How Occupational Risks Affect Work Mental Health?
Nowadays most jobs tend to carry some level of risk of injury. The hazards magnitude can vary across jobs, industries, and individuals. However, a common denominator across all jobs is the increase of occupational risks rates worldwide. In countries with both low and moderate income countries, while decreased in high-income economical society.
There are several main categories of risks: biological (viruses, bacteria, insects, etc.,) chemical (hazardous substances that can cause physical damage blindness, corrosion, and explosions), physical (heights, noise, radiation and pressure), environmental (internal or external environmental elements), ergonomic (poor posture, poor manual handling), and lastly, psychosocial risks, which refer to adverse effects on an employee’s mental health or overall well-being.
The International Labor Organization defines psychosocial risks as “the interaction between the job content, organization, type of management, organizational and environmental conditions, and the individual’s abilities and needs. In addition to these factors, others also play a role, such as work demands, psychosocial factors and stressors.
The psychosocial occupational risks can eventually cause physical and psychological damage. Among the psychosocial impacts are mental health disorders, such as insomnia-anxiety, stress, and psychosomatic conditions. This is no surprise given that The World Health Organization had already estimated that about 40% of the world’s workers would suffer from some type of work-related mental disorder.
Therefore, psychosocial risks could be considered as an occupational disease, understood as a type of disease or disorder caused by working conditions. This suggests that the disease is due to the workplace exposure and is caused by work-related factors.
Among the main psychosocial risks affecting mental health are:
Burnout syndrome is considered by the scientific community as a group of signs and symptoms that are permanent and trigger a pathology. It can also be understood as a form of psychological or psychosocial harassment, being a response to chronic occupational stressors.
Work stress is related to the way in which work is organized and designed. Furthermore, it is also linked to the daily basis, professional development, decision making autonomy, control. Keeping it in mind that the demands of the work should not exceed the physical and mental capacities of those who perform them.
Mobbing or harassment at work affects a large percentage of the labor dependent population. It occurs when there is personnel isolation between individuals of the same company. There are also humiliations and threats by managers or colleagues that are unable to fix.
To conclude, work environments and job demands could hinder employees’ mental health and the organization’s overall progress. For that reason, hazard prevention holds the key to keeping such problems from reaching higher levels. Thus, it seems essential to decrease these factors considering the main occupational risks at the workplace.
Do you think psychosocial risks are the only factors that influence Mental Health?
