Requirements for occupational exposure limits in psychosocial risk assessment: What we know, what we don’t know and what we can learn from other disciplines

This discussion paper aims to provide recommendations for the development of occupational exposure limits for psychosocial hazards. Via comparing (I) the characteristics of non-psychosocial and psychosocial hazards at work as well as (II) approaches to derive occupational limit values for both types of hazards, the paper summarizes conceptual requirements and methodological perspectives for occupational exposure limits in psychosocial risk assessment. Narrative Review and discussion of the current state of research within an interdisciplinary working group from psychology, sociology and medicine, with regular face-to-face and online meetings between October 2022 and August 2024. The current field of research on occupational exposure limits for psychosocial hazards is in its early stages, indicated by individual efforts and a lack of joint decision-making. Initial approaches apply disease-like outcomes (burnout, depression) that fail in terms of primary prevention and early detection of symptom onset. Based on the limited existing literature, we recommend (I) the use of outcome variables that allow to detect early stages of adverse effects aligned with NOAEL and LOAEL, (II) standardization and harmonization of hitherto independent assessments of identical hazards and (III) policy-level actions to foster collaborative decision-making based on the full spectrum of scientific evidence.