B8 Mental Ill Health, Dealing With Violence and Agression at Work Flashcards
Anxiety symptoms
Psychological symptoms
- Feeling worried or uneasy a lot of the time
- Having difficulties sleeping
- Inability to concentrate
- Irritability
- Being extra alert (hyper vigilance)
- Feeling on edge or not being able to relax
Physical symptoms
- Pounding heartbeat
- Breathing faster
- Palpitations
- Nausea
- Chest pains
- Headaches
- Loss of appetite
Long term anxiety can lead to serious ill health conditions such as
- Hypertension (chronic high blood pressure)
- Panic disorders (panic attacks)
- Frequently linked to depression
Depression symptoms
- Continuous low mood
- Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness
- Low self-esteem
- Guilt
- Irritability and intolerance
- Lack of motivation or interest
- Difficulties in decision making
- Suicidal thoughts
- Thoughts of self harm
Depression can be mild, moderate or severe. At the severe end of the spectrum clinical depression can involve psychosis which is characterised by hallucinations, delusions and disturbed thoughts.
Definition of work related stress
The adverse reaction that people have to excessive pressure or other demands placed on them at work
Definition of anxiety
A feeling of unease such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe
Definition of depression
Is when you have feelings of extreme sadness, despair or inadequacy that lasts for a long time
Stress symptoms
Physical
- Raised heart rate
- Increased sweating
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Blurred vision
- Aching neck and shoulders
- Skin rashes
- Lowered resistance to infection
Psychological
- Increased worrying and irritability
- Increased alcohol consumption
- Increased smoking
- Poor concentration
- Loss of appetite or over eating
- Inability to cope with everyday tasks or situations
Chronic symptoms as a result of long term stress can be
- Anxiety/ depression
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Heart disease
- Eczema and psoriasis
- IBS
- Susceptible to ulcers
- Loss of libido, erectile dysfunction or irregular menstrual cycle
HSEs 6 causers of stress
- Demands - excessive demands of the job ie too much or little to do, unachievable targets, speed of work, shift pattern or dealing with highly emotional situations
- Control - lack of control of work, no ability to change how the role is done, the priorities or control working environment (noise, temp)
- Support- lack of support in terms of training, instruction and information, no one to turn to when pressure increases
- Relationships - bullying, poor working relationships
- Role - lack of clarity or role, authority, no job description, conflicting demands
- Change = sudden change to department, organisation. No consultation
Ways to analyse effectiveness of stress policy
- Sickness and absence data
- Productivity data
- Staff turnover
- Performance reviews
- Exit interviews
- Team meetings
- Informal talks to staff
- Staff questionnaires studies
- Occ health reporting
Legal frameworks for control of stress
- Health safety at work act - Duty of care to staff
- Working time Regulations- restrict the length of the working week to 48hrs averaged over 17 weeks.
- Management of Health Safety at Work regs = Requires a Risk Assessment for risks to employees. Stress would be classified as a risk to employees
Case law for stesss
Walker v Northumberland county council- Established the precedent that an employer can be held liable for mental injury caused by work related stress.
Sunderland v Hatton - the most significant case since Walker, set out the employers duties regarding stress.
Intel corp v Daw - counselling alone is not sufficient defence, employers must resolve the cause of the stressor
Definition of violence at work
Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work.
Physical and psychological effects of violence at work
Physical = obvious injury sustained by a physical attack,
Psychological = PTSD, withdrawn, hyper vigilance, loss of confidence, low self esteem, mood swings, relationship breakdowns, anxiety/ depression, suicidal attempts
Typical activities that may be at increased risk of violence in the workplace
- Money handling
- Public workers (care, teaching)
- Security staff
- Inspection or enforcing (housing inspectors, traffic wardens)
- workers within mental health professions
Key elements of the HSEs violence at work- a guide for employers
- Find out if there is a problem with violence in the workplace
- Decide what action to take
- Take action
- Check what you have done is effective
HSEs violence at work- a guide for employers - Find out if there’s a problem
First stage identify if a problem actually exists
- Staff surveys = formal and informal surveys of the workforce
- Incident reporting = review of formal reports should show
- type of incident (physical, verbal etc)
- Details of incident (before and after)
- Information about assailant
- Information about victim
- Details of outcome (shock, stress, injury etc)
