33

Psychosocial hazards : The role of occupational health

Dr M. Magombo

Occupational Medicine Specialist

12/04/2022

Introduction

There are 5 main types of hazards which can cause harm or adverse effects in the workplace:

• Chemical (dusts, fumes, vapours, gases)
• Physical (noise, vibration, lighting, radiation, temperature)
• Biological (infestations, bacteria, viruses, mold)
• Psychological (stress and strain)
• Ergonomic (badly‐designed machinery, mechanical devices and workstations used by workers).
• Accidents (falls)

2

Psychosocial hazards

• refer to hazards that affect mental health, social life, personal well-being and psychological health
• Psychosocial hazards in the workplace include occupational burnout  and occupational stress, which can lead to burnout
• Psychosocial risks and hazards represent those aspects of the workplace, such as the job design and the organization and management of work that have the potential to cause harm of a physical and/or psychological nature to the individual
• For example, workers facing heavy workloads, a lack of control over how and when their work tasks are completed, and a lack of support from their supervisors and co-workers, are all examples of psychosocial risks in the workplace.
• Psychosocial risks have an impact on the health and safety of workers and the productivity of the organisation
• PYSCHOLOGICAL HAZARDS are a growing issue in the workplace especially due to the current economic downturn but it is also an issue that can be prevented and reduced so it does not become detrimental to workers’ health

3

4

Role of occupational health

• Most of what we do is regulated and legislated- OHSA, BEA, EEA, etc
• OH is set up to manage the work-related health and safety issues of staff
• Principles of OH
• Risk assessment
• Mitigation
• Medical surveillance
• Health risk assessment
• Accommodation
• Rehabilitation
• Return to work
• Training
• Monitoring and evaluation

​

​

5

 �Hierachy of controls in management of Hazards

The prime responsibility for the health and safety of workers rests with employers.

The role of occupational health- to advise on how to:

• Identify and assess the risks from health hazards in the workplace;
• Protect and promote workers’ health;
• Carry out surveillance of factors in the working environment and working practices which may affect workers’ health;
• Improve working conditions and the working environment;

​

Administrative controls

• Administrative controls typically change the behavior of people (e.g., factory workers) rather than removing the actual hazard.
• Administrative controls are training, procedure, policy, or shift designs that lessen the threat of a hazard to an individual
• The Occupational Health and Safety Act states that to properly manage exposure to risks, a person must:
• identify hazards (initial step of management)
• assess risks if necessary- ( to determine the method of mitigation)
• control risks (by using the hierarchy of controls)
• review control measures to ensure they are working as planned (monitoring and evaluation)

7

Step 1 Identifying hazards

• A psychosocial risk assessment may differ from other forms of risk assessments, e.g. assessing physical or chemical risks. 
• As psychosocial hazards are subjective in nature and subject to fluctuations, the review should be done on a periodic basis to ensure that the findings of the risk assessment are still relevant. 
• Risk assessment is the first step to successful risk management.
• Systematic examination of psychosocial risks in the workplace through risk assessment can identify problems within a working environment and the severity of identified problems.
• line managers have a role to play on a day-to-day basis in monitoring stress within their team.
• They are best placed to identify early signs of stress within employees and can act swiftly by discussing with the individual the challenges they encounter and how to tackle it before it becomes problematic

​

​

​

8

Analyzing work place data to identify the risk:

• Records of sick leave with or without certificates –trends and patterns (e.g. do some areas have higher numbers of absences or longer absences than others? Are the rates of absences or duration increasing?
• Annual or Long Service Leave -Look at the pattern of use. Taking small amounts of time off is commonly associated with unpleasant working conditions and employee psychological health. Sometimes non-usage of leave may also indicate problems.
• Absenteeism records- Look for trends and patterns (e.g. do some areas have higher numbers of absences or longer absences than others? Are the rates of absences or duration increasing?)
• Workers’ compensation claims- Examine Workers’ Compensation claims for work-related stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression etc. Also look for long duration claims, especially those involving sprains & strains or struck/assaulted by clients.
• Complaints (i.e. Grievances, Bullying Complaints) – Look for trends and patterns. Are there common themes to complaints? Do some areas have more complaints than others? Are they any areas where the number of complaints is increasing?
• Workplace grievance information can also indicate issues that may give rise to psychological hazards in the workplace such as harassment, discrimination, work-related aggression and bullying.
• Incident and injury records - Look at dates and times that coincide with other events, trends, etc. The pattern of small and large incidents can provide insights into the sources of psychological risk in a workplace.
• Employee assistance programs - Summary data from usage, types of issues managed, etc. Is the usage increasing? Are similar issues arising?
• Industrial relations records-
• This can provide insights into the level of job dissatisfaction in the workplace. Industrial relations disputes are frequently associated with stress in the workplace.

