First responders are regularly rated as the most trusted professionals in our society, yet the internal cultures of their organisations often expose personnel to serious psychosocial risks. Numerous recent inquiries highlight how organisational practices of denial, blame-shifting, and administrative violence—the use of policies and bureaucratic processes to silence or discredit complainants—inflict profound harm on members. Such practices exemplify the psychosocial hazard of organisational injustice, which, when left unmitigated, may result in the distress associated with perceived injustice and eventually moral injury.
This workshop positions organisational and leadership betrayal not simply as an ethical failing but as the preventable psychosocial hazard of organisational injustice. The increasing rates of psychological injury claims and decreased retention in first responder agencies that result are undermining the sustainability of frontline services. By drawing on my research that synthesises psychosocial risk frameworks and scholarship on moral injury, participants will be introduced to the pathways by which organisational injustice translates into psychological harm. The workshop then demonstrates how adopting a Just Culture approach provides a practical framework for systemic risk mitigation.
Just Culture, widely used in high-reliability industries such as aviation, balances accountability with learning. Just Cultures enable leaders to preference organisational learning and improvement whilst creating a safer workplace. When applied with a systemic approach, Just Cultures strengthens psychological safety and operational performance. For first responder contexts, this offers a way to address wrongdoing without compounding harm, ensuring that systems are changed rather than individuals pathologised.
Delivered in an interactive format, the session engages participants through applied scenarios, reflective dialogue, and practical tools. It equips leaders, managers, and practitioners with strategies to recognise organisational injustice, understand its moral and mental health impacts, and apply restorative decision-making frameworks that promote trust, fairness, and cultural resilience in frontline organisations.