wellness – Page 65 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

What the next generation of graduates wants

A survey of graduates by GradConnection released on 15 July 2009 has important information for Australian companies and provides some optimism for the OHS profession and regulators.

A dominant element of modern employment is work/life balance. In some disciplines this is taken as workplace flexibility. In terms of workplace safety, work/life balance is a euphemism for psychosocial hazards of stress, bullying, fatigue, and workload amongst others. From this position, the survey findings showed that, when asked “What are the most important extra benefits?”, work/life balance scored the most support at almost 39%.

Companies that want to recruit graduates, often those companies which are looking to refresh their staff and workplace culture but also need to build sustainability and longevity, need to review their existing working conditions to match the desires of job seekers. This could be an enormous task for corporations that will take years but smaller companies can afford to be more reactive and flexible and may get the edge on attracting graduates.

It must be acknowledged that over 60% identified high salaries as the most important element in their salary packages. But the work/life balance indicates a growing reality that graduates are less likely to trade off wellbeing for dollars.

This is supported in terms of extra benefits where flexitime and flexible working arrangements gained around 24% and 22% support, respectively. Companies must operate within the time constraints of their industry, suppliers and customers but they should also identify those work processes that allow for flexibility. It may be useful to formalize start and finish times so that there remains a core set of hours within the working day where interaction of staff and clients can be maximised. Some of the social structures are already pushing in this direction with issues of public transport, schooling and childcare already accommodating this flexibility.

David Jenkins, the director of GradConnection, told SafetyAtWorkBlog that

The data we have extracted is drawn from contributions by about 10,500 graduates currently looking at their career options. It gives employers clear indicators as to what grads are looking for in their careers and helps potential employers adjust or increase their messaging about careers on offer at their companies.

Hope for OHS professionals and regulators comes from the fact that of the values that graduates wanted an employer to embrace, health and safety ranked third, behind equal opportunities and environmental sustainability.

This survey is the first generated through the website of GradConnections so the next survey should be able to provide some trend data.

Kevin Jones

Alternative therapies

Many alternative therapies have proved to have a positive therapeutic or medical benefit and there is no reason why these should not be applied to work-related conditions.

In 2001, Jill Kaufman was interviewed for Safety At Work magazine. The interview is now available at SafetyAtWorkblog.

In 2001, the wellness industry in Australia was just starting and corporate health programs were searching for validity and credibility. Rehabilitation, just like health insurers, was beginning to allow for a broader range of medical treatments. It seemed useful to educate the OHS readers of the magazine with this developing approach to worker care.

Jill’s comments should be seen in their historical context but this does not make them any less interesting , or relevant. Below are a couple of excerpts:

“Placing a long term RTW employee through the Western medical process could, in fact, be continuing to injure them in terms of their self-esteem. A different approach on a holistic basis allows for an understanding of the injury through an understanding of the person.”

“SAW: Many rehabilitation programs measure success by the rapid return of a worker to work duties but also by the financial expenditure on that person’s rehabilitation. Can the value of the approach you advocate be similarly measured?

JK: There can be surprisingly simple solutions to what can appear to be very complicated issues. I think one of the surprising things that companies learn is that it is often not a big financial expenditure or a large amount of time that can provide positive results. If you tackle the problem with the wrong instruments and the wrong tools, it can seem a very long haul to turn around and use a non-Western approach. But in fact shifts in thinking can bring about quick results.”

“SAW: Many call centres are providing yoga, physiotherapy and massages to workers on the premises and often without the workers leaving their workstations. What are your thoughts on this practice?

JK: Often this is doing the absolute minimum that is required. To have people doing yoga at their desk, when a core element of yoga is centring your self, breathing exercises, the call centre is as different to the practices of yoga as you can get.”

The need for a safety philosopher

It is very hard to be an OHS professional and not feel like one is part of the “nanny state” approach to personal choice. There is a fundamental disconnection between the responsibilities on business for a safe workplace and the responsibilities on an individual to make themselves safe at work.

When the work processes are seen as mechanistic, where workers are part of that process, safety management is easier. Hazards are known because the work process and environment are fixed and have no variation. The employer’s area of responsibility is clear and can be said to be from the engineering/production perspective.

But at different points in history, the spotlight of humanism becomes bright enough that the workers get attention. Safety management becomes complex because humanity is acknowledged in the work processes; one must consult, talk, listen and engage with the worker who was, previously, an element of the production process.

This is the Manicheism of safety management – the machine or the human.

This rumination occurred in response to an article reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the union representing Sydney bus drivers “asking the New South Wales Government to pay for personal trainers and Weight Watchers programs.”

