Stress, Burnout, and Safety: OSHA’s Modern Approach to Worker Well-being

The useful part

Quick Hits OSHA is making mental wellness a significant part of its modern safety framework. Employers may want to ensure that their safety and health management systems include worker input to ensure psychologically safe environments. Psychological risk prevention may include employee assistance programs, leaves of absence accommodations, and other accommodations to prevent and mitigate risk exposure.

How it works

• Psychological safety refers to the mental and emotional well-being of workers in the workplace, including well-being following traumatic workplace events, high-stress work environments, and employee...
• Improved psychological safety is directly correlated to employee retention, incident reporting compliance, and workplace violence prevention.
• Administration (OSHA) has increasingly emphasized that stress, anxiety, and burnout can contribute to accidents and reduced productivity, making mental wellness a significant part of its modern safety...
• To prove a General Duty Clause violation for psychological safety, OSHA would need to show a recognized hazard of workplace stressors specific to the worksite, that the employer was aware of the stressors,...
• While there is no specific standard for psychological safety under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, OSHA addresses psychological risks through the General Duty Clause.

What to take from it

OSHA has previously applied the General Duty Clause to <a href="https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/e...