STRESS AND SAFETY

Stress is a harmful physical and emotional response that demands the job does not match the
skills,resources, or needs of the worker. Work stress involves the worker's feelings because of
differencesbetween the demands of the job and the individual's ability to cope with those demands.

Causes of stress in the workplace include environmental conditions, overload of work, roleambiguity,
lack of response, personality, personal and family problems, and role conflicts. Othercauses of work
stress include work complexity, lack of control over work, public safety responsibility,job security, lack of
psychological support, and environmental safety concerns.

A survey of life insurance company workers found that work stress can be caused by a
restructuring,acquisition, or layoff of a job; Mandatory overtime; Different workloads; Speed of work;
Lack ofopportunities to advance; Bureaucracy; Lack of staff, and money, or technology; Low wages;
Oralternatives.

The human response to work stress can be classified into five categories:

Subjective
Behavioral
Cognitive
Physical
Organizational

Psychological response to stress may eventually lead to autoimmune disease. The effects of stresscan be
reversed until the individual reaches the limit. After that limit, with constant pressure, theeffects can become
pathological. Research has shown three stages of the human response to stress:

Alarm
Resistance
Fatigue

The best policy on stress is to learn to accept it. Attempts to remove the workplace from all sources ofstress
are unlikely to succeed. The psychological workload can be measured in three ways:
State-based subjective rating
Behavioral time allocation
Psychophysiological strategies
Psychological questionnaires study how workers feel about their work. Shift work happens when
mostpeople are on leisure. The circadian rhythm, or biological clock within the body, determines when
aperson works or sleeps. Survey workers reported lower job satisfaction with rotating shifts. Shift
workreduces productivity and increases the number of accidents. Not all sources of work stress can
beeliminated.

Managers can reduce work stress by reducing role ambiguity and increasing feedback and autonomyat work.
Managers can reduce worker stress by reducing exposure to physical hazards, changing workspeeds, and
eliminating monotonous or short; cycle operations.

According to the life insurance study, work stress can be reduced by providing mental healthinsurance
benefits to employees, improving communication between employees and management,providing
information on how to deal with stress to workers, providing job descriptions, and regularchats with
employees. Recognize and reward contributions, post; work rules, and offer child and adultcare programs.
Other ways to reduce stress include allowing flexible working hours, providing reasonable
benefits,providing adequate training and access to technology, providing space and time to relax,
workplaceswithout rooms for storing personal items, and maintaining a sense of humor.

Individuals can effectively respond to stressful workloads by assigning responsibilities andlearning

to relax. Methods of relaxation include meditation, biofeedback, music, and exercise. Themost important
factor in managing stress is learning to recognize its symptom and take them seriously.

Stress and Safety

THE LINK BETWEEN STRESS AND WORKER SAFETY

We all know stress is bad for our health, and working in an already stressful environment can impact
work performance and safety. In fact, research from the Families and Work Institute found that 41
percent of workers experience stress “often” or “very often” on the job. The National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has even begun a job stress research program, which seeks
to understand the influence of workplace stressors on accidents and injuries.

What’s more, aside from its immediate effects on worker health and safety, persistent stress also can
play a role in serious, chronic illnesses. Small doses of stress can be manageable and even beneficial,
but chronic workplace stress is a threat to the well-being of your employees and your long-term
profitability.

Because of these risks, it’s important for every employer to understand the links between stress and
worker safety, and to take the appropriate precautions to keep employees’ stress under control.
Here are a few ways stress affects your workers’ health, and ways you can keep it at a manageable
level.

STRESS AND CHRONIC DISEASE

Stress is closely linked to several chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease—one of the
most common causes of death in the industrialized world. Research from the Biobehavioral Institute
suggests that in many cases, stressed individuals ultimately make unhealthier life choices, including
drinking and smoking. Likewise, a 2007 University of Melbourne study found that men who
experience “moderate” or “extreme” job stress were twice as likely to smoke.

Still, other research has established more direct links between workplace stress and chronic disease.
A 2008 study of British civil servants found that the most stressed government workers had a 68
percent greater risk of developing heart disease. These employees had lower heart rate variability (a
common sign of adrenal stress or “burnout”) and increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
While cortisol is an important part of

a normal stress response, chronically high levels can damage blood vessels and the lining of the
heart. Even when researchers adjusted for lifestyle factors such as smoking and poor diets, the most
stressed workers were still found to have the greatest risks for heart disease.

STRESS AND SAFETY

Recent research has also linked chronic stress and greater risks of accidents. For instance, the
American Nurses Association conducted a survey in which 80 percent of nurses said on-the-job stress
impacts their safety; 59 percent said workplace pressure leads them to rush and take unsafe
shortcuts. Ultimately, limiting both the short-term and long-term impacts of stress requires that
employers understand the most common stressors. Here are a few that take the biggest tolls:

Poor Task Design. Unmanageable workloads, unsustainable hours and unrealistic

deadlines kill productivity and create unneeded stress.

Overbearing Management. When workers have little say in how they complete their
assigned tasks, they are much more likely to experience burnout and chronic stress.

Unclear Roles. Conflicting and overlapping roles, as well as unclear expectations, can create
situations in which workers either have to answer to too many people, or they can’t possibly satisfy
all demands.

Unpleasant Environments. Dirty, dangerous and crowded conditions can make it all but impossible to
remain productive, particularly when hazards include chronic exposure to pollution or toxic
chemicals.

CURBING THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE STRESS

How can you curb the effects of these and other stressors? Everyone deals with stress differently, but
here are a few strategies that have proven effective for most workers.

Social Support. We’re social creatures, and workers tend to fare best when they have strong
comradery and cohesion within their teams. Encourage team-building activities,

and use the buddy system to keep employees safe. Funds allowing, you might even offer paid days
“off” for team and company-wide outings.

Enforce Breaks. Most jurisdictions require a certain number of breaks per shift, but that’s not the
only reason to enforce them. Few people can focus intently on a task for more thana couple of hours,
and taking a break is an excellent way to reduce stress, relax the body and mind and prepare for
greater productivity in the hours to follow.

Improvement, Not Perfection. “Perfect” is an unattainable goal, and scrutinizing every detail –
especially details that don’t significantly impact a final product – is a surefire way to create
unnecessary anxiety. A far more productive and sustainable approach is to strive for constant
improvement, offering constructive criticism in specific, important areas where workers may be
having trouble.
Ultimately, you’ll need to find out exactly how stress is impacting safety and performance at your
unique worksites. To do that, you’ll need a dependable tool for tracking accidents, illnesses and the
hazards that cause them. To better analyze your incidents and identify the most efficient corrective
actions, check out our Incident Investigation and Reporting software today.