The union’s bus secretary, Raul Boanza, says, according to the ABC report,

“the union wants the Government to formalise an existing 50 per cent Weight Watchers subsidy by including the provision in enterprise agreements” and
“it will also seek gym memberships or personal trainers on a case-by-case basis on the advice of a medical specialist.”

Apparently

“the Rail, Tram and Bus Union says drivers must pass strict medical standards every two years to keep their licences”.

SafetyAtWorkBlog contacted the union this afternoon and were advised that the person who raised the issue initially “is making no further comment on the matter.”

This is a shame as one of the first questions would have been, “should an employee be held responsible for making sure they are fit for work?”

Let’s indulge in some late-Friday afternoon silliness. If a widget in a mechanical process is faulty, it is fixed or replaced. In a mechanistic perspective, if a worker is too fat to undertake the tasks they have performed previously they should be fixed or replaced. This seems to match the position of Raul Boanza.

But if the widget had a consciousness and the means and responsibility to maintain their own suitability for work, should that widget be fixed or replaced? This seems to be what each worker in any workplace needs to regularly ask themselves.

As mentioned above these two differing perspectives reflect our society’s (internal) debate on personal responsibility to one’s self and one’s society.

The leading safety academic in Australia is a sociologist. Perhaps we are in need of a safety philosopher or at least a safety profession that considers safety in its social and personal contexts, that discusses, debates and progresses, rather than worrying about the latest corporate logo. Perhaps we just need people to take responsibility for their own actions and be accountable for their own errors.

Kevin Jones

The economic costs of a heart attack

A new Australian report estimates the total costs of heart attack and chest pain (Acute Coronary Syndrome or ACS) to the Australian economy – “total economic cost of $17.9 billion.” This Access Economics report, released in June 2009, has broad application for public policy but has some relevant information for safety and health management in the workplace.

If we take “productivity” as applying to work, as is reasonable, the report states that for 2009

“Indirect [health care system] costs [from ACS] are expected to account for $A3.8 billion, primarily due to lost productivity.”

This is a useful statistic for those workplace health advocates. In fact, the report specifically identified the workplace as

“…an excellent environment to facilitate the ongoing rehabilitation and lifestyle changes to prevent the re-occurrence of ACS event”.

One gap it identified in the treatment and monitoring of ACS was something that many have been advocating for some years, particularly with the aging population and increasing obesity rates:

“a standardised national program to support employees and employers and the extension of rehabilitation practices.”

Much of the report advocates important rehabilitation resources and services for when the patient is discharged from hospital. The report includes the following graphic but also recommends the basic elements of post-hospital care after an ACS event.

Costofheartattackandchestpain-261-2 rehab table

“For rehabilitation to be effective, comprehensive patient follow-up interviews after discharge are essential. At these follow-up interviews, the patient should undergo both physical assessments (e.g. blood pressure, cholesterol tests, ECGs) and emotional and psychological assessments (e.g. signs of depression, anxiety, stress, financial hardships). The psychological impact following an ACS event is an important, but often neglected, area in the management of ACS. Thus, if patients can better understand their conditions, it can empower them to cope with their anxieties caused by ACS.”

In specific reference to workplaces, the report says:

“Returning to work can require an adjustment in duties and the conditions under which the employee works.”

It is up to OHS and return-to-work professionals to determine exactly what strategies should be applied in these circumstances.

There were a couple of references in the report that may be worth following up:

Bhattacharyya MR, Perkins-Porras L, Whitehead DL, and A Steptoe (2007), Psychological and clinical predictors of return to work after acute coronary syndrome, European Heart Journal, Vol 28, Iss. 2, pp. 160-165.

Kovoor P, Lee AKY, Carrozzi F, Wiseman V, Byth K, Zecchin R, Dickson C, King M, Hall J, Ross DL, Uther JB, and AR Denniss (2006), Return to full normal activities including work at two weeks after acute myocardial infarction, American Journal of Cardiology, Vol 97, No. 7, pp. 952-958.

Kevin Jones

Sleep disorders and workplace safety – new research grant

Recently, the Australian Government awarded some research grants of which at least one is relevant to workplace safety. $2.5 million was given for the establishment of a Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Interdisciplinary Sleep Health (CRISH).

When the grant was announced Professor Ron Grunstein of the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research said,

“Adequate sleep is as important as exercise and diet. Sleep loss and sleep disorders contribute to mortality, chronic disease, mental health problems and the economic health burden.

“This funding will allow us to establish a network of leading sleep researchers and physicians in different specialties to investigate the biology of sleep, and look at ways to prevent and treat sleep disorders.”

Amongst several social benefits of the research, the issue of shiftwork health was mentioned. There are many contributory factors to the health of shiftworker and sleep disorders is only one, but an important one.

