Managing Psychosocial Hazards and Work-Related Stress: International Insights for U.S. Organizations

213 Pages·2022·11.722 MB·English

by  Ellen Pinkos Cobb

‘This is a chronicle of possibilities for U.S. workers and employers.
Cobb’s encyclopedic roadmap makes crystal clear what can and should be
done. There is an international research-d riven explosion of laws, codes,
ordinances, and guides screaming that attention be paid to harmful psy-
chosocial hazards (PSH) in workplaces. Numerous Occupational Health
and Safety (OHS) agencies and professionals around the world are advo-
cating for the inclusion of workers’ psychological health in the list of
employers’ responsibilities, an expansion of the duty of care as currently
practiced in the United States. Rather than targeting workers for fixing,
the book details that much of the rest of the world focuses on how to
identify and mitigate work environment problems that create psycho-
logical injuries to workers.
This wonderful book throws down the gauntlet to challenge the United
States to follow the paths of Nordic countries, Ireland, Spain, the United
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Japan, and developing countries,
which have implemented ILO and ISO guidelines. The most innovative
advances are attention to loneliness (United Kingdom), making return
to work safer (South Australia), death from overwork (Japan), and a
requisite disconnection from work outside work hours as enforced by
several nations. Solutions do exist to take on the scourge of psychosocial
hazards that are ignored in the United States. Will employers here volun-
tarily redesign work in response to the pandemic to align themselves with
their international counterparts? This book refutes the proffered excuse
that they could not know what to do.’
Gary Namie, Ph.D., Co- founder and Director,
Workplace Bullying Institute
‘This is an incredibly rich primer for US organizations about the nature
and seriousness of psychosocial hazards as a major occupational health
and safety risk. Using clear and accessible language, Cobb makes the
case for the elevation of psychosocial hazards as an even more powerful
driver than the physical hazards of work-r elated stress and the impact
on employee and thus organizational health and wellbeing. Grounded in
an examination of prevention and mitigation approaches of a number of
countries, Cobb identifies specific steps that US companies can and should
take to help their employees, and thus their organizations, to thrive.’
Loraleigh Keashly Ph.D., Professor, Communication;
Associate Dean, Curricular and Student Affairs, College of
Fine, Performing and Communication Arts; Distinguished
Service Professor, Wayne State University
‘Ellen Pinkos Cobb has built on her global comprehension of employment
law and policy to offer a smart analysis of psychosocial hazards in the
modern American workplace and how to respond to them. This welcome
framing of health, mistreatment, and stress at work ultimately prevails
upon U.S. employers to embrace a fuller duty of care for their workers.
Especially when one adds COVID- 19 to the “pre- existing conditions”
confronting the world of work, this book arrives at an opportune time.’
David C. Yamada, Professor of Law and Director,
New Workplace Institute, Suffolk University
Law School, Boston, MA
Managing Psychosocial Hazards
and Work- Related Stress in Today’s
Work Environment
Today’s evolving world of work makes it imperative for employers to
manage psychosocial hazards (PSH) and risks leading to work- related
stress. This book contains essential, general, and country-s pecific infor-
mation and templates for the successful management of hazards to pre-
vent psychological harm in the workplace.
Acknowledged as global issues affecting all workers and industries,
PSH are work factors that have the potential to lead to physical or psy-
chological injury and stress, relating to how work is designed, organized,
and managed, and to work relationships and interactions. This book
advances the idea that management of PSH, and psychological health
and safety, is part of the duty of care of today’s responsible and eth-
ical employers to employees, and that U.S. employers should recognize
this responsibility. Clear and easy to follow, this guide presents com-
prehensive information on addressing PSH, discussing measures taken
internationally (laws, guidance, and resources from Europe, Canada,
Mexico, Australia, and Japan), and a new global standard on psycho-
logical health and safety at work. (Note: At times within this book, and
Part II in particular, punctuation may be added to quoted provisions for
ease of reading and for consistency.)
Practitioners and students in the fields of management, occupational
health and safety, human resource management, ethics and compliance,
occupational health psychology, and organizational psychology will
come away with a deeper understanding of the importance of PSH and
their management.
Ellen Pinkos Cobb is an attorney, author, and subject matter expert on
international workplace bullying and harassment laws, with many years
of experience working in the international occupational health and safety
and U.S. employment discrimination areas. This book is her third with
