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    Manage People

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    Ahamed Ibrahim
    This document provides an introduction and overview of stress and safety in the workplace. It discusses how stress contributes to 80% of workplace accidents and injuries by negatively impacting employee behaviors and decision-making. The document then outlines the high costs of stress for organizations, including safety-related costs, turnover, absenteeism, and health issues. Finally, it provides examples of how companies successfully reduced workplace stress, in turn decreasing workers' compensation claims, costs, and lost workdays.

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    Manage People

    Uploaded by

    Ahamed Ibrahim
    45 views5 pages
    This document provides an introduction and overview of stress and safety in the workplace. It discusses how stress contributes to 80% of workplace accidents and injuries by negatively impacting employee behaviors and decision-making. The document then outlines the high costs of stress for organizations, including safety-related costs, turnover, absenteeism, and health issues. Finally, it provides examples of how companies successfully reduced workplace stress, in turn decreasing workers' compensation claims, costs, and lost workdays.

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    how to manage people, managing people project, case study

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    This document provides an introduction and overview of stress and safety in the workplace. It discusses how stress contributes to 80% of workplace accidents and injuries by negatively impacting employee behaviors and decision-making. The document then outlines the high costs of stress for organizations, including safety-related costs, turnover, absenteeism, and health issues. Finally, it provides examples of how companies successfully reduced workplace stress, in turn decreasing workers' compensation claims, costs, and lost workdays.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    45 views5 pages

    Manage People

    Uploaded by

    Ahamed Ibrahim
    This document provides an introduction and overview of stress and safety in the workplace. It discusses how stress contributes to 80% of workplace accidents and injuries by negatively impacting employee behaviors and decision-making. The document then outlines the high costs of stress for organizations, including safety-related costs, turnover, absenteeism, and health issues. Finally, it provides examples of how companies successfully reduced workplace stress, in turn decreasing workers' compensation claims, costs, and lost workdays.

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    Table of contents 1. Introduction about stress and safety 2. Cost of stress in organisations 3. Reducing Managers stress 4.

    Causes of workplace stress 5. recognizing of stress 6. Realworld Examples 7. Questions

    1. Introduction about stress and safety According to safety experts, unsafe behaviors are the leading contributor to accidents and injuries in the workplace. Research shows that unsafe behaviors play a far more significant role in workplace accidents and injuries than do unsafe environmental factors such as wet floors, unsafe equipment, etc. In fact, experts estimate that unsafe behaviors account for 80 percent of workplace accidents and injuries. This means that safety initiatives cannot simply focus on making the physical surroundings more safe. Focusing solely on the physical environment will only solve 20 percent of the problem. To successfully address the problem of workplace safety requires addressing those factors that account for 80 percent of the problem: unsafe human behavior. To change unsafe human behaviors requires understanding what leads to them in the first place. Although a multitude of factors influence human behavior and therefore workplace safety one of the leading causes of unsafe behaviors is stress. Because stress negatively affects how people think, act, and react, it makes employees more vulnerable to accidents and injuries. By reducing employee stress, companies can significantly reduce the frequency of employee behaviors that lead to safety problems. By reducing employee stress, they can also reduce other stress-related costs such as absenteeism, turnover, reduced productivity, grievances, and litigation. This booklet focuses on what employers can do to minimize employee stress, and therefore minimize one of the leading contributors to accidents and injuries. It is designed to help the reader understand more clearly the connection between stress and safety, and to provide practical solutions to this problem. 2. Cost of stress in organisations
    Is employee stress simply a minor problem that your company and your employees have to cope with, or is it a significant bottom line issue that impacts on your companys financial well-being? Research from a variety of sources shows the latter to be true; employee stress is a serious financial drain. It cannot be ignored by any employer wishing to stay competitive in todays marketplace. This section outlines some of the costs created by unmanaged employee stress.
    Safety-Related Costs

    A study of 3,020 aircraft employees showed that employees who hardly ever enjoyed their job were 2.5 times more likely to report a back injury than those who reported almost always enjoying their job. 1 Insurance data indicates insurance claims for stress-related industrial accidents cost nearly twice as much as non-stress-related industrial accidents.2 Employees with low job satisfaction are 30 percent more likely to have multiple injuries than those with high satisfaction. Employees with a higher number of stressful life events were 25 percent more likely to have had more than one injury than those with a low number of stressful life events.3
    Overall Cost of Stress

    The total health and productivity cost of worker stress to American business is estimated at $50 - $150 billion annually.4 Forty percent of job turnover is due to stress. Experts estimate it costs approximately 150 percent of a positions salary to replace a worker.5
    Prevalence of Stress in the Workplace

    The 1985 National Health Interview Survey revealed that an estimated 11 million workers report health-endangering levels of mental stress at work. Only one other hazardous work

    condition - loud noise - was found to be more prevalent in the workplace.6 A Gallup Poll of 201 U.S. corporations revealed that 60 percent of all managers felt that stress- related illness was pervasive among their workers and decreased productivity at an estimated cost of 16 days of sick leave and $8,000 per person per year.7

    Absenteeism and Other Health-Related Costs Workers with high stress were over two times more likely to be absent 5+ days a year.8 Unscheduled absences by U.S. employees rose by nine percent in 1993, costing work organizations as much as $750 per employee, according to a national survey.9 A recent study at a manufacturing plant showed that employees who reported high levels of role conflict, physical environment stress, and overall work stress had significantly higher physician-excused absences.10 Men with demanding jobs that give them little control have three times the risk of hypertension as their co-workers. Men with demanding jobs with control, however, show no ill effects.11 American women with heavy work loads and little job control are three times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than women with the same work load, but had more control.12

    3. Reducing Managers stress


    An Electronics Firm Cuts Workers Compensation Claims by 30 Percent

    At a Minnesota electronics manufacturer, management had employees complete a stress/general well-being inventory during a major downsizing. The survey showed high levels of worker stress. The company implemented a variety of programs to address this problem. The result: workers compensation claims decreased by 30 percent.1
    A Manufacturing Company Reduces Workers Compensation Claims by 56 Percent A Minnesota plastics manufacturer conducted an employee survey. The results

    portrayed a workforce that was bored and frustrated over the lack of communication and involvement they had in decision making in the company. Employee responses to the survey also showed a lack of commitment to company quality, safety and productivity. The manufacturer implemented a task force in each department to address these issues, improved benefits, created a safety incentive program, and established a newsletter. The result: a 56 percent drop in workers compensation claims.2
    A Trucking Company Cuts Workers Compensation Costs by 80 Percent and Lost Workdays by 66 Percent A trucking company employing approximately 150 people

    was losing $26,592 per month in workers compensation costs over a 22-month period. Average lost workdays during this period equaled 166 days per month. After surveying their employees, the company implemented several programs, including a training program for managers on how to correct situations that were creating employee stress and a comprehensive Employee Assistance Program (EAP). A more stringent pre-employment program was also initiated. During the nine months following these interventions, the average cost of claims went from $26,592 to $4,510, and the average number of lost workdays went from 166 to 56 days per month.3
    Hospital Cuts Workers Compensation Claims by 80 Percent and the Cost of Their Claims by 95 Percent Data from an employee survey was used by a Midwestern

    hospital that employed approximately 1,000 people, to reduce their risk exposure. Interventions based upon the results included a comprehensive in-house EAP, the addition of a stress management program to the hospitals back program, and an intensive problem-focused consultation to leaders of problem departments.

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