Emergency service personnel and other professionals who are responsible for responding to incidents on high-speed roads experience higher fatality and incident rates, and also suffer from higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder compared to the general population.
There are four key factors which improve psychosocial safety: top management support for stress prevention; prioritising worker psychological health over productivity and profits; better communication systems about risks and prevention; and better consultation with workers and all levels of the organisation in resolving risks, according to the University of South Australia.
Emergency service workers are twice as likely to experience mental health problems than the general population, in large part due to the high risk of trauma exposure at work, according to the Black Dog Institute.
Mental health conditions accounted for 9 per cent of all serious workers’ compensation claims in 2021-2022, which is a 37 per cent increase since 2017-18, according to a Safe Work Australia report. It also found the median time lost was more than four times greater than that of all physical injuries and illnesses, while workers with claims for mental health conditions experienced poorer return-to-work outcomes and were more likely to experience stigma from colleagues and their employers.
When it comes to psychosocial safety, many organisations are still looking at it primarily from a mental health/resilience perspective, but there are other elements they need to consider, according to an expert. “What we see when we’re talking to organisations is that they’ll have some form of strategy that targets physical safety, and then they’ll have some sort of wellbeing strategy or mental health framework,” said Ben Carnell, head of client solutions for Sentis.
There is no evidence that individual-level mental health interventions such as mindfulness, resilience and stress management, relaxation classes, and wellbeing apps improve workplace wellbeing, according to recent research. Instead, deeper organisational changes – such as flexibility of scheduling, management practices, staff resources, performance review, or job design – are likely to play a greater role in improving wellbeing at work.
