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Employers are relying too heavily on employee assistance programs to "fix" psychosocial risks rather than targeting the causes, a health and safety expert says.

Psychosocial hazards are anything at work that might cause psychological harm, says Risk Collective founder and principal advisor Amy Towers, and they can arise from the way work is designed and managed, the working environment, or behaviours such as bullying, harassment and discrimination.

But employers' most common response to these issues is to rely on their employee assistance program, she tells HR Daily.

"That's the default. They rely on EAPs to fix it, but that's just one support control measure. They need to look at preventative measures..."