Most adults spend almost a third of their lives in a workplace where they often interact with other employees. There is no worse thing for the family of a worker than the prospect of their relative going out for work in the morning and never returning because of a fatal work-related accident that deprived him of his life.
While this may be the most dramatic and graphic example of failed health and safety management systems, there are many other health risks that need to be managed in the workplace.
The debate in Parliament on the country’s improving record in health and safety at the workplace focused on the fact that accidents at work have gone down by 50 per cent over the past 12 years. This is indeed an achievement and, as Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli remarked, we must never become complacent about the dangers that many face in the workplace.
Today, most employers understand and carry out their legal obligations to protect the physical health of their employees by providing them with safety wear and equipment and also training them to manage the risks to their health effectively.
The mentality of viewing safety measures at the workplace as a cost is undoubtedly changing. What is perhaps changing slower in our understanding are the real health and safety risks in today’s modern businesses.
As our economic activities increasingly become more oriented to services where risks to physical health and safety are less of an issue than is the case in other activities like construction, it is important that the health and safety authorities focus more on non-physical risks.
These risks do not normally expose an employee to dramatic physical injuries but they could still cause serious damage to a person’s well-being.
Many workers and their trade unions complain about the increasing level of stress in most workplaces. These damaging stress factors could be the result of workplace bullying, managers who suffer from personality disorders that affect negatively the staff they manage as well as intense employer pressures to hit unreasonable productivity quotas in offices, schools and hospitals and other demanding workplaces.
Such toxic practices rarely lead to life-threatening outcomes but frequently ruin the mental health of many employees.
Some employers are thankfully aware of these relatively new health and safety issues and provide their employees with psychological support that is often given anonymously.
Perhaps more important, enlightened business leaders make sure that their managers do not abuse their positions of authority in the companies they lead. Some universities are, in fact, including comprehensive health and safety management modules in their management training curricula.
Trade unions representing employees who work in mentally demanding professions like nursing and teaching need to concentrate more on negotiating safer working conditions for their members. Teachers who are bullied by their students and nurses who are overworked can hardly be expected to perform to the best of their ability.
The Occupational Health and Safety Authority should be empowered to address complaints from workers and trade unions that relate to work practices exposing employees to mental health risks. People damaged by toxic work environments that tolerate mental health abuse need as much support as industrial workers who are exposed to physical risks in their workplace.
A good health and safety strategy should not just be about preventing physical accidents that damage employees’ health and employers’ pockets.
It should also be about promoting the mental well-being of workers.