The well-being and mental health of our talent have become fundamental pillars for organizational success. The management of psychosocial factors is not only a legal obligation established in Art. 16 of Law 31/1995 on Prevention of Occupational Risks (LPRL), but a direct investment in productivity, commitment, and retention.
At Hrider, we understand this reality. That is why we have integrated the international reference methodology to offer you a tool that guarantees technical-legislative compliance for audits and inspections, enhanced confidentiality, and above all, preventive action.
1. What is the Psychosocial Risk Assessment?
The Psychosocial Risk Assessment is a systematic and mandatory process aimed at identifying, analyzing, and evaluating the conditions present in the work environment that may affect the physical, mental, and social health of workers.
1.1. Legal Framework
Spanish legislation, specifically Article 16 of Law 31/1995 on Prevention of Occupational Risks (LPRL), establishes the legal obligation to assess all risks, including psychosocial ones. Therefore, it is not an option, but an essential technical-legislative requirement for audits and inspections.
The fundamental objective of this assessment is preventive:
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Identify risk factors: Detect organizational, social, and job content conditions (such as workload, autonomy, leadership, or social support) that could lead to health damage.
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Act at the source: Once risks are identified, the purpose is to design measures that act on the work organization (the structural causes) to eliminate or reduce them, not to diagnose individuals.
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Promote well-being: It constitutes a continuous improvement cycle for monitoring changes in psychosocial conditions and integrating lessons learned into general management.
1.2. What do these risks assess?
Psychosocial factors are understood as the organizational, social, and job content conditions that influence people's health and well-being. The assessment measures these factors through specific dimensions that integrate validated scientific models:
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Demand-Control-Support Model (Karasek & Theorell): Relates psychological demands and autonomy to stress and health.
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Effort-Reward Model (Siegrist): Focuses on the balance between invested effort and compensations obtained.
By using the COPSOQ method (as in the Hrider tool), it is ensured that the assessment is valid, documented, and based on validated models, making it defensible before the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS). The process must always guarantee the participation of personnel (workers and/or representatives), anonymity, and confidentiality of responses to foster a climate of trust.
2. What is COPSOQ-ISTAS21 and why is it the standard?
The COPSOQ (Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire) is an international instrument designed to evaluate psychosocial conditions at work and prevent risks. It is one of the most widely used reference methods in the world and is cited as an example of good practice by the WHO, the ILO, and EU-OSHA.
In Spain, we use the COPSOQ-ISTAS21 adaptation, recognized by the INSST. This version has been validated with a representative sample of the Spanish salaried population, establishing the population reference values that serve as the scientific basis for comparison.
2.1. Key Psychosocial Dimensions (Technical Structure)
The Hrider tool evaluates critical dimensions according to this framework:
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Demands: Quantitative, cognitive, emotional, sensory, and the demand to "hide emotions."
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Autonomy and development: Influence/Autonomy, Possibilities for development, Control over working time, Meaning of work, and Integration into the company.
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Role, relationships, and leadership: Role clarity, Role conflict, Predictability, Social support (colleagues and superiors), Possibilities for social relationships, Sense of community, and Quality of leadership.
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Rewards, justice, and social capital: Esteem/Recognition, Organizational justice, Vertical trust, and Horizontal trust.
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Insecurity and work-life balance: Job insecurity, Insecurity about working conditions, and Double presence / Work-life conflict.
3. Hrider in Action: Guide to Psychosocial Assessment
Hrider's new functionality is designed to make the process secure, anonymous, and traceable. It allows you to obtain automatic reports with exposure levels by departments and/or positions and quickly identify priority risks.
3. 1. Preparation and agreement (Phase 1 and 2)
Commitment and participation are non-negotiable principles:
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Institutional agreement: Management and worker representation must formalize the written commitment, guaranteeing the preventive purpose, anonymity, and confidentiality.
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Joint working group: This operational body must include representatives of management, workers (prevention delegates), and prevention service technicians to supervise all phases.
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Transparent communication: It is essential to inform the entire staff about what COPSOQ is, how anonymity is guaranteed, and that the assessment will lead to concrete improvement actions.
3.2. Execution and analysis (Phase 3 and 4 in Hrider)
Our tool is designed to simplify the most technical phases and generate automatic reports:
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Anonymous application: Hrider facilitates secure digital processes without nominative registration.
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Report generation: You get automatic reports that calculate scores from 0 to 100 and classify them into three risk levels by comparing them with population reference values (terciles).
3.2.1. Dual Analysis in Hrider: External vs. Internal
The strength of Hrider lies in its ability to offer two risk perspectives simultaneously:
1. External reference: Compares your organization's results with the Spanish normative population. This allows you to know if the organization is better, the same, or worse than the set of companies.
2. Internal classification: Regroups the results into terciles based on the distribution of responses within the company itself. This is crucial for comparing areas, departments, or groups against each other, highlighting the internal relative exposure.
The case of "Green in decline": Hrider helps you identify the dimensions that, although still at the Green level (low risk) compared to the population, have worsened compared to previous measurements. This alert is a key methodological recommendation to activate early measures before moving to Yellow or Red risk.
3.3. Planning and monitoring (Phase 5, 6, and 8)
The final Hrider report, together with the participatory analysis, leads to preventive action:
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Low Risk (stable): It is recommended to maintain realistic dimensioning and cadence, along with good ergonomic practices and active career paths.
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Low Risk (in decline): Activate peak and queue load audits, introduce micro-pauses, and add micro-learning on the job. The availability of the supervisor should be reinforced.
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Medium Risk (yellow): Clarify priorities and objectives, expand the margin of decision, adjust quadrants, and establish clear change rules. Training in supportive leadership and protected time for collaboration is recommended.
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High Risk (priority): Redesign of processes and staff is required, review of objectives/SLAs, elimination of incompatible orders or "useless work," and limits on availability. Includes reconfiguring positions to include real learning/variety.
Legal traceability: The documentation and custody of the process and its results are the responsibility of the company. Hrider generates objective and auditable evidence of risk detection, providing you with the necessary documentation for audits and inspections. Reassessment must be repeated in 12-24 months to check the effectiveness of the measures.
4. Rigor, anonymity, and trust
For the assessment to be effective, people must feel secure. Hrider guarantees the requirements of the GDPR and the Law on Prevention of Occupational Risks:
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Anonymity: Hrider is designed so that you can guarantee anonymity and ensure that no person can be identified from their responses, and the assessment is accessible only according to authorized profile.
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Enhanced confidentiality: We use EU servers, encryption, roles and permissions, and data processing agreements.
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Non-modification of the questionnaire: Only formal adjustments are allowed; the validated content of the instrument is not altered to guarantee scientific rigor and comparability.
The Psychosocial Risk Assessment module is a strategic support tool for your prevention system, transforming legal compliance into a driver of well-being and organizational development.
Evaluating psychosocial risks with rigor, as required by regulations and promoted by the COPSOQ philosophy, is an act of preventive leadership. Hrider provides you with scientific evidence, process traceability, and detailed segmentation. Our tool converts the complexity of COPSOQ-ISTAS21 into a clear roadmap for action. It allows you to focus on the two most critical areas: legal compliance and the real impact on your team's well-being.
Do not let psychosocial risk become a contingency. Be proactive and transform the legal obligation into a competitive advantage.