Occupational Stress in the United Kingdom - Assignment Example

Development of the occupation health and safety strategy; occupational stress in the United Kingdom By Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 2 Background 3 Social influence on occupational stress 4 Demographic influence on occupational stress 6 Industrial influence on occupational stress 8 Work related stress in the United Kingdom 10 Formulate and communicate intervention strategies addressing workplace health and safety risks. 14 Conclusion 17 Introduction Health and safety executive are concerned that occupational health is not accorded the attention it deserves in both small to medium enterprises. The issue with the health and safety executive is to ensure that effective occupational health measures are put in place to help prevent occupational stress among workers in various occupational institutions (Byrne, 2011).Well managed, organized and designed work is significant for the people but when insufficient attention to work organization, management and job design has taken place, it can lead to work related stress. Work related stress happens as a result of the failure of the employees to cope with the demand of their employers. According to Coggon (2013) development of the occupational health strategy in the United Kingdom is aimed at improving occupational health and safety in the region by coming up with effective measures that will help deal with stress that are related to the place of work as stipulated in the occupational health and safety at work act 1974 (Lowe, 2010). The local authorizes as well as the health and safety executive have been at the forefront in ensuring that the legislation related to the occupational health and safeties are well implemented in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with the aim of reducing stress at the place of work (An engineers management guide to computers, 2010). Background Addressing absence or poor occupational health practices is a challenge because the consequence on health resulting from exposure to a certain hazard in small or medium sized enterprise (SME) may not be apparent. Stress related to the place of work is a significant cause of illness and is known to be related to high level of sickness absence, eras at the place of work as well as increased staff turnover (Byrne, 2011). Employee’s stress may depend on a number of issues such as their background and culture, their experience and skills, their personality, their individual characteristics, their personal circumstance, their health status, demand at the place of work, ethnicity as well as age or disability. According to Cox & Griffiths 2010). The health and safety executive has indentified six causes of occupational stress. The six factors identified by the health and safety executives that can lead to work related stress includes control, demands, support, relationships, change and role(Cherry, 2009). Stress occur when employees fail to understand their responsibilities and roles, when organization engage them more frequently, when they are subjected to unacceptable behaviors, when they are denied a say about their work and in situations where they are unable to cope with the demands of their jobs (Duffy & McGoldrick, 2013). Social influence on occupational stress Since 1974, various social changes has taken place around the world and more so at the place of work. The number of people employed has increased both in large firms and small firms. In addition, the number of women at the place of work has continued to rise (Guppy & Gutteridge, 2008). The service sector has become more significant with the part-time working rising all over the United Kingdom. The changes in social factors have impacted on occupational stress. Many people are becoming more informed about the occupational health issues affecting them. The public attitude towards redness, risk, compensations and blames has changed (Clarke, 2012). The current challenge targeting stress at the place of work has continued to be a concern since institutions concerned with health than stress issues. The literacy rate has increased resulting to more people being concerned about their health and other related issue at their place of work. According to Guppy & Gutteridge (2008) the increase in work demands due to rise in the number of industries has generated stress at the place of work. Improvement in social status of the people including rise in wages and gender equity together with education has enhanced cost effectiveness and efficacy of social marketing campaigns that targets occupational stress. The current occupational health and safety institutions are determined in overcoming stress related to the place of work (Coggon, 2013). The interventions that have been put in place by the health and safety executive aims at enhancing intervention aimed at increasing the work related stress. Explanation of the table The table is a representation on the influence of social factors on occupational health cases. Occupational health cases seem to rise with increase in education level. The level of stress tends to increase with the level of educational attainment. The source of information is Smith et al (2012) occupational health scale. The workers in small and medium enterprises as well as large organizations with degrees are more stressed than with no secondary education. Education factors percentage of cases no secondary school education 13.6 up to O level 15.1 up to A level 15.8 Degree level 22.7 The tables represents health cases Demographic influence on occupational stress Occupational safety and health is often referred to as the science of anticipation, evaluation, recognition and control of hazards that takes place at the place of work. There are various demographic factors that have affected the occupational stress at the place of work. The scope of occupational health has continued to evolve in relation to the various demographic factors. Such demographic factors include gender, age and population (Sheiner, 2012). Recent survey showed that over twenty percent of workers indicated increased level of occupational stress at their place of work(Travers & Cooper, 2008).The health and safety executives’ contract research report 265/2000 showed that gender had little influence on occupational stress even though it interacted with various other factors such as part-time and full time employment.