Since the German labour protection law came into force on 7th August 1996, companies are legally obligated to conduct risk assessments including assessments of psychological work load. Nevertheless, up to now only few companies conduct such psychological risk assessments. Against this background the paper gives a possible systematization and overview of methods for the assessment of psychological work load and recommendations for the practical realization of risk assessments. The presented methods are the result of a workshop of the work group “Psychological Health at Work” of the DGAUM. They claim neither representativeness nor completeness for the presented methods; however, they reflect a pragmatic approach based on our practical experiences with different methods. Specifically, they depict the following (group of) methods: activity monitoring, Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire, recovery-stress questionnaire, instrument for stress-related task analysis, modified checklist on psychological workload of teachers, computer-assisted dialog procedure for the psychological evaluation of job contents, work analysis instrument for hospitals, and methods for time recording. The methods are classified into a two (subjective-objective) times two (condition- related — person-related) matrix and described in tables with central evaluation criteria. This should point out relevant aspects for the selection of methods in organisational practice. Finally, superordinate questions regarding the assessment of psychological work load in enterprises are discussed and summarised in practice recommendations.
