About Prior Work
Practitioner-led psychosocial risk analytics, grounded in decades of work stress research.
About the author
Patrick Egan is a registered, endorsed Organisational Psychologist specialising in Workplace Health and Safety.
Purpose and name
Prior Work helps Australian workplaces explore psychosocial risks and opportunities, consult workers and plan practical changes. It is designed for teams doing this work themselves, including small and medium organisations.
The name carries a double meaning. The prior work your organisation has already done - the survey, the data - is where the analysis starts. “Prior” is also a nod to a way of seeing the world we’re fond of: you begin with what you already know and let new evidence revise it, and you treat work as it really is - a place where things connect, and almost nothing stands on its own.
What this isn't
Not an individual assessment tool
Group-level only - no individual scoring, profiling, or monitoring. This is a deliberate design choice; see the Privacy page for the full statement. Clinical concerns need qualified practitioners.
Not proof of causation
The model surfaces statistical associations - factors that co-occur with elevated risk. Association is evidence, not causation; worker consultation explains the why.
Not a legal defence on its own
Consistent with the duty to identify psychosocial hazards, but not a substitute for the full risk management process required under WHS legislation.
Not a replacement for consultation
The data tells you where to look - not what you'll find or what to do. Structured worker consultation provides context and buy-in for change.
Not everyone who is affected
People who did not respond may have different experiences. Time pressure, trust or having already left the organisation can affect participation. Results may look better or worse than the whole workforce's experience. Check who is represented and consult groups you heard less from.
How calculations and report writing differ
Machine learning, not a language model - your results are calculated from your data, not generated by an AI. Every number is inspectable and reproducible. Report writing optionally uses Anthropic or OpenAI, but it only puts the findings into words; check the draft against those calculations before sharing.
Repeatable probability calculations - a fixed model and the same question give the same calculated probabilities. Results still depend on the data and assumptions used, including who answered the survey.
Diagnostic reasoning starts from a target and compares how other factors change in turn. Large uplifts flag statistically associated factors - evidence to investigate, not proof of causation.
Data handling and access
No account is needed. Survey rows and models go to the calculation server, and your browser can save working material. Optional report writing uses your API account. See what is sent, what is saved and how to clear it.
Use alongside other information
Findings are statistical patterns - a starting point, not a final answer. Output quality depends on data quality and representativeness. Prior Work surfaces uncertainty rather than hiding it. Results inform professional judgement and worker consultation; they don't replace them.
Treat this process as one layer - alongside worker consultation, observation, and other data. Default sector models are a starting point; collect your own organisation-specific data where available.
With thanks
Prior Work owes a substantial debt to:
- •The original People at Work team, and especially Dr Kïrsten Way, Professor Nerina Jimmieson, and Dr Chenjunyan Sun for planting the seed for this tool due to a 'happy accident' during our Masters' thesis.
- •Jason Tangen for the inspiration to use a bring-your-own-key (BYOK) approach to intelligent report generation.
- •Nick Ford and Nick Lewins for sharing the soft launch, being generous with several hours of feature review, and helping shape a fuller picture of the audiences this needs to serve.
- •Hunter Dodds, Kym Lincolne, Drew Tatnell, and Amy Walker for early feedback and helping share the soft launch.
Developed with AI-assisted tooling (Claude, Anthropic) across architecture, front-end, analytics, and content. Report generation uses your selected provider, Anthropic or OpenAI, with your own key.
Grounded in decades of work stress research and the broader psychosocial risk science community. No affiliation with any regulatory body.
Citation formats
If you use Prior Work in research, evaluation, or publication, use the formats below and replace “version used” with the version you used from the Changelog:
Plain text
Egan, P. (2026). Prior Work: Psychosocial risk intelligence platform (Version [version used]) [Software]. Retrieved from https://priorwork.au.
BibTeX
@software{priorwork2026,
author = {Egan, Patrick},
title = {Prior Work: Psychosocial Risk Intelligence Platform},
year = {2026},
version = {version used},
url = {https://priorwork.au},
}Support the community
Support the community
None of the following is a legal obligation - just good citizenship for an open commons.
Pay it forward
If Prior Work helped you make your workplace safer, share it with others who could benefit. A tool like this only compounds in value when it spreads - pass it on to a colleague, a network, or an organisation that needs it.
Make it better
Prior Work was built on the shoulders of the broader psychosocial science community - the researchers who developed the measurement instruments, the meta-analyses that underpin the models, and the occupational psychology canon more generally. If you have the skills to improve the models, survey instruments, or reporting, please do.
Tell us what you find
If you use Prior Work in a real workplace context and learn something - about what works, what doesn't, how workers respond to the outputs - share that back. This tool improves through real-world feedback, and your experience is valuable.
Advocate for open WHS infrastructure
Psychosocial risk assessment is a legal obligation, yet the tools to do it well are rarely free - disadvantaging organisations who cannot afford expensive consultants for support. If you agree that should change, say so - to regulators, industry bodies, and funders of WHS infrastructure.
Contact your regulator directly:
Contact & feedback
Bug reports, feature requests, research enquiries, accessibility issues:
patrick@priorwork.auBest-effort response times. Mark urgent accessibility issues with "Accessibility" in the subject line.