation:

• Psychological safety means knowing you can speak up without fear of negative consequences.
• Psychosocial wellbeing covers the broader working environment – from job design to workplace relationships – and how it affects employees’ mental, emotional and physical health.

The invisible success factor

Strategy, technology and processes are fundamental to any organisation’s success. So is psychological safety. It fosters innovation, collaboration and engagement. People are much more likely to share ideas, learn from mistakes and support colleagues. The result is better team performance and a more effective organisation.

Psychological safety may be an invisible success factor, but a high-performing workplace culture shows some clear hallmarks:

• People raise concerns and challenge decisions before problems occur or escalate because psychological safety is treated as a risk management tool.
• Learning is better than blaming, so the organisation adapts more effectively and continuously improves.
• Everyone has a voice, so employees give honest feedback and readily share different perspectives.
• Openness and positivity promote innovation and collaboration beyond team boundaries, leading to better outcomes.
• Leaders set the tone, are accountable, build trust and reinforce the right culture.

Managing psychosocial risks

Understanding of psychosocial wellbeing continues to evolve within the HR profession and business world, giving employers a clearer framework for identifying, managing and preventing psychosocial risks.

For SUEZ in the UK, it’s an opportunity to strengthen the extensive wellbeing support we already provide. At the same time, we can respond to the HSE’s evolving guidance, which calls for a risk-informed approach to stress management and holistic health.

We are raising awareness and giving managers practical tools, while colleagues learn what affects psychosocial wellbeing and the support that’s available. Last month we began an internal communications programme, sharing resources and rolling out new tools and training.

The focus is on spotting issues early, intervening promptly and preventing problems wherever possible, while building on the conversations and action already happening.

Training to embed respect

We have extended mandatory training that helps embed the principles of the Respect Charter. It addresses three main areas:

• Unconscious Bias – raising awareness of hidden assumptions and personal biases that can influence decisions and interactions in the workplace, to foster a fairer and more inclusive environment.
• Banter and Boundaries – a module that explores the difference between positive workplace banter and behaviours that may cause co-workers to feel offended, uncomfortable or excluded.
• Discrimination and Harassment – a new addition to our complement of training, providing a guide to recognising, preventing and challenging unacceptable behaviour. This training also complies with new legal requirements on sexual harassment.

Assessing risks, site by site

Awareness is one prerequisite for tackling psychological and psychosocial hazards. The other is a risk management approach backed by senior leaders. We have introduced a tool for assessing psychosocial wellbeing risks at our sites and anticipate that all assessments will be complete by the end of the year.

The aim is to identify and manage risks that could lead to stress, conflict or harm mental health by looking at what shapes how people respond psychologically to their work.

These factors include:

• Workload and scheduling – how work tasks are organised and timed.
• Control – how much say people have over how they carry out their work.
• Clarity – about one’s role and responsibilities and what’s expected of you.
• Support – such as training, mental health resources, and encouragement from peers and managers.
• Relationships – the quality of working relationships among colleagues and between employees and management, and mechanisms for resolving conflicts.
• Change – how well we manage change and communicate so people are adaptable.

Colleagues also have access to a voluntary self-assessment tool and a psychosocial wellbeing guide.

Why it matters

Our primary goal is to create a safe and healthier work environment. By taking a proactive approach, we not only enhance our people’s wellbeing, but we also continue improving how we perform as an organisation.