A practical workplace resource · no account required. “PPE for the Soul” is the band’s metaphorical nickname. Prepare, raise, and follow up on a workplace psychosocial hazard. This guide is not an emergency service or a reporting channel.
Prepare, raise, and follow up
Use this guide to describe a work condition, consider a route for raising it, and plan a follow-up check.
This is not an official form for your employer or joint health and safety committee (JHSC). It is not a reporting channel. Completing this worksheet does not submit a report or pause any applicable deadline. Sharing it through a workplace or external process may have consequences under that process.
Immediate danger or urgent medical need? If someone is in immediate danger or needs urgent medical help, contact local emergency services now. Do not wait for this guide or a committee meeting.
A concern deserves substantive review, even when the conversation is difficult. Bring what you observed, a clear ask, and a follow-up plan.
Start here. The prompts below are optional. Use only what helps. Worksheet answers are not sent to this site.
- Describe the work condition you want reviewed.
- Consider who may be affected and how to raise the concern safely.
- Look for a change to the work condition, not only advice for the person affected.
- Agree how and when to check whether the change helped.
Start with the work condition
Describe observable work conditions, not a diagnosis, motive, or verdict about a person's character. Keep identifying details out of this website's worksheet. A workplace report or confidential professional consultation may need specific names, dates, and events.
- What task, process, role, schedule, interaction pattern, or change is involved?
- What happens that could create harm, and where, when, or how often does it occur?
- Which roles may be exposed? Keep identifying details out of this website's worksheet.
- What makes the condition worse or better? What controls exist in practice, and what is missing?
- Could the burden or exposure differ across shifts, roles, locations, or accessibility needs? Consider patterns without collecting sensitive identity details.
Check whether participation is safe
- Is the usual supervisor or meeting a safe route? If not, identify an alternative before sharing details.
- Can affected workers contribute voluntarily and accessibly, without disclosing diagnoses or trauma?
- Could a group discussion identify or expose someone? Consider a representative, separate conversation, or sharing a work-condition pattern without names.
- Ask who will see the information, what records will be created, and what confidentiality can and cannot be promised.
- Participation in this preparation exercise should not require a worker to confront someone, disclose a diagnosis, or design the solution alone.
Look for controls at the source
Start with changes to the work condition or work design. Individual support can help, but does not replace an effective control when the exposure remains.
- Ask whether the source can be removed or the work can be redesigned. Examples include clarifying conflicting priorities, adjusting staffing or schedules, defining role boundaries, improving change communication, or stopping a harmful practice.
- Consider collective and organizational controls: reliable alternate routes, worker participation in design, consistent processes, adequate resources, and predictable communication.
- Offer individual supports as supplements when wanted; do not treat them as closing the hazard if the work condition is unchanged.
- Check side effects: could the change transfer workload, risk, stigma, or retaliation to another person or group?
- A training session, poster, completed form, or wellness message is not proof that exposure changed.
Choose a route and one next step
Routes vary by workplace and jurisdiction. Check the applicable workplace process and available external routes. Options may include a worker or health-and-safety representative, joint committee, union, alternate manager, qualified professional, regulator, or external support organization. These are examples, not a required order. No route is guaranteed safe.
- Before sharing identifying details, ask what happens to the information, who may see it, and what records will be created.
- Ask what interim controls and response timeline are available, and how to follow up.
- Identify an alternate route if the usual channel is unavailable, implicated, or unsafe. Do not assume confidentiality.
Record an action, not a verdict
Keep this preparation summary brief. It does not replace original records or the information an appropriate reporting process may require. You can leave any prompt blank. Do not upload completed notes to this website or paste them into public posts, analytics, or contest forms.
- Work condition to change; interim step if needed; source-level or collective control proposed.
- Ask who has authority to act, what resources they need, whose input they need, and when to check progress.
- Observable change that would show exposure is reduced; who will check; safe alternate route if the control fails.
Check whether the work changed
- Did exposure become less frequent, shorter, or less severe?
- Did the change shift burden or risk elsewhere? Are controls available during busy periods and staff absences?
- Can people raise problems without being penalized or singled out?
- If exposure remains, the control failed, or participation is not safe, keep the issue open and consider an appropriate alternate route. Administrative completion is not evidence that exposure changed.
Prepare a private note to raise
Optional working notes for you. Before sharing, check the applicable workplace process and available external routes.
This is not an official form for your employer or joint health and safety committee (JHSC). It is not a reporting channel. Completing this worksheet does not submit a report or pause any applicable deadline. Sharing it through a workplace or external process may have consequences under that process.
Optional: use a chatbot to organize de-identified notes
Copy this generic prompt, then decide separately whether to share anything with a chatbot. It does not include worksheet answers. Removing names may not prevent identification from distinctive roles, dates, locations, or events. The chatbot provider’s privacy terms apply.
A chatbot is not a reporting channel or professional adviser.
This site does not receive or store your worksheet answers. Your browser or device may keep or restore them. Downloaded or printed copies remain wherever you save or leave them. Keep identifying details out of the website worksheet. Removing names may not prevent identification from distinctive roles, dates, locations, or events. The generic chatbot prompt does not include your answers. A chatbot provider's data handling is separate. Share only information you have de-identified and choose to disclose.
Limits and further reading
This guide is general education. It is not an individualized assessment, professional service, or legal or clinical advice. It is not a formal risk assessment. It does not diagnose, investigate, or guarantee a safe outcome. It does not assess or certify conformity to CAN/CSA-Z1003-13/BNQ 9700-803/2013 (R2022) or ISO 45003. It does not replace workplace procedures or qualified support. Laws, rights, routes, and services vary by location. Check current local sources.
Ontario route information is jurisdiction-specific. Source review date: 10 October 2026. Recheck links, edition/status, and local routing before release and at least annually.
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