Essay Sample on Safety and a Stress-Free Environment at the Work Place

Employees need to feel that they are safe as they work. Safety affects everybody in the work place due to incidences such as accidents, injuries, violence or harassment, and chemical hazards. Supervision at the job is not always easy since it involves a lot of work in ensuring that ever employee is catered. In the workplace, the work of the employer involves more than just supervising. The employer has the responsibility of providing disability management, workplace inspections, Joint Health Safety Committee (JHSC), and accident or incident investigations. The supervisor or employer also needs to ensure that the employees are given promotions in an effort to provide positivity in the workplace. Therefore, the employer needs to ensure disability management, positive environment and peaceful environment to avoid work related stress and mental health problems.

In the case of disability management, the employers need to make sure that the employees are full integrated back into the workforce after recovery. When an employee has an accident at work, they might end up sating long before coming back to work as they recover. Therefore as an employer, follow-ups, and review of the employee's functional abilities forms to allow for suitable tasks. These tasks should suit the employees in accordance with their abilities or the doctors recommendations. An employer also has a responsibility of guaranteeing a positive environment in the workplace. Job satisfaction is due to both personal and environmental characteristics (Harzer & Ruch, 2015). In the case of an accident at the workplace, the employer should ensure that proper care is given to the employee.

Lack of positive attitude leads to negative moods and feeling of dissatisfaction and less commitment than if the people possess positive attitudes (Harzer & Ruch, 2015). People with the neurotic personality such as temperaments are likely to be dissatisfied with their jobs. Additionally, if the employees are unable to match themselves and their job demands, they get less satisfied with their jobs.

I understand that a work place needs leadership and supervision. I have worked part-time and I realized that sometimes people were not positive about the work and that made them gloomy. However, I saw that our supervisor was quite concerned about everybodys welfare. She ensured that the injured people were given simpler tasks until they recovered completely. She would come at time to ask us about our health at least every day.

Stress in Workplace is related to Mental Health

Mental health means that a person is in a complete physical, mental and social wellbeing to be able to realize the full potential of oneself (Maslach & Jackson, 2013). Work stress and mental health can be related to various levels. Work-related stress is a negative reaction that occurs when people have a lot of pressure due to the demands of the workplace. Notably, work related stress and mental health often go together (Maslach & Jackson, 2013). The signs of work related stress and mental health problems are similar and they include fatigue, loss of appetite, and tearfulness. Additionally, work related stress could result in triggering underlying mental health problems (Thoits, 2013). On the other hand, if a person already has a mental problem, the work related stress could result in making the persons condition worse. Notably, if the work-related stress reaches a point in which it affects the mental health, it may be difficult to separate the two (Maslach & Jackson, 2013).

Mental health problems and stress can exist independently. Therefore, a person experiencing work-related stress may have physical alterations such as high blood pressure, while not experiencing nay signs of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression (Cooper & Marshall, 2013). Other people may also experience issues such as depression or anxiety, and they do not have any work related stress. Mental health and work-related stress may differ in the manner in which they occur and the way they are treated (Cooper & Marshall, 2013). Some people, experience stress at work as a reaction to outside forces that are not related to work. Therefore, some employees may have stress that arises due to issues outside of their work such as divorce, bereavement or family problems. However, some people may experience mental health problems with no palpable cause at all.

Work related stress is often linked with burnout, exhaustion, job gratification and the bodily as well as the well-being of a persons mental health (Cooper & Marshall, 2013). Stressors often contribute to the knowledge of work-related stress such as deprived supervision, conflicts with colleagues, over time, high job strains. Exhaustion and weariness also trigger lengthy exposure to the environmental and situational stressors (Khamisa et. al, 2015). Such stressors also result in the expressive exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of individual achievement. Likewise, the work related stress that comes from stressors such as too much workload, staff issues, lack of resources come as a result of lack of job satisfaction. According to Khamisa et. al, 2015, these problems occur because people find it hard to match their job prospects and the actual working surroundings. This mismatch results in the elevated levels of work stress and low levels of job satisfaction. According to Khamisa et. al, 2015, high levels of job satisfaction within a less demanding workplace are to be expected unlike in a stressful workplace. However, the lack of support from the employer or increased conflict among the employees may lead to elevated stress levels, which could result in mental health problems for some people.

