1 Psychosocial Hazards

2 Introduction In 1990, the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) declared occupational stress to be one of the ten leading causes of workplace death. Workplace stress costs the Canadian economy $12 billion dollars annually

3 Social Factors Social factors that influence a person’s health include: Supportive family members Exposure to violence Workplace policies

4 Psychological Factors Psychological factors that affect a person’s health include: Self esteem, Anxiety levels Ability to cope Predisposed outlook (positive/negative) Flexibility/rigidity

5 Stressors Stressor: objectively verifiable event that occurs outside of the individual that has the potential to cause stress Stressors exist outside the individual and reflect some of the social factors that impact a person’s health

6 Stressor/Reaction to stressors STRESSOR RESPONSES

7 Stressors Acute Chronic Daily Catastrophic

8 Stressors in the Workplace Major categories of workplace stress: Workload and work pace. Role Stressor (conflict, ambiguity, and inter-role conflict) Career concerns Work scheduling Interpersonal relations Job content and control jobs that are highly repetitive

9 Strain Strain – is the result of stress. It is classified into four categories of reaction: Psychological Physical Behavioural Organizational

10 Psychological Strain A reaction or disturbance (e.g. mood) or a disturbance in cognition (e.g. concentration) Feeling irritable, anxious, overwhelming, moody, depression, and anger all are common affective strain reactions.

11 Physical Strain Some signs of physical strain can include: Stomach upset, psychomotor sleep disturbances Headaches Some symptoms can seem trivial but may have serious long term effects including: Coronary heart disease (CHD) High blood pressure (hypertension) Strokes, ulcers, asthma, and Even some forms of cancers

12 Behaviour Strain Individuals under increased stress may develop nervous habits (i.e. nail biting) Other forms of behavioural strain reactions may include: –avoiding certain situations, –reduce individual involvement, –reduced demands on the individuals time. –Increase in alcohol, drug use

13 Organizational Strain Organizational outcomes of stress include: –Increased absenteeism, –Decreased performance, –Disturbances of interpersonal relationships –An increased likelihood of looking for alternative employment.

14 Managing Psychological Stress Employers and individual employees can work together to offset or avoid these negative outcomes (Preventative Stress Management) Organizations whose employees are in good health are more likely to be successful.

15 Primary Interventions Primary interventions: stress interventions that involves the reduction and/or removal of action stressors. Costs associated with primary preventive efforts can be reasonable and are worth the effort involved in their implementations

16 Secondary Interventions Secondary Intervention: are techniques that focus on minimizing negative consequences once a person is feeling stress Techniques such as stress management and relaxation training help people to identify the negative health effects of stress and assist in effective coping mechanisms.

17 Tertiary Interventions Tertiary Interventions: stress intervention has been used to assist these people who have not been able to effectively manage or cope with workplace stress and are now experiencing symptoms of strain. Strategies include psychological therapy and medical attention.

18 Emerging Stressors: Workplace Violence Workplace Violence is a critical health and safety issue facing North American organizations. Examples: “going postal”

19 Emerging Stressors: Workplace Violence Workplace violence has been categorized into four (4) major types based on the assailant’s relationship to the workplace: –Type 1 (Member of Public) –Type 2 (Client of workplace) –Type 3 (An employee or former employee) –Type 4 ( Spouse or partner of an employee)

20 Workplace Violence Some of the job characteristics that they found placed people at a high risk to experience workplace violence included: –Interacting with the public, –Denying the public a service or request –Making decisions that affect lives –Supervising others

21 Sexual Harassment Several studies have identified sexual harassment as a workplace stressor of increasing importance. Sexual Harassment – intentional, persistent, and unwelcome sexual conduct or remark that occurs despite resistance from the victim.

22 Emerging Stressor – Injustice at Work Employees who experience unfairness in their workplace report higher levels of strain However, investigations of the relationship between the experience of unfairness at work and employee health are relatively new.

23 Categories of Fairness Judgments There are three (3) categories of fairness judgments: –Distributive justice: perceived fairness of outcomes –Procedural justice: perceived fairness of decisions –Interactional justice: perceived fairness of interpersonal treatment

24 Emerging Stressor: Technology Increased reliance on computers in the work environment is associated with increased risk for physical health problems. Carpal tunnel syndrome is an example of a common work-related musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) that may stem of excessive computer usage.

25 Exercise C Workplace stress Using as an example, your current or most recent job, or a job with which you are very familiar and the chart below as a guide, (a) what are five (5) stressors? What category do they fall under? (b) what interventions could the employee (individual) take to mange them? (c) what interventions could the employer (organization) take to manage them? Relate to the full table with specific detailed explanation What could be done to eliminate/prevent them from Source, Path, to Person

Categories of stressors and interventions TypeFrequencyDurationIntensityTime of onset Interventioncontrol Acute (once) InfrequentShortLowSpecificPrimary (source) Individual Chronic (multiple times) FrequentMedium Non-specificSecondary (coping mechanisms) Physical Mental Spirital Nuitritiona l Organizationa l DailyRareHigh Tertiary Critical (serious “therapy, surgery) Catastrophic (once big time) Very rareExtremely high 26