Protection of physical safety

What is protection of physical safety?

Protection of physical safety is when a worker’s psychological, as well as physical safety, is protected from hazards and risks related to the worker’s physical environment.

An organization that protects everyone’s physical safety can state:

  • It cares about how the physical work environment affects mental health.
  • Workers feel safe (not concerned or anxious) about the physical work environment.
  • The way work is scheduled allows for reasonable rest periods.
  • All health and safety concerns are taken seriously and resolved.
  • Workers asked to do work that they believe is unsafe have no hesitation and fear of consequences in refusing the work.
  • Workers are adequately trained to perform their work safely.
  • The organization assesses the psychological demands of the jobs and the job environment to determine if there are physical hazards to workers’ health and safety.

Why is protection of physical safety important?

Workers who perceive the workplace as protective of physical safety feel more secure and engaged at work. Research has shown that when staff have higher levels of confidence and trust in safety protection at work, they experience lower rates of psychological distress and mental health problems. The sense of physical safety protection is enhanced by adequate training regarding physical safety, trust that the employer minimizes physical hazards and responds quickly and effectively to safety concerns and incidents, and workers can give meaningful input into workplace policies and practices. Protection of physical safety is especially important to workers in industries or job roles with increased risk of workplace injury or disease (construction, forestry, health care, etc.).

Physical safety is consistent with, and part of, the organization’s overall culture. A psychologically safe culture is one with a shared and lasting belief and commitment to the importance of promoting and protecting everyone’s physical and psychological safety. This requires timely actions to identify and address risks.

Workplaces that fail to protect physical safety are likely to experience more injuries and illnesses. Also, workers who do not see the workplace as protecting physical safety will feel less secure and less engaged, and this will increase the potential of physical injuries, psychological distress and mental health problems.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Review work-scheduling practices to ensure they do not cause undue risk of psychological harm.
  • Review and revise job descriptions to include identification of physical hazards (with special attention to those that may be hazardous to psychological health).
  • Respond promptly and effectively to reported safety concerns and work-related incidents.
  • Document all incidents, as well as responses.
  • Ensure that timely and effective supports are available following a critical incident (defusing, debriefing, employee and family assistance programs, psychological treatment, etc.).
  • Provide additional supports and services for staff working in high physical risk positions or environments.
  • Ensure staff have sufficient time and facilities for rest (especially people working shifts or extended hours).
  • Train staff on how to minimize exposure to, and impact of, physical hazards.
  • Train staff to understand how physical hazards can affect psychological health and safety.
  • Provide equipment to reduce the impact of physical risks on psychological health (proper lighting, noise reduction, panic alarms, ventilation, etc.).
  • Provide team members with clear guidelines on physical hazard identification to encourage safe, timely and effective reporting. Where necessary, train staff on investigating physical hazards and incidents.
  • Provide staff with the knowledge and skills needed to help cope with the psychological impact of incidents.
  • Ensure that health and safety programs and policies are clearly communicated and understood by all staff members, including new hires.
  • Make health and safety committee reports accessible to all staff (intranet post, newsletter, staff room bulletin boards, etc.).
  • Make employees aware of any relevant legislative or regulatory changes around health and safety.
  • Communicate organizational and industry safety policies to all staff.
  • Maintain up-to-date protocols for monitoring, reporting and responding to physical hazards.
  • In workplace vision and values, include protection of workplace physical safety.
  • Implement policies to protect and support workers who report physical risks.

Action

Next steps: Protection of physical safety at work

▸ Objective

A work environment where management takes appropriate action to protect the physical safety of staff.

▸ Benefits
  • Fewer job-related errors, incidents and injuries
  • Reduced costs from work absence (sick time, disability, etc.)
  • Improved physical and psychological health and safety of workers
  • Reduced legal and regulatory costs
  • Improved labour-management relations
▸ Reflection Questions
  • Do issues related to protection of physical safety pose a greater risk to specific groups of workers (new workers, certain jobs, shift workers, young workers, etc.)?
  • What are your workplace’s strengths in terms of protection of physical safety? (what do you do well and what should you continue doing?)
  • What could your workplace do to improve in this area? (What could you do more of and what could you do less of?)