"Work and health, because they're such important components of our lives, cannot be separated," said L. Casey Chosewood, M.D., a senior medical officer at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA). "What happens at work doesn't stay at work, and what happens at home doesn't stay at home."
No matter the workplace, large or small, there are potential health and safety issues.
Health Hazards vs. Safety Hazards
Think time and effect.
Health hazards affect the body's health, while safety hazards make the surrounding conditions unsafe or risky. Health risks can take a long time to show their effects, while safety risks usually have immediate effects.
Another difference -- safety hazards are easy to understand and stop, say experts; health hazards are difficult to tie down and deal with because they usually show their effects after a long time.
A good state of health implies lack of illness, pain or injury. Safety, on the other hand, refers to the state of being physically safe.
This segment deals with health hazards, including:
- Psychological Hazards
- Ergonomics
- Communicable Diseases
- Accidents En Route
- Individual Occupation Hazards
Psychological or Mental Health Hazards
Most people get positive mental health boosters from their work. These include deriving satisfaction from work and building self-esteem and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the extent or strength of one's belief in one's own ability to complete tasks and reach goals.
On the flip side, we all know stress can wreak havoc on our health, and many report that most stress in their lives comes from the workplace. There's also the ever-unpopular burnout factor. Other less discussed psychological hazards in the workplace include seclusion and intimidation.
Depression can be a health consequence, and workers who experience psychological hazards can suffer from other health complications such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, musculoskeletal problems and even bowel diseases.
What can help? Employers can recognize mental and psychological hazards and encourage dialogue, as well as employees. This may include stress issues. It may be formally addressed through reducing the workload, enhancing job security and even enacting anti-bullying policies.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) gives employees legal rights to ask for an inspection of the workplace if they feel it is not good for psychological or mental health hazards.
Ergonomics
The word “ergonomics” is derived from two Greek words: ergon, meaning work, and nomoi, meaning natural laws. Combined they create a word that means the science of work and a person's relationship to that work.
Ergonomic problems top of the list when it comes to non-fatal workplace injuries, both in health and safety hazard categories.
From your desk to your chair to the assembly line, ergonomics is at work.
At the office, the applied science of equipment, office and desk design can protect your health and maximize productivity by reducing worker fatigue and discomfort. It also can reduce the number and severity of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
MSDs affect the muscles, nerves and tendons. The most common are neck, upper extremities and lower back. MSDs are one of the leading causes of lost workdays through injury and illness in numerous statistics.
In offices specifically, health professionals AND computer design professionals offer a few easy solutions.
- Computer workstations and chairs should sit at a height that allows employee's legs to reach the ground.
- Workstations should have a wrist rest.
- The top of a computer monitor screen should ideally be at eye level. If users have certain types of corrective lenses like bifocals, lower the monitor further and turn the screen upward.
- Users should know to position a computer monitor no closer than 20" from their eyes. (Picture an arm’s length.)
- Use an easily adjusted chair, display mount and keyboard tray.
- Have lumbar support. If not built in, cushions should be purchased (employer or employee) for that extra lower back support.
Many ergonomic experts say to stand. Arrange a workstation so you can stand periodically, stand while computing, and stand and stretch the back and arms often.
Take a walk when you have a break!
Achoo! Cold & Flu: Communicable Diseases
It is hard to deny that in our workplace culture, more often than not, employers do not discourage employees from working when they are sick. With workloads high and sick days limited, communicable diseases such as colds and flu can run rampant in a workplace.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend the good old-fashioned basics when it comes to protecting yourself from this health hazard in the workplace.
Get Vaccinated
The single best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu vaccine each season, CDC officials say. That seasonal flu vaccine protects against the influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common during the upcoming season.
Stay Home When You Are Sick
That means staying away from work, school if you attend and even from doing errands to keep others safe from your illness.
Wash, Wash, Wash Those Hands
It is true what your mother always told you. Frequent hand washing is one of your best protections.
At many offices, more and more employers are allowing employees who can work remotely to have access to e-mail and work at home, so they can stay there and not spread the bug.
Danger En Route
One emerging trend in workplace health concern is recognizing that not all health and safety issues occur physically at the workplace. Driving fatalities both to and from the job are tied to work.
This can be tied to work schedules such as overwork and sleep deprivation from too many hours. Establishing more regular work hours would be ideal.
To Each Their Own
Each industry has its set of health hazards. For example, working in a loud environment can result in hearing loss, with a simple solution of enforcing headphone policies.
OSHA provides lists of the most common workplace health and safety violations by industry. You can find your industry here.