Do companies focus too much on individuals and lower order controls?
Too often organisations focus on individuals and lower order controls such as training and mindfulness, rather than focusing on job design, job demands and organisational resources.
The ‘Hierarchy of Controls Applied to NIOSH Total Worker Health’ provides a conceptual model for prioritising efforts to advance the safety, health, and wellbeing of all workers.
Manual Handling Analogy: If the job demands of lifting boxes was too difficult, would you:
a) Provided education and tell the work to visit the gym and getter fitter
or
b) Complete an assessment to determine job demands, job resources and apply the hierarchy of controls, e.g. eliminate the load, swap load with a lighter product and / or provide lifting aids.
Health & Wellbeing: Psychosocial hazards are not universally understood and often much harder to evaluate compared to physical safety hazards, e.g. the impact of a heavy box leading to a sprain or strain.
The hierarchy of controls has been a legal requirement for many years. That alone, it not the sole reason to apply the hierarchy of controls to psychosocial risks. If a company can redesign the job demands to match the needs of a worker, it just makes sense.
Realistic time pressures2 are often associated with lower health and wellbeing performance. Understanding both job demands, job resources and effective controls are critical to understanding the impacts on worker health & wellbeing.
Conclusion
Taking a risk based approach to health and wellbeing is a logical, yet sometimes challenging activity to complete effectively.
We recommended assessing psychosocial risk using the latest research and expert advice, rather becoming overly reliant on training and other lower order controls.
Applying the hierarchy of controls to tasks to job demands, job resources and worker outcomes can reduce risk and provide a positive Return on Investment (ROI)3.
Have you completed a formal assessment to determine the health and wellbeing controls that are relevant to your organisation?
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Source1: Adapted from NIOSH [20160]. Fundamentals of total worker health approaches: essential elements for advancing worker safety, health, and well-being. By Lee MP, Hudson H, Richards R, Chang CC, Chosewood LC, Schill AL, on behalf of the NIOSH Office for Total Worker Health. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2017-112.
Source2: Health and Safety Index results.
Source3: Creating a mentally healthy workplace: Return on investment analysis, PwC
