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April 8, 2015

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Managing mental health

Boocock2A new scheme designed to aid the mental wellbeing of the Scottish workforce has got underway. It aims to train firms to spot and act on the signs of mental health problems. Marcus Boocock reports.

Picture the scene: a member of staff with a good work ethic and exemplary attendance record suddenly starts to become unproductive and not report for duty.

As a manager, how would you react? Would you ignore it or come down hard on the worker? Or would you sit down and talk to them calmly about the issue?

The latter is what the new Train 2015 scheme is trying to get firms to do, as these could be the signs that this staff member is suffering from a mental health problem.

The initiative has been started by Healthy Working Lives (HWL) and IOSH in Scotland, with the aim of training 2,015 people in spotting and acting on the signs of mental health issues by the end of the year.

A big cost to the nation
HWL and IOSH came together after the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks showed that over 40 per cent of employers consider psychosocial risks more difficult to manage than more traditional occupational safety and health risks.

And there is a big cost associated with this – with mental health problems at work setting the Scottish economy back £2bn a year.

The training sessions are being held in four cities north of the border – Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and Edinburgh.

At the session on 17 February in Edinburgh, 16 health and safety managers attended from companies in the surrounding area. It is intended that they will pass on the information they acquire so the annual target of 2,015 is reached.

The delegates at the training session in Edinburgh were told that work is good for people’s mental health, as long as the conditions are right.

Tom Thomson, running the session for HWL, said: “We spend about a third of our lives at work. But if you don’t look forward to going to work in the morning that can be detrimental to your health.

“What we want to do is create a situation where attitudes towards mental health are positive. Support must come from a high level. That is what we want to achieve with Train 2015.”

Mental wellbeing
The practitioners at the event, held at Norton Park Conference Centre, were presented with a diagram showing the difference between a worker’s mental wellbeing and mental health problems and how one can lead to another.

It revealed that some people don’t have a diagnosable mental health problem but have poor mental wellbeing, such as job security issues. Mr Thomson suggested that if companies don’t look after staff who have such issues they can slip into having a diagnosed serious mental health problem.

The delegates were challenged to think about what the main features are of mentally healthy workplaces. Among the ideas they suggested were the workplace environment and facilities, good communication and involving staff in projects.

Among the firms represented was Elanders, which is part of a global group of companies that collectively offers a range of supply chain, print and packaging, and e-commerce services.

Samantha Day, their health and safety manager and a member of IOSH’s Tyne and Wear branch, said Train 2015 will be invaluable to them.

She said: “When I found out this course was available, I thought it was a great opportunity for our firm. We want to be able to look after our staff in an all-round manner.”

Expanding the course
Should this year’s scheme prove successful, there is a possibility that it will be followed up in 2016.

Robert Atkinson, occupational health and safety development manager at HWL, said: “We are looking to give employers the tools they need but they need to buy into the process. If they invest that little bit of time and effort they will be able to use the tools we give them.”

Mick Grimmer, chair of IOSH’s Edinburgh branch and head of health and safety at the city’s airport, said: “Mental health issues do not discriminate. They can affect anyone at any given time. Early diagnosis is better than prognosis.

“That is why this training is vital. It is giving the companies a chance to take a positive step and improve people’s lives.”

For more information visit: www.healthyworkinglives.com/events

Marcus Boocock is IOSH media officer

What makes us susceptible to burnout?

In this episode  of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.

We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.

stress

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