(Clarke, 2012).The workers of middle ages of 30-50 years old reported high cases of occupational stress than those of other extreme of age range (Guppy & Gutteridge, 2008). Research has indicated that both men and women are often exposed to the same kind of stressors at the place of work with less different identified between men and women in relation to the stress at their place of work(Coggon, 2013). It has also been found out that some stressors are unique to women and may make women experience slightly higher work related as compared to men (Travers & Cooper, 2008). The population in the United Kingdom has continued to rise. In addition, population movement from other parts of the world towards the United Kingdom had increased the number of people and workers in the region leading to pressure on the available employment (Cox & Griffiths, 2010). The rise in the number of immigrants and work related pressure has made it a challenge for the employees to understand their responsibilities and behavior. Explanation of the graph and table The graph and table represents the effect demographic factors on occupational stress. The graph represents gender and age group against the percentage of occupational stress cases that have been reported. The graph is based on information from the health and safety executive. At the age of 45 to 54 years men seems to experience more cases of occupational stress cases than women as compared to the age of 16 to 24 years where females seem to have more cases of occupational stress than men. age group Percentage of occupational health cases in men Percentage of occupational health cases in women 16-24 3 5 25-34 15 21 35-44 31 31 45-54 37 30 55-64 14 12 The table shows the occupational health cases in women and women Industrial influence on occupational stress Occupational health and safety strategies have undergone an era of rapid development in the United Kingdom as a result of changes in industrials factors. Current technology has led to increase in the number of industries around the region. New industries have resulted to new safety and health risks leading to occupational stress all over the regions. Various industries have been at the forefront in supporting occupational health and safety initiatives through increasing awareness on the legal, moral and economic reasons aimed at implementing effective occupational and health practices (Damiani, 2011). Current industries have realized the benefits of effective implementation of the occupational health and safety strategies to deal with the issues of occupational stress. The industries often achieve a lot of benefits when they implement occupational health and safety at the place of work. Occupational stress in industries can be dealt with changes in organizational level. The employers should be able to develop effective relationship among the employees. The employees should be allowed to raise various issues that affect them in their day to day activities at their place of work. Despite changes in the growth of industries in the United Kingdom, some industries are still lagging behind when it is dealing with occupational health issues. Foreign investors for example may not be well versed with the occupational health and safety policies of the country. It is therefore the mandate of the health and safety executive to ensure that the occupational stress at the place of work is dealt with by ensuring that the occupational health and safety at work act 1974 is implemented and enforced throughout the region. New industries have to enforce effective measures to deal with stress at the place of work (Dr.NAYAKAWADI, 2011). The management of various industries has to put measures in place with the aim to prevent cases of bullying and harassment that are associated with the place of work. Explanation for the table and graph The table and graph indicates industrial influence on occupational stress in United Kingdom. It indicates the number of stress that is related to the place of work1974 to 2010. The cases of occupational stress have increased slightly as due to increase in the number of industries and failure of the management to deal with occupational health stress. The data collected was from 1974 to 2014(Sutherland & Davidson, 2010).   