Spotlight on Health and Safety by Bob Miller

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News from NIPSA Health & Safety Committee

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Cuts to Public Sector Jobs, Services and Pay is ‘Bad for Your Health’ Economic Blues makes workers more stressed Stress and the Workplace Taking Your Work Home Work-Related Stress - The Role Of The Safety Rep Mental Health in the Workplace

Spotlight on Health and Safety

Cuts to Public Sector Jobs, Services and Pay is ‘Bad for Your Health’ As part of the Stormont House Agreement which includes a deal to devolve Corporation Tax the Finance Minister, Simon Hamilton, announced 20,000 jobs to go in the public sector over the next four years. That is on top of thousands of jobs already gone in the public sector as part of the Government’s austerity programme. Each one of these job losses is a loss to the community and the next generation. For those left behind it will be more pressure to provide vital public services with fewer staff and less money.

efficiency savings, job cuts, a pay freeze, downgrading of pay and posts and pension changes.

As one member described it “working in the public sector is like a pressure cooker with the lid ready to blow off”. Another member described it as a “toxic cocktail” of declining staff numbers and increasing expectations from the public and employers piling the pressure on staff.

Another causation of the cuts is increased levels of presenteeism Finance Minister Simon Hamilton with workers feeling they have to Something has to give and all too often it is the go to work despite being ill. The three main reasons health and wellbeing of our members. According presented in a study by the Work Foundation were to surveys conducted by the mental health work-related stress, pressures from colleagues and charity Mind, the TUC and others work is the biggest managers to come to work, and personal financial cause of stress in people’s lives resulting from long difficulties. working hours, unrealistic time pressures and NIPSA’s message to this Government is clear “Cut unachievable deadlines, against a background of Stress, Not Jobs”.

Special Edition: Stress and Mental Health in the Workplace

Economic Blues makes Workers more Stressed One in four workers experience work-related stress during a recession, according to a new study. Researchers from the Universities of Nottingham and Ulster examined the levels of stress suffered by tens of thousands of civil servants in Northern Ireland. The study examined data collected in 2005 before the recession and in 2009, once the economic downturn was in full-swing. The study found that during a recession the incidence of work-related stress increased by 40%. It also found that the number of workers taking time off as a result of work-related stress, increased by 25%, and that the amount of absence due to stress increased by a third. Geraldine Alexander, NIPSA Assistant Secretary, said: “When workers face reduced job security and an increased workload it is no surprise that depression and anxiety increase, along with absences from work. People feel afraid, uncertain, less supported by managers, and less in control of their lives.” The study did, however, find that organisations that recognised the particular pressures facing workers in a downturn and took steps to support individuals were rewarded. Jonathan Houdmont, lead author of the study, said: “Those businesses which seek to reduce work-related stress during austere economic times are likely to experience lower staff absence and greater productivity.” Geraldine Alexander said that workers “need to feel they are being treated fairly”. Involving “union health and safety reps is pivotal” as they “can ensure that workers’ rights to consultation and information are upheld and press for open and fair procedures”. The following articles explains the triggers and indicators of stress.

Spotlight on Health and Safety

Stress and the Workplace Employers have a duty of care towards their employees and to “ensure , so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of employees and others affected by their work”

Under the heading of welfare in the above statement we are going to look at stress and work. Stress is becoming the most common cause of absenteeism from the workplace. So, what is work related stress, what causes it, what makes it worse but more importantly what can we do to prevent it?

There are three main sources of stress in the workplace; these are referred to as stressors.

●● Relationships;

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●● Behaviours; ●● Attitudes:

l ica ●● Noise; ●● VDU;

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●● Heat;

●● work systems;

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●● Perceptions of Socio Economic Status.

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Organisational

●● Mechanical. Work is not the only source of stress and events outside the workplace must also be considered. Employers may not be able to control these external factors but they should consider them in relation to duties within the workplace to reduce the risk of further stress. For example, if an employee hurt their back at home an employer would need to ensure that their duties would not further exacerbate their condition and may need to consider a temporary change of duties. The same principle should be considered when dealing with stress. To tackle stress in the workplace the focus needs to be on the causes (stressors) and not the symptoms caused by the stressors. Risk assessment aims to address risks at source and as with other forms of risk assessment a Stress risk assessment will be looking at the sources in order to introduce measures to prevent and control the risks. It is only by doing this that risks can be prevented. Health and safety reps and the relationships they form in the workplace are also a key factor in reducing work place risks. What can working together deliver?

●● working conditions; ●● working time arrangements; ●● organisational structures and resources management and supervision staffing levels etc.

●● Meaningful consultation; ●● Agreed goals and actions; ●● Shared knowledge and understanding; ●● Opens communication; ●● Improved working relationships; ●● Positive change; ●● Better trust ; ●● Better risk assessment. Risk assessments carried out as a paper exercise are not worth the paper they are written on. Whichever way a risk assessment is approached and whichever way the causes of stress are tackled, the key to success is involvement and working together. Effective action to stop stress at work means raising awareness, recognising the issues, meaningful consultation and involving everyone. It needs real commitment to action from the TOP and as Health and Safety Reps our participation in this is vital. “One of the cardinal sins in the area of occupational health is to conduct elaborate studies, describing in considerable detail the work-related stress of the employees, its causes and consequences - and then leave it at that. To diagnose, but not to treat and even less to prevent. If this is done it adds insult to injury”.