9

• Minutes of meetings Minutes of meetings e.g. OHS meetings, tool box meetings, staff meetings – look for issues that remain unresolved and reappear over time such as workload, changes in work roles, etc.
• Work schedule records - Examine records of work schedules and how they were designed, records of long hours of work, planned and unplanned, and overtime usage.
• Organizations' policies and procedures- Knowledge of and compliance with – the organisation’s policies and procedures for workplace consultation and issue resolution, and the prevention of work-related:
• Harassment or bullying;
• Aggression in the workplace
• Unfair treatment
• Discrimination
• Interpersonal conflict
• Fatigue
• Stress

​

Direct observation – A walk around the workplace which involves informal conversations with employees and directly observing how employees are working and interacting with each other can identify the presence of psychological risk factors in the work environment

.Employee survey - use specific questions to identify the presence of psychological risk factors

10

�Step 2: Evaluate and prioritise risks�

• This step is about deciding who might be harmed
• This can be done either through questionnaires, or interviews
• In evaluating the risks arising from the hazards, questions to consider are:
• How likely it is that a hazard will cause harm (e.g. number of people reporting high workload, lack of training to do the job, etc.)
• How serious that harm is likely to be (e.g. is there a link between high workload and sickness absence, or health complaints)
• How often (and how many) workers are exposed to the risk
• List the risks in order of importance
• Use the list to draw up an action plan.

​

11

3. Decide on preventive actions

• There are three types of interventions for controlling psychological risk factors: primary, secondary and tertiary.
• Primary interventions are aimed at the organisational and employee level.
• Secondary and tertiary interventions are focused at the employee level.
• Interventions aimed at the organisational level are generally preventative controls and designed to either eliminate or reduce the risk factors. Examples include job redesign or the reallocation of work to distribute work more evenly across employees.
• Effective leadership skills is one of the preventative factors for work-related stress and psychological injury.
• One way of preventing risks before they happen is by implementing a Leadership Development Program. This may include, but is not limited to attributes such as conflict management, emotional intelligence, gaining followership, empowering employees and learning skills to develop employees’ strengths and improve employee performance, whilst developing employee loyalty, trust and support.
• Effective leadership skills may be seen in the workplace as reduction in Grievances, formal complaints and inappropriate workplace conduct, such as bullying and conflict.

​

​

12

Primary intervention

• Primary interventions are implemented before hazards or injuries/ incidents are present.
• These sorts of interventions usually require both organisational level strategies and employee level strategies.
• Primary interventions are aimed at:
• Modifying or eliminating the psychological risk factors that may give rise to a harm to health
• Developing employees’ ability to cope with the psychological risk factors.

13

Secondary intervention

• Secondary interventions are implemented after hazards or injuries/ incidents are present, but before harm to health develops.
• Focus mainly on employees (e.g. employee assistance programs, medical treatment, counselling).

​

14

Tertiary intervention

• Tertiary interventions are implemented after it has been medically established that an injury has developed.
• Tertiary interventions are employee focused. These interventions concern the treatment of the diagnosed psychological injury.
• The aim is restore the employee’s psychological health, or improve employee psychological health to the point where the employee is able to return to work (e.g. return to work program) and a healthy state of functioning.

15

16

�Step 3: Decide on preventive actions�

• After completing the risk assessment, preventive measures need to be taken in order of priority, involving the workers and their representatives in the process.
• Employees will be able to bring their knowledge, experience and understanding of the activity. They will have an understanding of exactly how the work is carried out and will look at it from a different perspective from their manager or supervisor.
• To decide on which actions to take, organisations may conduct focus groups with a sample of workers or require line managers to discuss best solutions during meetings with employees.
• The key to preventing stress lies with the organisation and management of work and effective measures in preventing work-related stress including the following: interventions to prevent and manage psychosocial risks and work-related stress, social support at work and job design 

17

Preventive actions Examples

• organisation’s policies
• Allowing enough time for workers to perform their tasks
• Providing clear job descriptions
• Rewarding workers for good performance
• Enabling workers to make complaints and have them taken seriously
• Giving workers control over their work.
• Minimising physical risks
• Allowing workers to take part in decisions that affect them
• Matching workloads to the capabilities and resources of each worker
• Designing tasks to be stimulating
• Defining work roles and responsibilities clearly
• Providing opportunities for social interaction, and
• Avoiding ambiguity in matters of job security and career development.