Year 1974 1979 1984 89/90 94/95 99/00 2004/05 2013/14 Industrial cases rate 131 130 140 126 122 161 150 121 Work related stress in the United Kingdom The health and safety executives have been at the forefront in protecting the safety, health and welfare of the employees at the pace of work. The health and safety executive have defined stress as adverse reaction individual posses towards work related issues (Sheiner, 2012). The occupational stress is considered detrimental to the health of the individuals at their place of work. The health institution recognizes work related stress as a health and safety issue and has put in place measures and strategies that will help to acknowledge the significance of identifying and reducing stresses that are related to the place of work (Duffy & McGoldrick, 2013). Work related stress, anxiety and depression is defined as harmful reaction of the people towards undue demands and pressure placed on them at the place of work. The labour force survey in the United Kingdom has presented various results that are related to occupational stress. The number of stress and anxiety cases related to the place of work was estimated at 487, 000 in 2013 to 2014 out of all work related cases that are estimated at 1,241, 000(Phillips, 2013). The number of new cases of stress, anxiety and depression were estimated to be around 244 000 (Ørner, Avery, & Boddy, 2011). The rates of stress, anxiety and depression at the place have remained nearly the same for more than a decade. This an indication that less is being done by the employers in ensuring that employees are exposed to stress free type of employment with the aim of dealing with stress issues among the employees(Mandy& Tinley, 2013). The total number of days that was lost at the place of work related to stress, anxiety and depression stayed at 11.3 million in 2013 to 2014 period of employment. (Mounter & Ilott, 2012). According to Mustard (2014) the industries and institutions that registered a lot of work related cases of anxiety, depression and stress were social work and human health, public administration, defence and public administration.According to Orlans (2008) to thelocal authority and the health and safety executives are responsible for enforcing the safety and health legislation. Both institutions have various tools at their disposal to ensure a proportionate response to offences while at the same time secure compliance with the laws (Howard, 2009). The health and safety executive have been at the forefront in ensuring that work related stress is dealt with by the managers as well as the owners of both the small and large firms in the United Kingdom (Mandy & Tinley, 2013). One of the strategies put in place to deal with the issue is by ensuring that work place related stressors are identified and risk assessment conducted to eliminate the stress completely from the region (Guppy & Gutteridge, 2008). Even though it has been a challenge to deal with the work related stress, the institutions in charge has stressed on the need for various companies to consult the trade union representatives in ensuring that the stress related to work can be prevented. Explanation for the table and graph The table and the graph below indicate the cases of occupational stress that have been recorded since 2011. The table shows the prevalence rates of work related stress for people working in the last twelve months. The data is based on the labour force survey conducted each year (Lai, Saridakis & Blackburn, 2013). The occupational stress rate was not conducted in 2002/03 and 2012/13. The cases of occupational stress have remained constant over many years and the region has a lot to do to ensure occupational stress is managed well. The rate is in 100, 000 with the years ranging from 2001 to 2014 year 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 rate per 100,000 1589 1578 1423 1200 1589 1481 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 1390 1485 1345 1420 1580 Make judgments on alternative strategies to manage work place related stress It is over forty years since the health and safety at work act 1974 received a royal accent. The move has enabled the United Kingdom to be considered as the safest place to work all over the world. However, much still need to be done to help save thousands of the lives of people, reduce the economic and social cost of safety and failure as well as preventing more illnesses that are related to stress at the place of work in the small and the medium enterprises (SMEs) (Kahn, 2012). There are various alternative strategies that can be employed to help manage occupational stress that can be related to the place of work. One of the alternatives is for the health and safety executives to increase the number of inspectors as a result of increased number of industries. The inspectors should be able to ensure that the work stressors are effectively identified and risk assessment done to eliminate stresses. Initiatives should be put in place to ensure that risk assessment is reviewed regularly. The inspectors should be able to determine each upcoming small and medium enterprise (SMEs) to help ensure that occupational health and safety measures are measures are well implemented. The inspectors should be able to identify each upcoming institutions and industries to ensure that they are able to comply with the occupational health and safety policies that are vital for reducing the stress at the place of work. Another alternative of dealing with occupational stress is by promoting education and training of workers on occupational health and safety as well as risk reduction at the place of work. This can be done through seminars or other labour union forums. Training should target both the employer and the employees. Employees should be informed on how to reduce work related stress and how to cope with it. The employers should be able to implement and conduct recommendations of risk assessment within their authority. They should also ensure good communication between the staffs and management particularly in situation where there are procedural and organisational changes (Kobayashi & Middlemiss, 2009). The companies and other staffs are trained to discharge their duties. The management should also ensure that the employees are not overloaded with the staffs provided with development opportunities. The occupational health stress management at the place of work should be implemented and included in the educational curriculum to help workers manage various educational related stresses. Formulate and communicate intervention strategies addressing workplace