(European Commission Guidance on Work-Related Stress 2000)

Special Edition: Stress and Mental Health in the Workplace

Taking Your Work Home More than one in five people today suffer from work related stress. Work-related stress is the negative reaction that occurs when demands at work exceed the ability to cope. It can also be caused by other problems at work including: ●● poor working conditions, such as noise, heating or bad lighting; ●● long working hours; ●● relationships with colleagues; ●● having too much or too little to do; ●● lack of control in the working environment; ●● not feeling valued for the work you do; ●● bullying at work; ●● being under pressure to meet deadlines. Work-related stress can cause psychological, emotional, physical and behavioural problems. Because everyone reacts to stress in different ways depending on their personality and how they respond to pressure, symptoms may vary. However, some common psychological symptoms include: You may also get physical symptoms. These may include: ●● diarrhoea or constipation; ●● indigestion; ●● headaches; ●● weight changes; ●● chest pains.

Many people do not recognise they are suffering from work related stress until it is having a direct affect on their home life. To be able to tackle work-related stress, it’s important to recognise the symptoms or any changes in your behaviour. The sooner you realise that it’s causing you problems, the sooner you can take action to make things better. Visit your GP and they can work with you to look at therapies that will help you to deal with the symptoms of stress and also give advice on how to alleviate the causes. ●● feeling that you can’t cope; ●● being unable to concentrate; ●● lacking confidence; ●● a loss of motivation and commitment. You might also have emotional symptoms, such as: ●● negative or depressive feelings; ●● increased sensitivity; ●● irritability or having a short temper; ●● mood swings.

Spotlight on Health and Safety

Work-Related Stress

The Role of the Safety Rep

We are asking our branch health and safety reps to do their bit in ensuring that employers take their responsibilities to tackle work-related stress seriously.

Checklist for Safety Reps ✔✔ Is

there a problem with stress in your workplace?

✔✔ Has the employer taken effective action to address this?

✔✔ If not, have they done a risk assessment that includes stress?

✔✔ If not, or it is inadequate – ask for one to be done (this is a legal requirement).

✔✔ If they have done a risk assessment, have they acted on the findings?

✔✔ If not – ask for a prevention plan. ✔✔ If your employer has introduced support

for people with stress-related conditions instead of prevention measures, insist that they use the HSENI Stress Management Standards.

Other useful resources include a simple stress audit form produced by the UK National Work-Stress Network (UKNWSN) which health and safety reps can use. It is done anonymously, and the results can be tabulated and published showing the key areas of concern. Participants are asked to score according to levels of stress that the various factors create. Low Risks scores 1, High Risks scores 3. Totals can be added together to give an overall basic picture so that the data can be taken to the Health and Safety Committee and to the employer for discussion. Following this if the signals are read correctly then the employer should carry out a full HSENI Stress Management Standards Survey. UKNWSN Stress Audit Form

Special Edition: Stress and Mental Health in the Workplace

Mental Health in the Workplace This will come as no great surprise to many people. It’s not hard to make the connection between the economic climate and the nation’s mental wellbeing. When jobs are under threat, pay packets are being frozen and workloads are increasing, employees’ mental health is being affected.

Mind also found a huge disparity between the perceptions of managers and other workers. While only 22% of those surveyed felt that their boss took active steps to help them manage stress, more than two-thirds of managers (68%) appeared to believe that they were doing enough to support staff.

In 2013, the mental health charity Mind reported work to be the biggest cause of stress in people’s lives, with one in three people (34%) saying that their work life was either very or quite stressful. It found that work outranked debt and financial problems (30%) and health (17%) as the major cause of stress.

Only 36% of workers in the survey thought that looking after staff mental wellbeing was an organisational priority, while 42% believed that in their workplace stress is regarded as a sign of weakness or not coping. Only a third (32%) thought time off for stress was treated as seriously as time off for physical illness, while 42% believe that stress is seen as an “excuse” for something else.

Its survey of over 2,000 people found that workplace stress has resulted in 7% of people having suicidal thoughts (rising to 10% among 18 to 24 year olds), and one in five people (18%) developing anxiety. More than half (57%) said they drink after work, and one in seven (14%) drink during the working day to cope with workplace stress and pressure. Other coping mechanisms people cited were smoking (28%), taking antidepressants (15%), over the counter sleeping aids (16%) and prescribed sleeping tablets (10%). Mind also found that a culture of fear and silence about stress and mental health problems is costly for employers. It reported that: ●● One in five workers (19%) take a day off sick because of stress, but 90% of those people cited a different reason for their absence; ●● One in 10 (9%) have resigned from a job due to stress and one in four (25%) have considered resigning due to work pressure; ●● Of the 22% who had a diagnosed mental health problem, less than half had actually told their boss about their diagnosis. In addition, 45% of workers reported that staff are expected to cope without mentioning stress at work, and 31% said that they would not be able to talk openly to their line manager if they felt stressed. The charity also found that employers are not doing enough to tackle stress in the workplace. Over half of managers (56%) said they would like to do more to improve staff mental wellbeing but they needed more training and/or guidance. And almost half (46%) said they would like to do more but it is not a priority in their organisation.

Branch Health and Safety Reps must ensure mental health in the workplace is placed on the agenda of their workplace Health and Safety Committee meetings and for a proper mental health strategy, including a mental health policy, to be developed that will create a working environment that encourages mental wellbeing.

Health& Safety PUBLICATIONS

The latest publications from NIPSA Health and Safety Committee are available in print from NIPSA Headquarters and also available to download from the NIPSA website. Back issues of Spotlight and Spotlight eZines are also available from the NIPSA website: https://www.nipsa.org.uk/NIPSA-in-Action/ Health-and-Safety/Newsletters .org.uk

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dignity work A Guide to

Also Available

We also have a new updated edition A Guide to Dignity at Work available from NIPSA Headquarters or a download from the NIPSA Website.

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Views expressed in this Newsletter are not, unless otherwise stated, the views of NIPSA.