Stress the focus of World Day for Safety and Health at Work

Today is World Day for Safety and Health at Work and this year the campaign will draw attention to current global trends on work-related stress and its impact. Since 2003, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has been observing this day in an effort to draw global attention to the thousands of people who die every day from an occupational accident or disease.

Last year the focus was on building a culture of prevention in the workplace; however, in 2016 the plight of the modern worker is being put under the spotlight.

Psychosocial risks

In recent years, there has been growing attention to the impact of psychosocial risks and work-related stress among researchers, practitioners and policymakers — and out of that, a growing consensus that psychosocial risks such as increased competition, higher expectations on performance and longer working hours are all contributing to the workplace becoming a more stressful environment. With the pace of work dictated by instant communications and high levels of global competition, the lines separating work from life are becoming more and more difficult to discern.

According to an article by the SMH, many people in Japan are currently experiencing the worst of work-related stress — often with terrible consequences. Statistics are showing a record number of compensation claims related to death from overwork, or what the Japanese call “karoshi” — a phenomenon usually associated with the stressed white collar “salary man”, but which is increasingly affecting young and female employees. Karoshi is recognised in Japan as death from cardiovascular illness linked to overwork or suicide following work-related mental stress. Current labour ministry data shows work-related suicides are up 45% in the past four years among those 29 and younger, and up 39% among women. Many cases of karoshi came from healthcare, construction and shipping — sectors that are feeling the pinch of chronic worker shortages.

The ILO said as a result of economic recessions worldwide that workers are increasingly impacted by organisational changes and restructuring, reduced work opportunities or precarious work or overwork. Being laid off and experiencing decreased financial stability or fearing the loss of one’s job is affecting people’s mental health. Work-related stress is now generally acknowledged as a global issue affecting all countries, all professions and all workers — both in developed and developing countries. In this complex context, the ILO says the workplace is at the same time an important source of psychosocial risks and the best venue to address them in order to protect the health and wellbeing of workers.

Collective challenge

To generate discussion around World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the ILO has released a report — ‘Workplace Stress: A collective challenge’ — detailing strategies, trends and the idea that a collective approach is needed in dealing with workplace stress. According to the United Nations agency:

“… the associated economic costs at national level, even if they only represent the tip of the iceberg, illustrate how work-related stress and its health outcomes also have a considerable impact in organisational safety, productivity and overall performance. Today work-related stress cannot be considered the problem of a few individuals. It has to be recognised as a collective problem with major implications for the wellbeing of workers, their families and societies as a whole.”^[1]

When you think of workplace accidents, fatalities and illnesses, stress as a factor may not be your first thought. However, more studies are investigating the links between poor psychosocial work environments and work-related stress with the increased risk of occupational accidents. The experience of either cognitive or physical symptoms of work-related stress can intensify the possibility of momentary distraction, errors in judgement or failure in normal activities. Evidence clearly suggests that factors such as high workload and job demands, low decision latitude, low skill discretion, lack of organisational support, conflicts with supervisors and colleagues, or highly monotonous work are linked to a higher likelihood of injury in an occupational accident. The ILO said employers should therefore be aware of the negative effects of the psychosocial hazards that may affect workers as a result of overwork and lack of control over their tasks.

“The best way to address work-related stress is by means of strategies to tackle the psychosocial hazards at their source in working conditions, the working environment, and in the organisational culture and labour relations of the organisation… Therefore, action should be aimed at eliminating as many causes as possible, so that the action taken reduces and prevents future work-related stress,” stated the report.^[2]

Remembering the fallen

While today is a day set aside to focus on health and safety in the workplace, it is also Workers’ Memorial Day, which as the name suggests, is dedicated to remembering those who have died at work or because of their work. In Australia, 193 workers* lost their lives on the job in 2015 — each loss, whether young or old, is a tragedy for families, colleagues, businesses and communities.

Safe Work Australia Chair Diane Smith-Gander has called on business leaders to commit to building awareness and placing safety as a top priority.

Like many reading this article, Diane Smith-Gander has been personally affected by a workplace accident. When she was a child her father was injured at work. This experience she said has inspired her lifelong belief in a worker’s right to a safe and healthy workplace — a conviction she brings to her role as Safe Work Australia Chair. She is encouraging businesses across Australia to really take action to prevent work-related injury and illness and to consider how they can incorporate the spirit of today in their workplaces.

Suggestions for commemorating Workers’ Memorial Day include stopping for a minute of silence, organising a morning tea to talk about work health and safety or attending a local workers’ memorial event.

“Collectively, we must make it our mission to prevent workplace death, injury and illness — we owe it to ourselves, the families of those who have died, to workers and to our children, who are our future workforce,” said Smith-Gander.

Safe Work Australia develops national policy relating to work health and safety and workers compensation arrangements across Australia, and Smith-Gander said it is the organisation’s vision to ensure Australia leads the world in worker health and safety.

For more information on World Day for Safety and Health at Work, go to www.ilo.org, or to read the ILO’s report, click here.

*Preliminary data shows that 193 workers lost their lives at work in 2015.

Image credit: ©Nmedia/Dollar Photo Club

References

[1] International Labor Organization, 2016, ‘Workplace stress: A collective challenge’, viewed 28 April 2016, p 30, <http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---safework/documents/publication/wcms_466547.pdf>.

[2] Ibid p 31.