Why Should Psychological Risk Be Part of Workplace Safety?

This article answers the question: Why should psychological risk be considered part of workplace safety, and what workplace conditions can contribute to mental health risks?

Answer: Workplace safety is no longer just physical. More than 17 workplace factors — including high job demands, poor support, conflict, isolation, poor recognition, heat, bullying and incivility — are capable of causing psychological and physical harm.

Prolonged exposure to these workplace conditions can contribute to anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide. Which means workplace mental health and suicide prevention must include not only recognizing warning signs, reducing stigma and providing resources, but also addressing the conditions people experience at work every day.

Are We Overlooking a Bigger Question in Workplace Mental Health?

For years, workplace mental health conversations have focused solely on:

• Recognizing the warning signs of suicide.

• Reducing mental health stigma.

• Resilience training.

Yes, these efforts matter, but there’s a much bigger question we’ve been overlooking, that is thankfully coming to the surface:

What if some workplaces are creating the distress in the first place?

As a keynote speaker focused on workplace psychosocial hazards and suicide prevention, I’ve spent years discussing the connection between workplace conditions and mental health outcomes.

Now, global research is finally pushing this conversation into the mainstream.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) recently reported that more than 840,000 deaths each year are linked to psychosocial risks at work (e.g. workplace conditions).

Not personality flaws, weakness or lack of grit.

The WORKPLACE.

What Are Workplace Psychosocial Risk Factors?

Workplace psychosocial risk factors are aspects of work design, organizational culture and interpersonal behavior that can negatively impact psychological health.

Examples include:

• High job demand and excessive workloads

• Low job demand and control

• Poor support

• Low role clarity

• Poor organizational change management

• Poor workplace relationships, including interpersonal conflict

• Poor organizational justice

• Low reward and recognition

• Violence and aggression

• Traumatic events

• Harassment

• Remote or isolated work

• Poor environmental conditions such as heat

• Bullying

• Incivility

• Social undermining

• Ostracism

Research continues to show that prolonged exposure to workplace psychosocial risk factors can contribute to anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide.

If you read the ILO report, you’ll see that they too connect these risk factors to:

• Depression

• Cardiovascular disease

• Chronic stress

• Burnout

• Suicide

How Can Workplace Conditions Affect Employees Over Time?

Mental health does not exist in a vacuum.

Workplaces shape it… slowly, quietly and over time.

AND

Not every difficult job will create harm.

Not every stressed employee will become suicidal.

But when psychologically unhealthy conditions become constant, over an extended period of time, the impact accumulates and a person may begin to feel:

• Trapped

• Invisible

• Exhausted

• Unsupported

• Disconnected

And many leaders, managers and coworkers will never see it happening.

Simply because deterioration rarely announces itself dramatically.

In fact, it often looks like:

• Showing up.

• Getting the job done.

• Pushing through — which is important in industries like construction, where suicide rates remain disproportionately high and “pushing through” is often normalized.

Why Does Workplace Mental Health Require More?

Workplace mental health does not improve because a company offers awareness campaigns, stigma reduction or mental health first aid.

It improves through how an employee experiences work through:

• Leadership behavior

• Communication

• Workload expectations

• Trust

• Belonging

• Recognition

• Everyday interactions

In other words:

Suicide prevention in the workplace doesn’t start in a crisis. It starts in the conditions people work in every day.

What Does the Future of Workplace Safety Look Like?

The encouraging part?

Small moments matter.

Feeling seen, being acknowledged and respected.

The future of workplace safety is no longer just physical.

It’s psychological too.

And the organizations that understand this early won’t just protect productivity.

They’ll protect people and save lives.