Routledge; she has previously published International Sexual Harassment
Laws for the Multinational Employer (2020) and Workplace Bullying
and Harassment: New Developments in International Law (2017). Much
of this book was written as a 2020–2 021 Visiting Researcher at Bentley
University’s Hoffman Center for Business Ethics.
Managing Psychosocial
Hazards and Work- Related
Stress in Today’s Work
Environment
International Insights for
U.S. Organizations
Ellen Pinkos Cobb
Cover image: © Brian A Jackson (Getty Images)
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Ellen Pinkos Cobb
The right of Ellen Pinkos Cobb to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Cobb, Ellen Pinkos, 1958– author.
Title: Managing psychosocial hazards and work-related stress in today’s work
environment : international insights for U.S. organizations / Ellen Pinkos Cobb.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021059870 | ISBN 9781032034508 (hbk) |
ISBN 9781032034485 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003187349 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Job stress–United States. | Work–Psychological aspects. |
Work environment–Psychological aspects. | Occupational health services–
United States. | Industrial safety–Psychological aspects.
Classification: LCC HF5548.85 .C63 2022 | DDC 158.7/2–dc23/eng/20220120
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059870
ISBN: 9781032034508 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032034485 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003187349 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003187349
Typeset in Sabon
by Newgen Publishing UK
Contents
Preface xiii
PART I
Work- related Stress, Psychosocial Hazards, and
the U.S. Workplace 1
1 Today’s World of Work: Work- related Stress and
Psychosocial Hazards 3
Terminology and Global Definitions of Work- related
Stress and Psychosocial Hazards 3
Definitions of Psychosocial Factors, Psychosocial Hazards,
and Psychosocial Risks 6
Relationship Between Psychosocial and
Physical Hazards 9
2 Psychosocial Hazard Specifics 14
Psychosocial Hazards and Risks: An International
Compilation 14
On the Flip Side: Traits of a Positive Psychosocial
Environment 19
3 Why the Psychosocial Environment Matters 23
Effects on Employees 23
Effects on the Organization 25
4 Occupational Health and Safety Basics, and
Today’s Evolving Framework and Scope 29
Plan, Do, Check, Act: A Brief Primer for the Non- OHS
Professional 29
Assessing Risk 31
viii Contents
Today’s Evolving OHS Framework 31
Risk- management Framework 32
Psychosocial Hazards in OHS 33
5 More Progress on Psychosocial Hazards Necessary in the
United States 35
Lack of Sufficient Attention to PSH 35
Psychosocial Issues Associated with Worker Safety
and Health 37
Limitation: Employer’s Duty of Care in the United States
Only for Physical Hazards 38
National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health and Total Worker Health 39
Other U.S. Agencies and Organizations 41
Coincidence? The United States is an Outlier in Terms of
Workplace Bullying Laws 42
Why U.S. Employers Should Care About Managing
Psychosocial Hazards and Work- related Stress 44
PART II
International Insights and Examples 47
6 Management of Psychosocial Hazards in Europe 49
Work- related Stress and Psychosocial Hazards
in Europe 49
The Employer’s Duty of Care 50
Relevant EU Legislative and Non- legislative
Instruments and Surveys 51
7 Nordic Countries and Belgium: Psychosocial Hazards
as an Umbrella Term 56
Nordic Countries 56
The Netherlands 60
Belgium 60
Belgian Tools and Guides 62
8 Work– Life Balance 64
The Right to Disconnect 64
Spain’s Law on Remote Work 67
Burnout: A Global Problem 69
Contents ix
9 The United Kingdom: Measures to Address
Work- related Stress 73
Assessing Work- related Stress 73
Health and Safety Executive Management Standards 74
Unions and Tackling Workplace Stress Using the HSE
Management Standards 79
A Word About Loneliness 80
10 Mexico Mandates Protection from Workplace
Psychosocial Risks 83
Mexico’s Nom- 035 on Psychosocial Risks 83
Lack of Sleep as a Risk Factor 88
11 Canada: National Standard for Psychological
Health and Safety in the Workplace 92
The National Standard of Canada for Psychological
Health and Safety in the Workplace 92
The Psychological Health and Safety Management
System (PHSMS) 94
Measuring Progress and Managing Change 96
Standard- related Statistics and Case Studies Implementing
the Standard 97
Tools and Resources for Implementing the Standard 98
Union and Management Cooperation: Workplace Strategies
for Mental Health 99
12 Australia’s Steps to Address Psychological Health
and Safety at Work 102
Work- related Stress 102
Workplace Health and Safety Laws and Steps to Address
Psychological Health at Work 102
The Boland Report: Psychological Health Identified as
Priority Issue 103
Safe Work Australia: National Guidance on Work- related
Psychological Health and Safety 105
New South Wales Code of Practice on Managing Risks to
Psychological Health 112
WorkSafe Victoria Preventing and Managing Work- related
Stress: A Guide for Employers 113
SafeWork SA’s People at Work Tool: Validated Psychosocial
Risk Assessment Tool 114
Other Relevant Developments 115