Second analysis: mainly collective or mainly individual nature

If the Prevention Advisor for psychosocial aspects has accepted the request, they will carry out a second analysis to examine whether the situation described in the request primarily involves risks of a collective or an individual nature.

The Prevention Advisor for psychosocial aspects is the only person who can decide whether a request is mainly collective or mainly individual. The applicant cannot therefore decide themselves to submit a primarily collective request, for example. Nor can the applicant give their agreement to the decision by the Prevention Advisor.

The Prevention Advisor for psychosocial aspects must not carry out an in-depth investigation on site in order to make a decision. They must base their decision only on the information they receive from the applicant during the compulsory prior interview and on the information contained in the request.

They must make a decision as soon as possible. The Prevention Advisor for psychosocial aspects informs the worker of the decision. The legislation does not stipulate a specific deadline.

Mainly collective in nature

The request is mainly collective in nature if it appears from the description of the situation that other workers in the company may also suffer harm as a result of the issue and that this is more of an organisational problem than an individual problem. These are cases in which a lack of collective action can lead to an increase in the number of individual requests for psychosocial intervention or a deterioration in the atmosphere at work in the company or in the service.

It is not necessary for several workers to experience harm as a result of the same problem: the probability is enough. Nor is it necessary for the request to be submitted by several workers at the same time for it to be a mainly collective problem. It is enough for the request to be submitted by a single worker.

A formal request, for example, is submitted by a worker experiencing psychosocial problems due to the work rate. They must complete a large number of dossiers every day. However, it is almost impossible to achieve this number, which causes a great deal of stress. If it appears from the description of the situation that the applicant's colleagues also have to achieve this number and it is possible that they are also feeling a great deal of stress due to this high work rate, then this is a situation that contains a mainly collective risk: there is a risk that several workers are suffering this stress.

Mainly individual in nature

The formal request for psychosocial intervention is mainly individual if it appears from the description of the situation that the issue primarily involves the applicant and that this problem involves no or very few other workers. The collective aspect of the danger is therefore secondary or non-existent.

For example, if it appears from the description of the situation that only the worker who submitted the request has to complete a large number of dossiers a day and this number is not required of the other workers, then this is a mainly individual request. A conflict between two workers will also be considered as mainly individual in nature.

Note: a formal request for psychosocial intervention due to acts of violence or moral or sexual harassment at work is always considered a mainly individual request. In other words, the Prevention Advisor for psychosocial aspects will not examine whether the request is mainly collective or individual.

The request will be handled differently depending on whether it is mainly collective or mainly individual in nature.