Health, safety and psychosocial risk

Sleep and concentration disorders, burnout, anxiety and depression, cardiovascular disease... Increasing numbers of employees are reporting that they suffer from symptoms of psychosocial risk. As well as stress, this can be caused by any perceived physical assault or emotional abuse (such as psychological or sexual harassment, conflict with individuals or within teams, insults, threats, etc). This is exacerbated by changes in work organisation and the roll-out of new managerial practices, in a hyper-competitive climate this growing discontent is fuelled by prevailing uncertainty. It has a considerable impact in human terms (deterioration of employees’ health, deterioration in the quality of the working environment within your company), in economic terms (staff turnover, absenteeism, reduced productivity, etc) and also in legal terms because, as an employer, you are responsible for your employees’ safety and for protecting their physical and mental health. Indeed, over the last few years, there have been significant and increasingly strict changes to the legislation and case-law surrounding the criminal liability of legal entities. Employer’s failure to fulfil its health and safety obligations is one of the principal reasons for attribution of liability under criminal and/or civil law. In light of this – and over and above the matter of regulatory compliance for the economic and social well-being of your company – it is crucial that you foresee and prevent these risks.

With their in-depth knowledge of these issues and their awareness of the many challenges they pose, our team of specialist employment lawyers will help you draw up and implement a prevention policy that is tailored to your business, so as to protect your company with optimal health and safety safeguards. In accordance with current requirements, our experts will assess the occupational risks within your company and present the results in a single document. They will help you put in place plans to prevent accidents at work, occupational diseases and psychological or sexual harassment. They will assist you in the management of your relationship with the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee (HSWCC) and with setting up delegated powers and responsibilities when investigations are being conducted by the supervisory authorities and during disputes. Finally, as part of our proactive approach, which goes beyond the confines of preventing risk, our lawyers will provide guidance and assistance as you develop practices to ensure the well-being of your employees and to improve the quality of working life (QWL).