by HSEI Training
Stress is a common workplace issue and could be a health and safety risk for your workers. This is because it could create a physical or psychological health issue.
You must manage risks caused by stress hazards as part of your health and safety obligations..
What causes stress in the workplace?
Stress can be caused by organizational factors, such as a poorly managed workplace, or environmental factors that cause ongoing irritation or concern.
Organizational stress hazards include:
lack of role clarity
unreasonable work demands
low levels of recognition or reward
challenging situations
long or unpredictable hours of work
lack of job security
poor management of workers
tense relationships between workers, including bullying and interpersonal conflict
Environmental stress hazards include:
excessive noise
extremes of temperature
lack of space
poor lighting, and
poor air quality
Individual factors (i.e. the personality or resilience of individual workers) are also important for determining whether stress might be an issue in your workplace.
4 ways to identify stress hazards in your workplace
To identify stress hazards, undertake the following steps:
examine workplace documents
observe your workers while at work
consult with workers and ask them to provide feedback about matters that could be causing stress, and
watch for factors that could lead to psychological health issues
Determining stress in the workplace
Work-related stress is a major health and safety issue in any organization and, while it is not an illness, it can lead to mental and physical health issues if it becomes excessive.
All health and safety legislation throughout both Canada and the United States imposes a legal duty on a business to do what is reasonably practicable to eliminate or minimize risks to workers’ health and safety, including protecting them from the risk of harm due to any stressors at work. In order to do that, a business has to understand the environmental, organizational and individual circumstances that can lead to stress in the first place.
If you are having difficulty identifying where the risk factors are in your organization, here are two great techniques you can adopt:
Focus groups
Surveys
Dealing with work-related stress
Reducing stress levels for your workers’ health is not only important for their wellbeing, it also leads to improved organizational performance. So, in addition to your legal compliance obligations, there are good reasons to carefully review potential stressors in your business and take steps to remove them.
Some key factors that can improve your organization overall when dealing with work-related stress include:
having clear communication and consultation regarding risk management of stress
ensuring that managers are committed to dealing with work-related stress, and
ensuring all workers participate in stress management activities
As leaders in your business, having senior management committed to organizational change is critical to the success of any program. Through frequent and open communication, senior managers can gain commitment by the workforce to help change attitudes and behaviour in relation to stress.
Interested in Knowing More?
For in-depth advice about work-related stress management, please contact one of our expert team today. https://www.hseigroup.com/contact.