PART
ONE
Our definition of health and safety includes
workplace mental health – does yours?
What does it mean to be a mentally healthy workplace? Flexible
working hours, on-site support staff or scheduled meditation breaks?
The truth is, that in order for an organization to count itself as fostering a psychologically safe
environment, employers need to start thinking about mental health as a health and safety issue.
THE CORE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AND SAFETY IS SIMPLE
While workplaces have always considered the safety of their employees as a point of high
concern, it's only in recent years that employers began to see how psychological health
impacts performance. Historically, when employers discuss health and safety, they're talking
in terms of workplace accidents and physical risks. This shifted somewhat in the last decade
when HR departments began considering chronic injuries as an overall extension of physical
safety at work.
From there, the most apparent continuation is to include mental injury in the context of both
health and its relationship with physical safety. In fact, by doing so, employers gain a much
more comprehensive understanding of the impact of work on their workers.
A psychologically safe workplace is one where every reasonable effort is made to protect
the mental health of workers.
WHERE DOES THE RESPONSIBILITY LIE?
This commitment to safeguarding employee mental health shouldn't stem purely from
ethical responsibility. Legally speaking, employers have a duty of care for their workers
– one which resides within the legislation for health and safety practitioners to provide
a physically safe system of work. While it may be defined 'a safe place to work', employers
are continually choosing to interpret this as being inclusive of protecting employee mental
well-being as well.
" Safety in the workplace
is about more than just
physically protecting staff
– it should be inclusive of
an employee's state
of mind."
Workplace Safety & Prevention Services
|
Workplace Mental Health
WSPS.CA
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