Brooklyn, N.Y. —
A new report released by mysafetysign.com shows that stress is the most overlooked concern in the workplace, with health and safety professionals saying companies need to pay more attention to the impact of stress on employees.
Stress was identified as the biggest concern in the workplace by 24 percent of respondents in the MySafetySign Health & Safety Industry Survey, which questioned a sample of health and safety professionals in America.
While 19 percent of surveyed respondents identified back strains as the most overlooked concern, 16 percent said heavy lifting and 15 percent were most concerned with repetitive strain injuries. A larger proportion of respondents identified psychological concerns as the most crucial. Besides stress, a further 20 percent highlighted overwork as an issue and 8 percent said bullying and harassment need more attention in the workplace, the report said.
Even in manufacturing, where there are risks of physical harm from moving machinery, stress and overwork are two of the top three overlooked threats, just behind repetitive strain injuries.
Moreover, the report suggests the problem stems from attitudes to health and safety, with 40 percent of those surveyed saying workers’ attitudes are the main barrier to implementing sound health and safety practices at work.
Twenty percent of respondents said workers don’t understand health and safety risks and 28 percent said small health and safety budgets are holding them back, the report said.
Mysafetysign.com surveyed 470 individuals who are responsible for the health and safety practices of their organization.
Source: MySafetySign