Work related stress could also result in other physical problems (Khamisa et. al, 2015). Physical problems such as back pains and leg aches may occur when an employee works for too many hours, especially for nurses. Many scholars agree that there is a significant association between exhaustion and deteriorating physical, mental, and social health problems (Khamisa et. al, 2015). Burnout or fatigue also relates mostly to anxiety and insomnia. However, mental health problems are the top and most related results from work-related stress.

Work stress is increasing due to unwelcoming environments in the workplace. Stress is related to the satisfaction and commitment in the workplace. Job security can raise the level of stress in employees (Khamisa et. al, 2015). The trend of stress in workplaces is likely to continue with the growing competition in the business world. The management of the organization is responsible in making their employees comfortable and less stressed in the workplace. Providing an excellent working condition reduces stress and increased effectiveness in the business (Khamisa et. al, 2015). Stress causes individuals to lack control over their environment.

Employees stress levels are related to the independence and support organizations have for their jobs. Workplaces need to be friendly to the employees for them to be profitable. Knowing whether the employees lack control of their internal or external environment, helps the organizations understand that they need to create work environments that are fair and that have low-stress levels.

Stress prevention strategies can be done either at a personal level or at the organizational levels. Stress management strategies that include education and training may help in the coping of stress at the workplace (Thoits, 2013). Most organizations result to approaches that will reduce the stressors or eliminate them all together. Eliminating or reducing the stressors involves the use of better management and provision of adequate resources. Organization or the employers may view the stressors as manageable issues that may be reduced and eliminated in the workplace. Organizations can help prevent their employees from having stress conditions at the workplace. The employers and employees can work together to manage the problem of work-related stress in the organization.

Evidently, work stress and mental health problems are related in many ways. Even though sometimes work stress and mental health issues can be independent of each other, most of the times they influence one another. A person with an underlying mental health may be affected further if they experience work related stress. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure a positive and peaceful working environment to reduce work stress that may influence the mental health of the employees.

Solutions to Occupation Health and Safety

There is a complete correlation between my research and the PowerPoint presentation. For instance, the issue of nurses developing musculoskeletal disorders, mainly due to exhaustion and overtime, which issues such as exhaustion, anxiety, and burnout can lead to mental health issues in employees (Khamisa et. al. 2015)..

Many people do not really understand whether they are experiencing any stressors in the work place; therefore, an employer needs to supervise and follow up the issues surrounding his or her employees are the workplace. Employees may have an issue in mental health that may be elevated by stressors at the work place. As the speaker said, it is important to the employer does more that supervise the employees at the workplace. Follow-ups when someone is involved in and accident are such things that can ensure the employee has integrated into the organization again at a level that suits his or her capability at that time.

In conclusion, work related stress occurs to the employees due to issues including poor management, lack of resources and security risks. Such issues may lead to job dissatisfaction, exhaustion, mental health issues and stress. My research revealed that the relationship between work related stress and mental health is high. As stated in the PowerPoint presentation accidents, injuries, poor nutrition and workplace harassment, among others may lead to elevates stress levels in the workplace. Therefore, the workplace needs more than supervision, the employers needs to guarantee the employees safe and health working environment. The employer needs to invest in the welfare of the employees by ensuring disability management and follow-ups if anyone is injured on the job. With such measures put in place, the working environment is bound to be less stressful and thus reduces the likelihood of mental health issues.

References

Cooper, C. L., & Marshall, J. (2013). Occupational sources of stress: A review of the literature relating to coronary heart disease and mental ill health. In From Stress to Wellbeing Volume 1 (pp. 3-23). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Harzer, C., & Ruch, W. (2015). The relationships of character strengths with coping, work-related stress, and job satisfaction. Frontiers in psychology, 6.

Khamisa, N., Oldenburg, B., Peltzer, K., & Ilic, D. (2015). Work related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses. International journal of environmental research and public health, 12(1), 652-666.

Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (2013). A social psychological analysis. Social psychology of health and illness, 227.

Thoits, P. A. (2013). Self, identity, stress, and mental health. In Handbook of the sociology of mental health (pp. 357-377). Springer Netherlands.