​

18

• Balance- Work-life balance is a state of well-being that allows a person to effectively manage multiple responsibilities at work, at home and in their community.
• Civility and Respect- A workplace where employees are respectful and considerate in their interactions with one another, as well as with customers, clients, and the public.
• Clear Leadership and Expectations- Effective leadership increases employee morale, resiliency, and trust; and decreases employee frustration and conflict
• Engagement- Engagement is important for individual satisfaction and psychological health
• Growth and Development- Employee development increase goal commitment, organizational commitment and job satisfaction.
• Organizational Culture- A workplace characterized by trust, honesty, and fairness. 

19

• In addition, line managers have an important role in influencing employees’ behaviours and motivation through their managerial actions.
• In relation to stress management, they need to develop managerial competencies to enable them to understand how their own style of management could cause or alleviate stress within their teams

20

 �Take action�

• Preventive and protective measures (e.g. redefining workload and timelines to do the work) should be preferred to reactive and individual measures treating stress symptoms (e.g. counselling services).
• Effective implementation involves the development of a plan specifying: i) who does what; ii) when a task is to be completed; and iii) the means allocated to implement the measures 
• Communication of the findings to all employees is required to ensure that everyone involved in the activity, or exposed to the risk is made aware of the findings of the risk assessment and the actions taken to solve issues

​

21

�Monitor and review�

• The effectiveness of the measures taken to prevent or reduce stress should be monitored to establish what works best, and to assess the effectiveness of all solutions put in place to counter stress;

​

22

Categories of risk factors

• Job characteristics and the nature of work (job content/demands, workload/pace, work schedule, job control)
• The social and organisational context of work (organisational culture and function, interpersonal relationships,
• Role in organisation, career development, bullying violence, organisational justice),

23

Surveillance tool- A self-report questionnaire to assess psychosocial factors in the workplace.

• Used to monitor the psychosocial risks in the workplace.
• Job Content Questionnaire (psychological demands, physical demands, emotional demands, organisational change, skill discretion, decision authority, supervisor social support, and co-worker social support),
• Work-Family Conflict scale (work-family conflict), Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery Scale (Recovery), and the Effort-Reward Imbalance scale (organisational rewards).

​

24

• The COVID-19 pandemic has caused safety, health and economic distress through-out the world across all sectors of work
• Workers have been infected and affected by diseases in the workplace.
• There is need for significant changes to people’s daily lives and how they work
• How has d covid-19 affected the work place:
• Absenteeism – sickness, caregivers
• Interrupted supply/delivery- delayed or cancelled
• Consumer demand increase e.g. respirators, need for more workers to be at work
• Mental health issues workplaces due to:
• solation
• Caring responsibilities
• socially distanced at a jobsite, may result in a sense of feeling alone.
• Stigma
• Financial difficulties and debt
• Bereavement.
• Alcohol and substance misuse to deal with the situation

​

​

​

25

The future of Occupational Health during Covid-19 pandemic and beyond

• COVID-19 has revealed the value of occupational health, the value of which will last well beyond the pandemic. We’ve seen COVID-19 change the safety world already.
• Because we expect this hazard to be around for a long time, I believe an emphasis on health will continue, hence occupational health
• Before this, Occupational health and safety was considered a “nice to have” rather than essential service
• Companies/employers need to better recognize the need to provide a safe work environment – not just for their employees, but for visitors and customers.
• Providing and implementing of robust occupational health surveillance systems to assess stress and burnout among employees

26

• Mental health. those with no previous history of problems of this kind. brief screening can help to identify mental ill health. 
• Implement plans for psychological support
• Recognise struggling workers. A lot can be done in the workplace to maintain work ability in the face of illness.

​

27

Personally……….

• I think we’re going to be busier. I think we’re going to have better focus.
• There is a number of things that I’ve seen, and that’s a great deal of opportunity for all safety and health professionals
• Also with this pandemic, I don’t think anyone has all the answers but it’s great to see the health and safety professionals working collaboratively to keep the workplace safe
• I think the work place is going to be better, and overall the workers are going to have a safer and healthier environment to work in.
• And I’m really proud to see my profession really stepping up to try to really help organizations get back up and running,

​

28

Conclusion

• The covid-19 pandemic has grown the health and safety industry capabilities and voice
• A healthy workforce is crucial for the business continuity and economy of countries.
• One way in which health and work ability of the working population can be addressed is by strengthening the provision of occupational health services
• OHS practitioners should take the opportunity to ensure that not only controls for COVID-19 are in place, but also persistent hazards like, psychosocial stressors, TB and silica are controlled.

​

29

​

​

Thank you!!!!!

30