Recognising One Of The Major Causes Of Work Related Accidents

Added: (Tue Aug 24 2010)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Work related accidents are often associated with manual handling, driving forklift trucks and hazardous occupations. But 100%Compensation have identified stress as being one of the major causes of work related accidents and are campaigning to reduce the incidence of stress in the workplace, to ensure that work related accidents are reduced in number.

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Within the working environment there is often a feeling that any work related accident is associated with manual work. If someone works in the construction industry or within a factory then there is an assumption that this is a hazardous occupation. Whereas if a person works in an office, then there is also an assumption that this is a safe occupation and there is little risk of a work related accident happening.

However, these assumptions mask one of the major causes of work related accidents and that is stress. When a person is stressed, they are more likely to trip, to fall, to not notice a hazard and be liable to suffer a work related accident.

This is true whether or not the person involved works in a hazardous occupation or works within an office or generally sedate working environment. Stress causes everyone to be distracted, less focussed and therefore at risk. That is why it is such a potential hazard within the workplace.

One of the major problems with stress is that people often do not openly acknowledge that they are suffering from stress. However, clients often relate that they fell down the stairs, because they were rushing when under enormous pressure to meet a deadline and they were worried that they were not going to meet the deadline. They will not state that they fell down the stairs because they were stressed and initially may not recognise that they were indeed stressed.

When questioned, they may start to recognise that one of the reasons they actually fell down the stairs was not carelessness, nor because there was a problem with the stairs or the stair surface, but precisely because they were rushing to meet a deadline, were worried that they were not going to make it and in short, they were stressed. So in reality it does not matter where a person works, if there is stress present, then there is an increased risk of a work related accident.

The most frustrating aspect of stress causing work related accidents, is that the management of any company or organisation have a responsibility to ensure that the working environment is safe for employees. Management will often issue Personal Protective Equipment and train staff in basic health and safety. They assume that this meets their ‘duty of care’ with regard to safety. Yet often management refuse to acknowledge stress within the workplace, which is a real failure and employees are exposed to the risk of work related accidents if stress is not managed within the workplace.

Thus anyone who has had a work related accident, in which stress played a role needs to ensure that they take action to prevent another employee having an accident when they are stressed. Without people making a stand, workplaces will continue to be hazardous due to stress and workers will remain vulnerable. Only proper management of stress can ensure that the working environment is safe.

For further details of stress and work related accidents, please contact the 100%Compensation for free on: 0800 197 85 67.