health and safety risks. One of the interventions that can help deal with occupational stress as well as promote the safety and health of the people at their place of work is through creation of awareness in both the small and the medium size enterprises. SMEs are complex and diverse and have multifaceted characteristics, the low awareness on occupational health and safety has led to resistant to change as well as failure to apply good occupational practices by the enterprises. Through creation of awareness, the enterprises will be able to pay attention to the safety of the workers at their place work and thereby reduce the rate of challenges such as occupational stress at the place of work (Ørner, Avery & Boddy, 2011). The second intervention is for the health and safety executive to ensure full implementation of occupational health and safety at the small and medium enterprises. SMEs have poor adherence to occupational health guidance and regulation. The reasons for poor adherence have been linked to pressure on resources and time. As a result of growth or shrinking of the businesses, SMEs may fail to pay attention to the occupational and safety measures as a result of the pressure to minimize unnecessary expenditure on resources, time and money. Small and medium enterprises lack a department that deals with occupational health and safety as compared to large organization hence making it a challenge to ensure that occupational health and safety measures are well implemented (Kalman, 2006). The third intervention is for the health and safety executive to change the individual behaviors of owners of small and medium enterprises pertaining to the health and safety of individuals at their place of work. Changing the attitude of the owners alone of the owners alone may not be an effective strategy to bring the change that is needed. The intervention designers should also consider the hurdles that may be encountered in implementation of the occupational health measures and come up with ways of dealing with the challenges that may ensue (Lai Saridakis & Blackburn, 2013). The fourth intervention is for the health and safety executive to have an understanding of the behavior of small and medium enterprises before educating them on the need to enforce the occupational health and safety measures. Most of the small firms are still utilizing old equipments which increase the risk of injury to the employees. Small and medium enterprises are heterogeneous and disparate organizations and should don’t see the need of paying attention to the safety of the workers. Having an understanding of such small firms will help the safety executive to come with appropriate actions to help them implement them enforce the occupational and safety standards (Kobayashi & Middlemiss, 2009). Recommendations Intervention strategies that target the workforce should be designed and should include various elements. Some of the interventions should include bypassing the workforce and should educate the workforce on the occupational health matters (Kobayashi & Middlemiss, 2009). Additionally, an effective strategy that is implemented by the health and safety executive should adopt a philosophy aimed at influencing occupational health in the small and medium enterprises that will comprise a number of complementary interventions. The interventions should be in a position to compensate for the weakness of others (Kalman, 2006). The health and safety executives should also develop incentives that will seek to improve occupational health that will done through the various initiatives of the government that will go outside inspection and regulation. Intervention attribute sets should also be utilized to assess the weaknesses and the strengths of each intervention that was proposed to ensure that is effective in practice. The health and safety executive should also ensure that the interventions that have been launched are effectively monitored for success. The institutions should also apply positive incentives that the small and medium enterprise will be able to apply or respond to (Lai Saridakis & Blackburn, 2013). The health and safety executives should ensure that the results of failing to follow effective occupational health practices are identified, evaluated and communicated to all the small and medium enterprises. Penalties and additional costs should be imposed to those individuals and business people who fail to implement occupational health and safety measures. Conclusion The health and safety executives should be able to take actions against small enterprises that are lagging behind in enforcement of occupation and safety and safety measures and should be able to take appropriate measures to deal with the issue. The social, demographic and industrial factors that impact on occupational health and safety measures should be taken into consideration and effective measures should be taken to ensure safety measures are implemented (Basu, 2012). The benefits of implementing the occupational stress management standards in various small and medium enterprises in the United Kingdom are unquestionable. Implementing occupational health and safety standards in small and medium businesses as well as large organization will help deal with occupational health challenges such as occupational stress. The health and safety executive should be able to create awareness on the need to implement the occupational health challenge Occupational health in the United Kingdom has undergone a period of rapid development (Mounter & Ilott, 2012). References An engineers managment guide to computers .2010. Production Engineer, 53(7-8), 231. doi:10.1049/tpe.1974.0069 Basu, S. 2012. Work Place Nepotism and Stress. 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