World Day for Safety & Health at Work

What is the psychosocial working environment?

The psychosocial working environment is shaped by how work is designed, organised and managed, and by the everyday practices that influence how people experience work. Factors such as workload, shift patterns, role clarity, autonomy (ability to self-govern) , support, communication, quality of work experience and fairness all play a role.

When these factors are well managed, they support positive wellbeing and performance. When they are not, they can become psychosocial hazards, just as real as physical, chemical or biological hazards and they must be identified and managed with the same rigour.

As Sarah Bell, SVP Safety, Health and Environment explains:

“A healthy psychosocial working environment is not about removing challenge from our work, it’s about ensuring our systems, leadership and ways of working support people to perform safely, sustainably and as they are maintaining their psychological health and wellbeing are working at their best, even in complex and high‑pressure environments.”

The reality of our working environments

All aspects of the mining and processing value chain are inherently complex. Across Anglo American, many of our colleagues work in conditions that include:

• Complex and demanding operational systems
• High‑responsibility decisions with significant cost and safety implications
• Tight timelines and competing operational priorities
• 24/7 shift work and critical handovers
• Remote and isolated work settings, including Fly in Fly out (FIFO) and Drive in Drive out (DIDO) sites.
• Remote work for individuals or challenging environments such as on vessels, in plants or underground
• Increasing interaction required between people and technology
• Traditionally male‑dominated environments, where stigma can still exist around speaking upon workload and other concerns.

These realities mean psychosocial risk is present but can be proactively managed if recognised and that leader input into how work is structured and supported really matters for the health, safety and wellbeing of their people.

Good Mental health and wellbeing is not a binary (Yes or No) state

The World Health Organization defines mental health as:

A state of wellbeing in which an individual realises their abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to their community.

It is important to realise we all have mental health, and it is not static. It exists on a spectrum* and can change day to day, ranging from thriving and excelling, to struggling or being in crisis. This spectrum reminds us that mental health is not about labels, but about capacity, support and context.

Moving beyond an individual focus

Discussions about mental health at work often focus on individual resilience or coping strategies. While individual support is important, evidence from occupational health shows that our workforce mental health is also shaped by our work systems.

How roles are defined, how work is paced, how information flows, how uncertainty is handled, and how safe people feel to speak up all influence how work is experienced. This is particularly relevant in complex technical and operational environments, where cognitive load, attention and decision‑making are critical to safety.

As Dr Robina McCann, VP Health, notes:

“Supporting mental health and wellbeing at work is not only about individual care, it is also about designing work systems that enable people to cope with pressure, recover effectively and sustain performance over time. This focus on what we can control as a workplace is an investment with a proven business value add, as healthy and well workers are present, productive and safe workers”

Health and Safety at the heart of everything we do

As we mark World Health & Safety Day at Work, our focus remains clear and unwavering. A sustained focus on serious injury prevention, visible leadership at the working interface, and the disciplined execution of authorised work in line with our standards is critical to maintaining momentum.

Our safety objective remains unchanged: to ensure that every colleague returns home safely at the end of each day.

Achieving this requires shared accountability at every level, where leaders and teams take responsibility not only for safe outcomes, but for how work is done. It calls on us to show genuine care and respect for one another, to listen, and to create space for people to speak up, pause when needed, and raise concerns without fear.

Safety is strengthened when leaders are present, when expectations are clear, and when we give colleagues the time, attention and support they need to work safely, today and every day.

This is why psychosocial risk is increasingly discussed alongside safety.

As Tim Price, VP Technical Risk Governance & Learning (Safety) explains:

“In high‑hazard environments, performance is shaped by the environment, systems and people around us. When psychosocial conditions increase cognitive load or reduce clarity, they can influence how decisions are made and that matters for safety.”

What this means for all of us

Creating a healthy psychosocial working environment is a shared responsibility. It involves leaders, teams and individuals:

• Designing and planning work with realistic demands and adequate resources
• Creating clear roles and expectations and ensuring regular communication between all work execution stakeholders
• Encouraging and modelling respectful challenge and speaking up. This includes stop work authority
• Supporting effective handovers
• Proactive review of rosters to facilitate fatigue management
• Recognising that stress and mental health fluctuate and that support matters

On this World Day for Safety and Health at Work, we encourage everyone to reflect on how our work systems support people, not just to cope, but to perform safely, recover well and thrive.

To learn more, revisit resources on the Health page on Eureka.

Together, by focusing on how work works, we strengthen safety, health and sustainability across Anglo American.