Peggy Girault was a psychosocial risk prevention assistant in the Rhône department of education. She is now an expert in stress management and burnout prevention.
As such, she is providing us with her expertise on the subject of the DUERP: document unique d'évaluation des risques professionnels (single document for assessing occupational risks).
It trains executive committees, HR staff, managers and employees in the managing stress in the workplace and preventing burnout. She provides advice on drafting DUERPs to promote a calm working environment. With the end of teleworking, it's time to take care when returning to work to avoid the famous September burnout, which she discusses in this blog article: September burnout.
What is the DUERP?
The DUERP, or Document Unique d'Évaluation des Risques Professionnels, is a transcription of the assessment of occupational risks that employers are legally obliged to carry out.
What does the DUERP include?
It includes an inventory of the risks identified in each of the company's work units.
In concrete terms, when we talk about the single document, we are talking about all the measures put in place in the company to protect the health and safety of workers, both physically and psychologically. We often think of physical safety, but we often forget about emotional and mental health!
These are :
- -actions to prevent occupational risks,
- -information and training initiatives ;
- -the implementation of an appropriate organisation and resources.
It is therefore not just a formal document, but rather an inventory of the risks AND the measures implemented by the employer to fulfil its safety obligation.
Often, we do a good job of taking stock of the risks, but we are often faced with a lack of ideas for measures to prevent these risks.
Do you need support to draw up your DUERP?
It really is better to be accompanied.
Why is this?
Because you need expertise and an outside perspective to identify and analyse risks, work unit by work unit. In other words, you need an objective viewpoint to help you get your head above the parapet.
What is the basis for the DUERP?
Whatever the size of the company, it's best to draw on both internal and external resources:
In-house resources
You can rely, for example, on a member of staff who will be designated as the person responsible for drawing up and updating the DUERP, as well as on the CSE and the Health and Safety Committee, if one exists.
You can also get support from some of your usual contacts, such as your occupational health department, which has a specific approach and methodology to offer you, and which is also required to carry out various studies of working conditions in the company.
External resources
Service providers, such as consultants, experts like Peggy Girault, an expert in stress at work and burnout prevention, or lawyers, can help you take a different, outside look at your prevention policy. As well as simply identifying the risks, these professionals can provide real added value in the choice of preventive measures that can be deployed.
What does the DUERP include?
It includes an inventory of the risks identified in each of the company's work units.
In concrete terms, when we talk about the single document, we are talking about all the measures put in place in the company to protect the health and safety of workers, both physically and psychologically. We often think of physical safety, but we often forget about emotional and mental health!
These are :
-actions to prevent occupational risks,
-information and training initiatives ;
-the implementation of an appropriate organisation and resources.
It is therefore not just a formal document, but rather an inventory of the risks AND the measures implemented by the employer to fulfil its safety obligation.
Often, we do a good job of taking stock of the risks, but we are often faced with a lack of ideas for measures to prevent these risks.
Do you need support to draw up your DUERP?
It really is better to be accompanied.
Why is this?
Because you need expertise and an outside perspective to identify and analyse risks, work unit by work unit. In other words, you need an objective viewpoint to help you get your head above the parapet.
What is the basis for the DUERP?
Whatever the size of the company, it's best to draw on both internal and external resources:
In-house resources
You can rely, for example, on a member of staff who will be designated as the person responsible for drawing up and updating the DUERP, as well as on the CSE and the Health and Safety Committee, if one exists.
You can also get support from some of your usual contacts, such as your occupational health department, which has a specific approach and methodology to offer you, and which is also required to carry out various studies of working conditions in the company.
External resources
Service providers, such as consultants, experts like Peggy Girault, an expert in stress at work and burnout prevention, or lawyers, can help you take a different, outside look at your prevention policy. As well as simply identifying the risks, these professionals can provide real added value in the choice of preventive measures that can be deployed.
What are your legal obligations with regard to the DUERP?
- Drawing up a DUERP for all employee structures
You must draw up a DUERP as soon as your company has one employee.
- Annual update of the DUERP
You must update the DUERP every year, or when you make a "major development decision that changes health, safety or working conditions". The DUERP is also updated as and when additional information concerning the assessment of a risk is gathered.
- List collective data in appendices to the DUERP
Your DUERP must also list, in an appendix, the collective data useful for assessing the company's obligations in terms of arduous work. We are talking here about data useful for assessing individual exposure to so-called "arduous" factors and the proportion of employees exposed to these risk factors above the regulatory thresholds.
- Making the DUERP available
Finally, you are obliged to make the DUERP available to a number of people, starting with the employees themselves, staff representatives, the works doctor, the labour inspectorate and CARSAT (the French occupational health and pension insurance fund).
If not, what are the consequences?
Direct consequence: a fine
If we simply stick to the text, failure to transcribe or update the results of the risk assessment is punishable by a fine of €1,500 and €3,000 in the event of a repeat offence.
At first glance, the penalty does not seem so severe, especially as the Cour de cassation recently ruled that the absence of a single document does not automatically entitle the employee to compensation.
Indirect consequences: a lack of legal protection
However, the basic problem is much more serious than the problem of form, since in reality the absence or inadequacy of the DUERP will be an indicator proving that employees are working in a working environment with insufficiently identified risks, without having the appropriate preventive measures in place.
