Monitoring Mental Health
Poor mental health might be your workplace’s most overlooked health and safety hazard.
- By Smriti Joshi
- May 01, 2023
As a natural progression from the days when fatal occupational injuries were a sad, daily reality, workplace safety professionals maintain a concerted focus on addressing the slips, trips and falls that make up 18 percent of the U.S.’s occupational injuries. However, data now suggests the mental health concerns that are pervading all modern workplaces do have a link to physical safety outcomes and must be recognized, prioritized and addressed as their own hazard.
In 2021, the American Psychological Association (APA) surveyed more than 1,500 U.S. workers and reported that adults who perform manual labor were predisposed to have experienced symptoms of physical fatigue (51 percent versus the average 38 percent), cognitive weariness (41 percent versus the average 29 percent) and emotional exhaustion (41 percent versus the average 25 percent) at work as a result of mental stressors. No doubt these symptoms increase the likelihood of the missteps or slips that form the staggering occupational injury statistics we see so often.
Further justifying the severity of the problem, many states today support workers’ compensation claims for work-related anxiety or stress or the accidents it may lead to.
So, what does the mental health of your workforce look like? How could it play into the health and safety of your workplace, and what can be done to improve it?
The State of Mental Health in American Workplaces
As a psychologist, I both see the reported statistics and get to hear the individual stories of how stress and mental health concerns like depression and anxiety manifest in the workplace. Most of us spend around 65 percent of our waking hours at work, so it’s no surprise that our mental health is impacted by our work and why as employers, we cannot shy away from the responsibility of supporting this incredibly important aspect of our employees’ health and wellbeing.
Wysa’s recent All Worked Up Report found that 40 percent of working Americans are suffering from depression or anxiety—figures notably higher than national averages. This baseline means the symptoms of depression and anxiety—such as loss of interest, inability to concentrate, sleep or eating changes and others—are likely impacting your workers and the way they’re able to carry out their work safely.
This article originally appeared in the April/May 2023 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.