Psychological health correlates with workplace safety: panelists

DENVER — Addressing mental health challenges in the workplace is the missing link in many employers’ plans to address physical hazards that could lead to injuries and prolonged workers’ compensation claims, according to a panel of health and safety experts who discussed the current state of the so-called psychosocial risks.

Among panelists speaking last week at the American Society of Safety Professionals’ annual Safety ’24 conference, Carrie Patterson, executive vice president of human resources consultancy Patricia Omoqui Enterprises Inc., drew a comparison between a physical injury that could keep a worker 13 weeks out of work and the aggravation that happens when there is a psychosocial or “toxic” problem in the workplace.

“You leave for six months because the work environment is so challenging for you,” said Ms. Patterson, who is based in Glastonbury, Conn., and provides psychological counseling to companies seeking to create positive work environments.

Panelist David Daniels, president and CEO of Atlanta-based safety consulting firm ID2 Solutions LLC, called the issue of creating mentally safe work environments “seminal” to protecting against physical hazards.
“The psychosocial dangers … are just as real as the physical dangers,” he said.

Psychosocial safety “informs how workers react to things,” he said. “It informs how they react to things. It informs them how they do things, what is important to them and what is not.

“What we as safety professionals have done, not on purpose, is focus so much on the physical aspect of the job. That’s how the law is written, right? The (Health and Safety at Work) Act is approximately 19,700 words; mentions “psychological” twice. It wasn’t built to be concerned with how people feel at work.”

Ken Clayman, McLean, Va.-based principal technical specialist with business consultant Booz Allen Hamilton Holdings Corp., said companies can use the same tools they use to identify physical hazards to address those considered psychosocial.

“We already have pretty good mechanisms to deal with physical hazards; that’s what most of us do every day. But are we really dealing with the state or mental state of a person as a result of his work activities and the workplaces he frequents?” he said.

“We can look and look at our operations, take a look at what people are doing, and we can identify what may be a psychological concern as much as we can look at what is a physical concern. We need to start looking at people and the conditions and environments in which they work.”

Kahlilah Guyah, Austin, Texas-based founder and principal consultant at EHS Compliance Services Inc., said company leaders can apply some strategies that are “supportive” and “responsive” to the mental needs of their workers, a practice that can be incorporated. throughout the enterprise.

One practice is to emotionally support workers, “showing that we’re here and we care about people,” she said. “This is where we set the example.”