One of the work-related health issues is stress. Stress experience is common to everyone in modern societies and it has become a major threat to the health. Selye(1964) first found it is relevant to the idea, the strain that experience by a person at work gives negative impacts on physical and psychological health (Fevre, Matheny and Kolt, 2003). Thereafter the meaning of the stress became more complicated with the wide range of researches that were conducted (Hart, 1990).
Thus the literature on this area proves that all occupations are involved in stress with a different degree depending on the occupation type, for instances, teachers, nurses, ambulance workers, train drivers, managers, funeral service practitioners, police officers and some other customer service and social service workers are some of the high degree stress related occupations.
Such occupations are inherited in stress because of the external forces such as work load, threat to career development and achievement, being undervalued, unclear promotions, personal relationships, high noise levels, lack of privacy, role based factors such as lack of power, role ambiguity and role conflict (Fairbrother and Warn, 2002). Apart from that there are some other common factors that develop stresses on a person such as harassment and discrimination, work family balance (Goldenhar, Gershon, Muller Karkasian, Swansom, 2001).
Especially occupations like nursing and policing are involved in death incidents, hence have a higher degree of stress (Johnson, Cooper, Cartwright, Donald and Taylor, Millet 2005). There are some implication of stress to the employees that can categorise stress as occupational health and safety hazard. In most of the cases it is a common aspect to talk about heart diseases and how premature heart attacks (Johnson, Cooper, Cartwright, Donald and Taylor, Millet, 2005). These are called as the final stage of ill health.
At this stage, the stress results heart disease, gastrointestinal disturbances (Johnson, Cooper, Cartwright, Donald and Taylor, Millet, 2005). Eriksson’s and Wallin’s (2004) research on neurobiology found that burnout syndrome which is a stress related situation creates adults brain plasticity and develop psychiatric diagnoses. Apart from that some psychologist have attempted a concept that people get addicted to alcohols and drugs etc. to over come the stress (Johnson, Cooper, Cartwright, Donald and Taylor, Millet, 2005) which ultimately effect of a person’s health.
The psychologists have concluded that it is stress that causes mental and physical ill-health the most, therefore they have introduced to the management many different old and new models for implementation to overcome and control the stress at the work place. The Development Occupational Health and Safety Cultures as Possible Solutions for Occupational Health and Safety Issues Safety culture is concerned in minimizing the risk to individual of dangerous conditions, such as workplace violence, accident and faults, through collective effort, interaction and shared stakeholder responsibility (Cheyne et al, 2002; O’Brien & Garavan, 2001).
Safety culture can contribute to the optimum environment of an organisation, while ensuring clear organisational structure, appropriate resource allocation, organisational learning capabilities, transparent processes and systems, to maximise the opportunity for communication and trust and participation (Cheyne et al, 2002 & Clarke, 2003). There are some cultures that may have to be implemented inside the organisation as a safety culture, which also can be contributed as possible solution in preventing Occupational Health and Safety issues, such as work-related stress.
First is suggested by Clarke, 2003; Fuller & Vassie, 2003; Geller, 2001; Dilley & Kleiner (1996), is the trust between all stakeholders. Second is the honest, equitable and accessible communication, which can guarantee shared knowledge and understanding between all members of the organisation (Clarke, 2003; Frosdick, 1995; Fuller, 2002; Mozza & Wyld, 2002; Zwetsloot, 2001). Next is participation with the aim of encouraging employees in engaging actively in decision-making process and implementation strategies (Ariss, 2003; Dilley and Kleiner, 1996; Mozza & Wyld, 2002; Zwetsloot, 2001).
Leadership is another possible culture to be implemented inside the organization, which reflected in planning, long term commitment, creativity and positive actions of managers, to endorse resource and support active involvement in safety activities and participation (Geller, 2001; Zwetsloot, 2001). Moreover, it is widely accepted that, employees require correlative abilities, skills, and knowledge to empower them to create a safe work environment.
In this situation, particular train is necessary to achieve that goal, meanwhile, full understanding, sharing and awareness of all factors impacting on safety is need (Ariss, 2003; Mozza & Wyld, 2002; Zwetsloot, 2001). Clarke (2003), on the other hand, implies that appropriate motivation can achieve mutual benefit and outcomes for all members. And lastly, appropriate motivation is meaningful for establishing a shared commitment to expand and deepen group co-operation through the development of teamwork, enabling the constructive expression of collective will (Clarke, 2003; Fuller & Vassie, 2003; Fuller and Vassie, 2002; Zwetsloot, 2001).