Why Psychosocial Safety is Becoming the Next Major Challenge for the Aquatic Industry

Craig Roberts - General Manager - Drowning Prevention Australia

For the past several years, the conversation around psychosocial health and safety has largely centred on awareness.

Organisations have introduced mental health initiatives, employee assistance programs, wellbeing campaigns and mental health first aid training. Regulators have strengthened expectations, psychosocial hazards have been formally incorporated into work health and safety frameworks, and boards are increasingly recognising psychological health as a critical organisational issue.

Yet despite this increased attention, psychological injury claims continue to rise across Australia.

According to Safe Work Australia, serious mental health claims now result in more than five times the time lost from work compared to physical injury claims and cost significantly more than traditional workplace injuries. The economic and organisational impacts are substantial, extending far beyond workers compensation costs to workforce participation, productivity, absenteeism and retention.

The question facing many leaders is no longer whether psychosocial hazards exist.

The question is why psychological harm continues to increase despite greater awareness, more training and increased investment.

For the aquatic industry, the answer may lie in recognising that psychosocial safety is no longer simply a wellbeing issue. It is increasingly becoming a workforce sustainability, organisational performance and leadership challenge.

The Industry Has Solved Awareness. It Has Not Solved Work Design.

For many years, organisations approached psychological health through an individual lens.

The focus was often on helping workers manage stress, build resilience and improve wellbeing.

While these initiatives remain important, contemporary psychosocial risk management is increasingly shifting towards a different question:

How is work itself contributing to psychological harm?

Safe Work Australia identifies psychosocial hazards arising from the design or management of work, the work environment, workplace interactions and organisational systems.

This represents a significant shift in thinking.

The most effective psychosocial interventions are often not wellbeing programs. They are improvements to leadership, communication, consultation, staffing, role clarity, workload management and organisational culture.

For aquatic facilities, this means examining how work is organised rather than simply how workers respond to pressure.

Customer Aggression is Becoming the Sector's Frontline Risk

Across Australia, organisations that provide public-facing services are reporting increasing levels of aggression, hostility and unreasonable behaviour from customers.

The aquatic industry is no exception.

Many facility operators are reporting an increase in incidents involving verbal abuse, intimidation, threats, social media complaints and challenging interactions with patrons.

Customer service officers, swim teachers, lifeguards and duty managers often find themselves managing situations that extend well beyond traditional service delivery responsibilities.

This trend mirrors challenges already experienced within healthcare, retail, aviation and emergency services.

Importantly, regulators no longer view occupational violence and aggression as simply part of customer-facing work. These behaviours are recognised as psychosocial hazards that require systematic risk management.

The implications for aquatic facilities are significant.

Managing psychosocial risk increasingly requires organisations to establish clear behavioural expectations, strengthen incident reporting systems, support frontline workers and ensure leaders are equipped to respond effectively when incidents occur.

The Rise of Moral Injury

One of the least discussed psychosocial risks in the aquatic industry may also be one of the most significant.

Moral injury occurs when workers feel unable to act in accordance with their professional judgement, values or responsibilities due to organisational constraints or competing pressures.

While the concept has been widely explored within healthcare, defence and emergency services, it has particular relevance for aquatic environments.

Examples may include:

• Supervising high-risk environments during periods of workforce shortage.

• Managing patron behaviour without adequate organisational support.

• Balancing safety concerns against commercial pressures.

• Responding to incidents where staff believe risks were foreseeable but not adequately addressed.

• Feeling unable to deliver the standard of service or supervision expected of the role.

Unlike acute stress, moral injury often develops gradually and can have profound impacts on engagement, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.

As workforce pressures continue to grow, understanding moral injury may become increasingly important for aquatic leaders.

The Next Workforce Challenge is Retention

For much of the past decade, workforce discussions have focused on recruitment.

The emerging challenge is retention.

Many aquatic organisations continue to invest heavily in attracting lifeguards, swim teachers and operational staff. However, retaining experienced personnel is becoming increasingly difficult.

Workforce expectations are changing.

Younger workers are placing greater emphasis on workplace culture, leadership quality, psychological safety, flexibility and respectful treatment.

They are also more likely to leave workplaces where these expectations are not met.

This presents a challenge for organisations that continue to rely on traditional workforce models or assume that psychological stress is simply part of working in aquatic environments.

The facilities that succeed over the next decade are likely to be those that create environments where people feel valued, supported and able to perform at their best.

Psychosocial Safety is Becoming a Leadership Metric

Historically, organisational performance was measured through operational and financial indicators.

• Attendance.

• Revenue.

• Membership growth.

• Program participation.

• Compliance outcomes.

Increasingly, organisations are being asked to consider a different set of indicators.

• Staff turnover.

• Psychological injury claims.

• Absenteeism.

• Workforce engagement.

• Aggression and behavioural incidents.

• Leadership capability.

• Organisational culture.

These measures are increasingly viewed as indicators of organisational health and sustainability.

Boards, executives, insurers and regulators are paying closer attention to the relationship between leadership decisions, workplace culture and psychosocial risk exposure.

The message is clear. - Psychosocial safety is no longer simply a workplace health and safety issue.

It is becoming a core organisational performance issue.

What Comes Next?

The aquatic industry has a long history of innovation and leadership in safety.

The next challenge is recognising that the most significant risks facing organisations are not always physical.

As facilities become more complex, workforce expectations evolve and public interactions become increasingly challenging, psychosocial risk management will play an increasingly important role in organisational success.

The organisations that thrive will not be those with the most wellbeing posters or awareness campaigns.

They will be the organisations that design healthy work, support capable leaders, create respectful workplaces and proactively manage the organisational factors that contribute to psychological harm.

The future of safety is not choosing between physical and psychological health.

It is recognising that both are essential to creating safe, sustainable and high-performing organisations.

"The psychosocial challenges facing the aquatic industry today are fundamentally different from those we were discussing five years ago. This is no longer simply a conversation about stress or wellbeing. It is a conversation about leadership, workforce sustainability, customer behaviour, organisational culture and how work is designed. The organisations that understand this shift will be far better positioned to attract, retain and support the workforce they need for the future."

Craig Roberts

General Manager, Drowning Prevention Australia