Psychosocial risk audit: structuring your DUERP and managing your PAPRIPACT

Psychosocial risks (RPS) occupy a central place today in the issues of mental health, quality of life and working conditions. Stress chronic, professional exhaustion, relational tensions, loss of meaning... These situations affect both individuals, work groups and the overall performance of organizations.

Faced with these observations, thepsychosocial risk audit is no longer just a regulatory compliance tool. It constitutes a a real lever for understanding, prioritization and action, at the heart of DUERP and PAPRIPACT.

Why conduct a psychosocial risk audit?

Unlike other more visible occupational risks, PSRs are often diffuse, multifaceted and difficult to objectify. They are not the result of individual weaknesses but have their origin in work organization, management methods, professional relationships or even emotional constraints.

Carrying out an RPS audit allows above all to: make these work realities visible. The aim is to finely analyze the situations to which employees are exposed, to understand their mechanisms and to identify imbalances between risk factors and resource factors.

Beyond the diagnosis, the RPS audit creates a shared framework for talking about real work, securing exchanges and laying the foundations for structured, credible and sustainable prevention.

The objectives of an RPS audit: assess, understand, act

An audit of psychosocial risks pursues several complementary objectives.

First of all, it allowsassess the exposure level of the various work units to the main factors of RPS, according to recognized standards (Gollac & Bodier, INRS). This assessment is not limited to measuring feelings: it links organizational constraints, work requirements and their effects on health.

The audit also aims to identify resource factors present in the organization. Managerial support, cooperation, room for manoeuvre, recognition, sense of work: these elements play an essential role in the prevention of PSR and are all too often absent from analyses.

Finally, the RPS audit has a clear operational purpose: feed the DUERP and build a balanced prevention plan, combining primary prevention (acting on the organization), secondary (developing coping skills) and tertiary prevention (supporting situations of suffering).

DUERP and PAPRIPACT: two obligations, two different logics

The DUERP and the PAPRIPACT are often cited together, but they respond to distinct logics. Understanding how they relate to each other is essential to structure an effective prevention approach.

The DUERP: analyze and prioritize risks

The Single Occupational Risk Assessment Document is mandatory for all businesses, from the first employee. Its purpose is to identify, assess and prioritize all the professional risks to which employees are exposed, including psychosocial risks.

In terms of RPS, the DUERP is often incomplete or too general. Without a structured audit, psychosocial risks are reduced to vague formulations, without analysis by work unit or real prioritization.

The DUERP answers a central question: What risks are our employees exposed to and at what level?

The PAPRIPACT: transforming analysis into concrete actions

The PAPRIPACT Concerns the businesses with more than 50 employees. It relies directly on the DUERP to define an annual program of actions aimed at preventing occupational risks and improving working conditions.

Unlike DUERP, The PAPRIPACT is not limited to the observation. It formalizes the preventive measures, specifies the objectives pursued, the monitoring indicators, the implementation schedule and the resources mobilized.

It answers another key question: What are we putting in place in concrete terms to reduce the risks identified?

The key role of the RPS audit

The RPS audit makes the link between these two obligations. It brings the necessary depth of analysis to the DUERP and provides a solid, prioritized and operational basis for building a coherent and realistic PAPRIPACT.

After the audit: from analysis to work transformation

An RPS audit only makes sense if it leads to concrete actions that are monitored over time. The results must be analyzed collectively, shared with stakeholders and contextualized according to the realities on the ground.

On this basis, an action plan can be built. It may relate to work organization (burdens, priorities, processes), managerial practices (regulation, communication, recognition), support systems or even collective awareness.

Employee involvement is a key success factor. Involving teams in the discussions, setting up a monitoring committee and communicating transparently makes it possible to permanently anchor the prevention of PSR in the culture of the organization.

Finally, the process must take place over time. Monitoring indicators, regular progress points and continuous adjustments are essential to make PSR prevention a living process, and not a one-off obligation.

Structuring your PSR prevention, beyond compliance

Updating your DUERP or building a PAPRIPACT should not be reduced to meeting a regulatory requirement. A well-conducted psychosocial risk audit makes it possible to open up a space for dialogue on real work, to secure groups and to sustainably strengthen the quality of life and working conditions.

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