Mental Health: Is your workplace safe?
Healthcare professionals’ working conditions, and the subsequent consequences of those conditions, regularly make headlines—heavy workload, staff shortages, mandatory overtime, high rate of absenteeism, etc. That is why the mental health of FIQ and FIQP members seemed like the most natural choice for the theme of the 2018 OHS Week.
In order to avoid the pessimistic commentary often associated with the topic, the OHS Committee decided to focus on psychosocial protective factors rather than risk factors that threaten healthcare professionals’ mental health. Indeed, putting the emphasis on protective factors, which, when in place, promote a work environment that is psychologically healthier and safer, seemed much more constructive to the committee than simply focusing on risk factors.
When developing the OHS Week brochure, the OHS Committee drew inspiration from research demonstrating the importance of 13 psychosocial protective factors in achieving a healthier work environment. The Committee selected the eight most relevant factors to health institutions. The information in the brochure is evidence-based, providing healthcare professionals with important matters for consideration. In addition to learning about how crucial these protective factors are, healthcare professionals can use the information to help identify the areas where they can take action to improve their mental well-being at work.
Along with the brochure Mental Health: Is your workplace safe?, healthcare professionals can also use the assessment table of protective factors in the workplace to assess their own work environment.
The OHS Committee hopes that these two tools will help FIQ and FIQP members monitor their own mental health and achieve a healthier and safer work environment.
Happy 2018 OHS Week
Is OHS in the know?
The 2018 OHS Week will run from October 21 to 27. Watch for activities held in your institution or elsewhere between these dates.
Once someone notices that certain psychosocial protective factors are lacking, possible solutions may come from various levels of intervention: individual, union or organizational. To learn more, read the Mental Health: Is your workplace safe? brochure
The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace lists 13 psychosocial factors which affect workers’ health. This standard has received wide recognition and largely inspired the 2018 OHS Week brochure.
Many concerns have been raised over psychological health at work and the OHS Committee has published a few editorials on the topic. You can read the editorials on the OHS Committee page.
2018 OHS Week material
Assessment table of protective factors in the workplace
As part of the 2018 OHS Week, healthcare professionals were asked to fill out the following assessment table to help them identify protective factors that are present or lacking in their work environment.