Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace
Jan 18, 2013
Continuing with their series of documents addressing the increasingly important issue of mental health in the workplace, the Mental Health Commission of Canada has recently released its “Action Guide for Employers.”
The Action Guide is geared towards the notion of protecting employees’ psychological health and safety. We are all quite familiar with the need to protect physical health and safety in the workplace, and this has been increasingly enshrined in workplace regulations, legislation and business practices over the years. Great progress has been made over the last 100 years in decreasing accident rates and illness related to workplace conditions.
Yet a new realization has dawned: the protection of workers also includes addressing their psychological (mental) health and safety in the workplace. As the Action Plan states: “Just as employers have worked with human resources professionals, occupational health experts and organized labour representatives to reduce workplace risks to physical health, many organizations are now similarly committed to identifying and reducing workplace risks of psychological injury or illness, for the same reasons.”
And these reasons include the following: high rates of illness or injury leading to loss of employee worktime; regulatory or legal sanctions for failing to recognize and make reasonable efforts to avert work-related injuries or incidents; escalating costs related to increased benefits utilization, lost productivity, recruitment and replacement expenses, and insurance premiums; and negative impact on employee morale and engagement, customer relations and organizational reputation.
This has helped create the awareness that psychological health and safety is a critical aspect of occupational health and safety. The aim is to create a psychologically healthy workplace, “one that supports the psychological health of employees in a manner that also furthers the goals of the organization.” A psychologically healthy workplace helps keep workers safe, engaged and productive.
A good psychological health and safety strategy benefits employers, affecting workforce stability, productivity, insurance costs, risk of legal or regulatory sanctions, and the financial bottom line. It also benefits employees, with an enormous impact on their health, morale, worklife quality and ability to perform at their optimal capacity.
The Action Guide provides a roadmap of sorts for moving forward with psychological health and safety strategies in the workplace. Although we’re still in the early stages of understanding this area, progress is being made in identifying strategies through research and innovative workplace programs. The guide is based on best practices and the most useful information currently available.
A copy of the Action Guide can be viewed here.
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