The employer is therefore directly liable and is exposed to claims for damages for breach of its safety obligation, as soon as the employee is able to establish the existence of a loss.
More specifically, you also run the risk of being found guilty of inexcusable misconduct if it is established that you were aware of a risk but did not take sufficient measures to protect your employees.
In all these cases, the DUERP is effective proof of the existence of a prevention policy within the company.
What is the point of writing a DUERP and updating it every year?
There are often two ways of looking at legal obligations: as a constraint or, on the contrary, as an opportunity!
This legal obligation makes sense! It means working to create a working environment that is not only safe but also conducive to employee commitment.
How do you go about it?
- Set up a multidisciplinary working group
You could, for example, set up a multi-disciplinary working group to take action on the subject, or appoint a dedicated in-house contact to audit employees in each work unit. Together, you can promote a dynamic and constructive vision of prevention.
- Consider physical and psychosocial risks
All too often we think of "physical" risks without considering psychological risks such as psychosocial risks, moral harassment, sexual harassment, sexist behaviour, stress, burnout, etc. These risks must not be ignored. These risks must not be ignored; they must also be assessed!
- Work on the risk factors
How can we do this? By starting to work on defining the sources of stress and unhappiness at work, and the behaviour considered inappropriate. This then enables us to build a action plan, monitoring indicators and efficient regulatory procedures.
Generally speaking, don't see prevention as something rigid, but rather as a way of something we bring to life !
Clearly, make your DUERP a safety tool, but take advantage of the opportunity to transform it into a real communication and action tool for all your employees!
Is the well-being of your employees a priority?
How can psychosocial risks be incorporated into the DUERP?
What are psychosocial risks?
Psychosocial risks (commonly referred to as PSRs) refer to a range of occupational hazards affecting the physical integrity and mental health of employees. These risks include stress, depression, moral or sexual harassment, burnout and violence in the workplace. They are the cause of a number of ailments and pathologies (sleep problems, depression, musculoskeletal disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, etc.).
The consequences of psychosocial risks affect the physical and mental health of employees.
Some common PSRs
Stress
Occupational stress occurs when there is an imbalance between a person's perception of the constraints imposed on them by their environment and their own resources for coping with them. All professional activities, whether carried out on a building site or in an office, have physical demands (making movements, carrying loads, adopting a posture) but also mental demands (cognitive management of information and emotions).
Burnout
Professional exhaustion is better known as burnout. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it is characterised by a feeling of intense fatigue, loss of control and inability to achieve concrete results at work. It is a consequence of chronic stress. It takes 1 to 5 years to recover. So preventing burnout is not something to be taken lightly. Every year, 1 million people suffer burnout. This year, with COVID, that figure has doubled to 2 million!
Burnout can manifest itself in the following ways: physical, mental or emotional exhaustion, or a loss of self-esteem.
To find out more: see the link to the blog article "How to recognise someone suffering from burnout".
Harassment
Moral harassment is abusive conduct which, through gestures, words, behaviour or attitudes repeated or systematic aims to degrade a person's working conditions. These practices cause psychological or physical problems that endanger the victim's health. Moral harassment is a technique for destroying others.
It is an action punishable by law because it constitutes a deliberate desire to harm a person's integrity.
Violence and aggression
Violence refers to any act or other behaviour that results in a person being abused, threatened, intimidated, harassed or attacked at work. In general, workplace violence includes the following: Threatening behaviour, Oral or written threats, Verbal abuse, Physical aggression... There are many explanatory models of workplace violence based on the literature.
It can therefore be caused by customers or colleagues, for example, and can be more or less serious.
What are the consequences of psychosocial risks?
Consequences for the employee and the company
The effects of psychosocial risk factors on workers' health are numerous. They also have organisational and economic repercussions for companies, and a cost for society as a whole.
The consequences of RPS are generally classified into three categories:
Physical symptoms migraines and headaches, tense muscles, unexplained fatigue, difficult digestion, malaise, etc.
Psychological symptoms The emotions that come with it: annoyance, worry, irritation, discouragement, tension, sleeping problems, dissatisfaction, crying spells, etc. all add up.
Behavioural symptoms These include increasingly pronounced addictions to coffee, tobacco and/or alcohol, eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia), a tendency to isolate oneself, aggression, and so on.
What kind of prevention? How can RPS be prevented?
It's difficult to implement preventive measures when you don't know how to deal with psychosocial risks. As a result, many companies are now focusing on detect the signs because it's the consequences of PSR that get noticed.
To prevent RPS, the first priority is to put in place a collective and individual organisation that is conducive to the physical and mental health of employees teamwork, use of employees' skills, sufficient room for manoeuvre, employee participation in decisions that affect them, training to optimise the organisation, etc.
Prevention is essential in dealing with psychosocial risks. And it is important that it takes account of individual needs if it is to be effective.
What are the legal regulations?
The establishment of a DUERP by the employer is a legal obligation under article R.4121-1 of the French Labour Code. This document
ent concerns any employer or head of establishment with one or more employees.
Employers have a general safety obligation. It is up to them to assess the risks, including psychosocial risks, and to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety and protect the physical and mental health of their employees. This general obligation is based on a comprehensive approach to occupational risk prevention. The aim is not simply to comply with specific obligations, but to achieve the desired result.
English (UK) 
Français