Engineering news
Engineering companies must do more to effectively manage psychosocial risks within their organisations, or face losing staff to ill-health, resulting in productivity declines, a leading psychologist has warned.
Gayle Brewer, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Central Lancashire, said companies had a duty of care to address psychosocial threats to employee safety from factors such as stress, excessive shift-work, bullying and boredom. Failure to address these issues could lead to higher than average employee absenteeism, impacting company performance across all levels.
Brewer, who will address the threats of psychosocial risks with a speech at the Health and Safety Event in Birmingham later this month, said that workers in male-dominated industries such as engineering were particularly at risk from stress, as they were more likely to suffer in silence. “You often find that in a sector with a masculine culture, people do not want to talk about stress. There might be a lot of discussion about health and safety in terms of hard-hats and the right kinds of protective footwear, but far less so about psychosocial issues.”
Brewer said that ignoring psychosocial problems could lead to a culture of acceptance within an organisation. “These sorts of issues have to be challenged and addressed, otherwise they spread.”
Engineering companies should look at the threat posed by psychosocial factors within their organisations and introduce effective management plans to address them, she said. Shift-work patterns, for instance, should be considered in tandem with family and travel commitments.
Procedures could be put in place to encourage a culture of openness, helping employees to recognise when they are feeling stressed. “Companies must be more mindful of the impact of stress. It is a very real thing,” she said.
Firms should also have a proactive workplace bullying policy in place which clearly defines what is unacceptable behaviour. And boredom could be addressed through efforts to vary daily tasks, and to give staff more control over how they perform their roles.
Brewer added: “Generally speaking, companies are more aware about psychosocial issues, with large firms in particular realising that they need to change their culture. But many are still behind the curve in some areas, particularly the problem of bullying.”
Brewer will be giving a presentation on psychosocial factors at the Health and Safety Event, which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham 24-26 March. See here http://www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk/ for details.