Betriebliche Arbeitsschutzakteure im Umgang mit psychosozialen Belastungen: Rollenverständnisse und Handlungsorientierungen im Ländervergleich Deutschland – Spanien

Based on secondary analyses of qualitative material from Germany and Spain, this paper compares action orientations and role understandings of relevant workplace players in the area of “psychosocial risk management” (GB Psych). Our selection of countries is based on the principle of the greatest possible contrast in similarities: while in Germany employers have a comparatively large degree of leeway in the implementation of GB Psych, in the Spanish region of Catalonia there is a concrete procedure for GB Psych in the form of ISTAS21, which is widely used there. Using reconstructive analysis methods of qualitative social research – especially agency and metaphor analysis – this article explores the question of how key OSH players in both countries understand their role in the process of GB Psych in view of these contrasting structures of action and how they fulfil it. In doing so, we take into account the particular susceptibility to conflict resulting from evaluation and design problems in the implementation of the GB Psych in organisations. We were able to show that the contrasting framework conditions of the two country contexts lend special color to the role understandings and action orientations of key players in these conflicts.