HSE Network Publishes Guide on Psychological Safety for UK Safety Leaders

The following is an abridgement of an article originally published by HSE Network.

Impact of Workplace Mental Health

According to the UK Health and Safety Executive, mental health issues accounted for over half of work-related health problems in 2024 and 2025. The agency reported that approximately 964,000 individuals experienced work-related stress, depression, or anxiety, resulting in 22.1 million lost working days and an estimated annual cost of £21.6 billion to £28 billion for UK businesses.

Defining Psychological Safety

The HSE Network guide defines psychological safety as a shared belief among team members that their environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, allowing employees to report hazards, admit errors, or challenge instructions without fear of negative repercussions.

The publication attributes the concept to Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson, whose research indicated that high-performing teams report higher error rates because members feel safe to discuss and analyze mistakes, whereas low-performing teams often suppress hazard reporting due to fear of reprimand.

Systemic Risk Management and Compliance

The HSE Network distinguishes psychological safety from individual workplace wellness programs, describing the former as a proactive approach targeting systemic work design and leadership behaviors.

Managing psychosocial risks aligns with UK employer obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The guide notes that frameworks such as the HSE Management Standards and ISO 45003 provide structural guidance for mitigating hazards related to workload, organizational culture, and workplace relationships.

Indicators and Strategies

HSE Network identifies warning signs of low psychological safety, including an absence of near-miss reporting, silence during safety briefings, high individual blame during incident investigations, and increased short-term sick leave.

To improve organizational culture, the guide recommends that safety directors frame operational tasks as continuous learning challenges, acknowledge their own knowledge gaps, ask open-ended questions to facilitate discussion, and implement blameless internal review methodologies that focus on systemic flaws rather than individual discipline.