wellness – Page 46 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Creating jobs is a waste unless those jobs are safe

Coming out of recession or, at least, a global financial crisis seems to mean that the creation of jobs is the only driver of economic growth. Governments around the world seem obsessed with employment creation but rarely is the quality of the employment ever considered.

The drive for jobs at the cost of other employment conditions such as safety was illustrated on 11 March 2011 in an article in The Australian newspaper. New South Wales’ election is only a short while away and, as it is widely considered to be an easy win for the conservative Liberal Party, government policies are already being discussed.

“Industrial relations spokesman Greg Pearce, a former partner at Freehills, said he was aware that concerns about the workplace safety system had emerged in the legal profession.

But the Coalition’s main goal was to minimise uncertainty to encourage job creation.”

The push for jobs is also indicative of short-term political thinking. Continue reading “Creating jobs is a waste unless those jobs are safe”

Raising awareness about stress instead of controlling it

In March 2011, in response to one of the several Stress Awareness Days, HRLeader magazine ran an edited version of a Personnel Today article called “5 steps to tackle employee stress”. The Personnel Today had “6 steps”, so are Australian readers being ripped off?

Personnel Today included a step called “Refer the Health and Safety Executive’s management standards”. HRLeader’s editor must have made the call that HSE information is geographically specific and therefore not relevant to Australia but the change is more indicative of the fact that Australia does not have anything to match the HSE management standards to help control stress. According to the HSE website:

“….the six Management Standards cover the primary sources of stress at work. These are:

Demands[1] – this includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment. Continue reading “Raising awareness about stress instead of controlling it”

Grief guidance got right

A reader has pointed out an excellent guidance on managing situations after the sudden loss of a work colleague or family member, following on from a recent SafetyAtWorkBlog article.

In 2004 Skylight and New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Commission published “Death Without Warning – After an Accidental Death”. This book (only available for purchase) is an excellent guidance that provides advice on managing grief-stricken staff at the same time as providing some dignity.

Significantly the guidance is contemporary with current support practices. There is none of this rubbish about “closure”, or “getting over it”. It also acknowledges that men and women grieve differently and that each individual grieves in their own personal way, a way that those who provide support must accommodate and understand.

The guidance has a 2^nd edition which can be purchased online and, on receipt of our copy, will be reviewed here.

The guidance has a particular poignancy following the recent fatal earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand where many were killed as their workplaces collapsed.

Research Paper

For those readers who are, perhaps, researching in this area of occupation well-being or workplace mental health, one research article that is worth digging up is a 2010 paper by several Australian researchers called “Loss and grief in the workplace – What can we learn from the literature?” Continue reading “Grief guidance got right”

You can lead a stressed horse to water……

England’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) released results of a survey of union representatives on 24 February 2011 that shows that workplace stress is

“now by far the most common health and safety problem at work.”

Even taking into consideration the inherent bias of such union surveys of reps, the figures are significant. The 24 February 2011 media release states:

“Nearly two thirds (62%) of reps say that stress is in the top five problems faced by the workers they represent and more than a quarter of reps (27%) pick out stress as the hazard at work that most concerns them. Another recent report from the British Academy states that the global economic downturn is to blame for the soaring stress levels due to the sharp rise in job strain and job-insecurity; both determinants of work-related stress. In the last 2 years, work stress levels rose by more than 4%, compared to the previous rises of 0.1% from 1992 to 2009.” [link added]

So what can be done to reverse this trend?

If the global economic downturn has generated increased stress levels, OHS practitioners and activists need to look at the big picture and begin pushing for better economic health – an action that, outside of the union movement, hardly ever gets a mention.

If OHS principles are based around the need to eliminate hazards then OHS professionals should be strong advocates of sustainable development where the mental health of workers needs as much support for sustainability as the environment receives, if not more. Continue reading “You can lead a stressed horse to water……”

OHS needs innovative thinking to manage fatigue

The December 2010 edition of WorkForce Management magazine (not available online) reports on a recent US survey concerning fatigue. The raw data is not available but the survey of 820 companies showed that over 80 per cent of respondents believed that fatigue was more of a workplace issue that in the past.

This may indicate an increased awareness or an increased reality but regardless, the hazard is gaining more attention.

Of greater interest is the possible causes identified in the survey. These include:

“Reduced head count,

Lack of boundaries between home life and work,

Second jobs,

A culture of ‘wanting to do it all'”.

How many of these contributory factors can an OHS professional affect? Continue reading “OHS needs innovative thinking to manage fatigue”

Is politics anti-family?

Another Australian politician has resigned to spend more time with his family but this time the family mantra is not tacked on to a struggling career in order to add moral weight to the political decision sadly many examples of dubious resignations are available. Most commentators believe that the Tasmanian Premier, David Bartlett’s decision is a genuine desire to spend more time with his young family.

Bartlett image - December 2010 — Premier David Bartlett talking to workers at the McKay Timbers.

Most of the media coverage relates to the political context of Bartlett’s decision but the circumstances for the decision are not unique as some previous SafetyAtWorkBlog articles show. Political careers can lead to suicide attempts, depression and mental breakdown. Certainly this occurs in other professions but at some point the structure of the occupation needs reviewing if a work/life balance is to be achieved.

Politics has always been a time vampire that has required the welfare and development of children to be given a lower priority than public service. Continue reading “Is politics anti-family?”

Mental health initiative needs broader remit

One of the fastest growing areas of occupational health and safety is psychological wellbeing. This goes under many different titles, brands and trademarks but mental health seems to be the dominant term at the moment. On 22 December 2010, the Australian Government faced the reality of the issue and created a mental health working group that includes many of the government’s harshest critics, including 2010 Australian of the Year, Professor Paddy McGorry.

This is a positive initiative but as with much of the recent criticism of mental health, workplace mental health often draws the short straw. There is a belief that social policies flow to the workplace but we know that this is not the reality. If it was, OHS laws would not have been required, as social morality would have ensured that workers were safe without governmental intervention. Continue reading “Mental health initiative needs broader remit”

Category: wellness

Creating jobs is a waste unless those jobs are safe

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Raising awareness about stress instead of controlling it

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Grief guidance got right

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You can lead a stressed horse to water……

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OHS needs innovative thinking to manage fatigue

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Is politics anti-family?

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Mental health initiative needs broader remit

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