The most recent Australian data on the costs of sleep disorders was from 2004 by Access Economics, an organisation that the government often relies on for data. Its report, Wake Up Australia, estimates that sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia underlie 9.1 per cent of work related injuries.

The origin of this statistic needs to be closely examined in the body of the report (page 23) as there is quite a bit of statistical magic applied however the 9.1% figure has been referred to in relation to the potential benefit of the CRISH project. The statistic is not invalid but it is also not so simple.

Kevin Jones

More workplace stressors, email and upwards bullying

According to a paper presented at the latest Industrial & Organisational Psychology Conference organised by the Australian Psychological Society, poor quality emails are causing almost as much stress in the workplace as the number received.

New Zealand provisional (?) psychologist, Rowena Brown, was presenting findings from her PhD studies and said

“Email is a double-edged sword. We know that email can help employees to feel engaged with and connected to their work colleagues, however the impact of a poor quality email, combined with the expectation to respond immediately, can create unnecessary stress. Our research raises important issues for employers, who have a responsibility to train their staff in appropriate email etiquette.”

This type of research really doesn’t help business and managers to deal with the stress of their employees because it doesn’t provide any useful control measures. There are more significant causes of stress that demand the attention of OHS professionals and managers.

The same conference illustrates one of those other stressors. Sara Branch, a psychologist Griffith University was quoted on the matter of employees bullying their bosses.

“Upwards bullying, like other forms of workplace bullying, is often more subtle and less obvious to other staff. However, it can also include more aggressive behaviours such as yelling, verbal threats, and confrontational phone conversations.”

“Workplaces need to understand that bullying can occur at any level in an organisation. Although managers clearly have formal authority, they can also be victims of bullying and need just as much support as other staff.”

The study also found, according to a media release about the conference, that one of the main triggers for upwards bullying is organisational change.

“If an employee is disgruntled by change, such as new working conditions, management, or processes, they may blame their manager and respond by bullying them.”

With the increased attention to psychosocial hazards in the occupational health and safety profession, it is necessary to pay attention to these sorts of studies but they are simply new perspectives on established issues that should already be monitored and changed.

These studies may illustrate the issue that OHS professionals can use to gain that managerial or client attention but they should be handled carefully so that these specific issues do not dominate the understanding on the manager or client.

SafetyAtWorkBlog advocates looking outside the OHS discipline for new evidence and understandings of workplace issues be it sociology or psychology but one must avoid reacting to hype.

Kevin Jones

Worker health continues to get government support

Just because Victoria’s WorkHealth program is not functioning anywhere near its initial intention, it does not mean that the issue of workers’ poor health is being ignored. In mid-June 2009, Australia’s federal government announced a targeted program called the Tradies Tune-Up.

The funding for this program is very modest in comparison with WorkHealth’s proposed riches. According to a media statement, the government is allocating $A219,500 to “monitor and check on the health of building and construction workers.” This sector was chosen because statistics show

“…that men working in manual occupations, like construction, have higher mortality rates, disability and serious chronic disease than other professions. Statistically, they are also at greater risk of self-harm and suicide.”

This program has a greater opportunity for success as it is coordinated through OzHelp Foundation, a partnership between the ACT branches of the Master Builders Association and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. The construction unions, to the knowledge of SafetyAtWorkBlog, have always had strong mental health and wellbeing support programs, often run through chaplaincies, a much neglected form of employee assistance program.

As has occurred elsewhere in Australian workplace services, the program will operate with the support of a mobile assessment vans. The program will have

“a specially equipped van and accompanying health staff including a registered nurse will set-up ‘pit-stops’ at construction and building sites testing workers in 20 minute sessions on their levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose and waist size.”

The government has also committed to develop a National Men’s Health Policy to be finalised later this year.

Health assessment programs that go to the workplace and, importantly, have the support of the union movement have a good chance of success but that success is not just the number of visits. They must have tangible health improvements to the workers.

Also assessments are not enough to simply inform someone they are fat and unhealthy. There must be a support program for health improvement and the reduction of unhealthy distractions.

OzHelp should not be seen as a Rudd government initiative or only something that can thrive under a sympathetic Labour government. The foundation has existed for almost five years as can be seen by this media statement.

Such programs also must operate with specific performance benchmarks. Currently there is no information available about program benchmarks or what timeline is being applied to the program. As the program is receiving government funding, it may be necessary to await for department annual reports, if this type of program is reported at all.

Kevin Jones

Category: wellness

What the next generation of graduates wants

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Alternative therapies

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The need for a safety philosopher

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The economic costs of a heart attack

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Sleep disorders and workplace safety – new research grant

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More workplace stressors, email and upwards bullying

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Worker health continues to get government support

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