Acknowledging Safe Work Month with Accumax Global: Taking Care of Mental and Physical Health in Your Workplace.

Well into Safe Work Month, with week 2 now underway, we open the conversation on this week’s topic – Psychosocial Hazards. The common misconception around this topic is that it refers only to mental health hazards, however a psychosocial hazard can in fact also cause physical harm.

How? Consider the hazards, poor physical movement for example, can be a hazard for mental and physical health. Over time, unnatural postures can give rise to chronic musculoskeletal disorders. We’ll talk more about these in Week 4 of Safe Work Month.

What are Psychosocial Hazards Caused by?

Claims for Mental health conditions continued to increase in 2022-2023, and now account for 11% of all serious claims, this equates to around 14,600 claims. The median time lost from work in these cases is more than 5 times that recorded across all injuries/diseases at 37 weeks and amongst all diseases and conditions has the highest median compensation paid at $65,402 (3).

The statistics are staggering and together we can work to decrease the figures across the nation.

In doing so, it’s integral that we look at the factors attributing to mental health-related claims Psychosocial Hazards can be created by any one or a combination of the following (2):

1. The design or management of work
2. A work environment
3. Plant at the workplace; or
4. Workplace interactions or behaviours

Our Commitment to Work, Health and Safety

At Accumax Global, we are committed to working with our customers to solve safety hazards before they contribute to the statistics.

Across Australia, products such as our standing and kneeling mats, have made positive changes to not only the comfort and well-being of personnel but also the staff retention and productivity for the company.

Accumax Director, Jerry Martin says he is not surprised by the statistics, “We face clients every day and almost in every conversation we are solving challenges that are impacting the mental and physical health of their personnel”.

Jerry says that to know there has been a 97.3% increase compared with 10 years ago is shocking but reflective of the pressures and environments of today’s workplaces.

“A common myth is that workplace safety means PPE. Times have changed, and we now have a more conscious society willing to talk about health issues beyond the obvious”, said Jerry.

Take for example, heat stress. Heat stress can cause the inability to focus amongst other factors and can have detrimental effects on both mental and physical well-being. The harsh Australian environment plus hot works are significant psychosocial hazards.

“We intensely researched the hydration market and found that there was not a product that was both healthy and effective. After much research, we are proud to be the only Australian distributor of Sword Performance, a hydration range formulated by doctors, backed by science and with less ingredients than any other drink on the market, which means it is absorbed into the human bloodstream quickly”. Jerry said the team at Accumax are continuously sourcing solutions to combat workplace health and safety hazards, the new hydration and cooling range in time for this Summer being just one of them.

How to Identify Psychosocial Hazards in your Workplace.

It’s important that we all consider health and safety in everything we do and every decision we make Common psychosocial hazard scan include (4):

1. High or low demands
2. Low job control
3. Poor support
4. Lack of role activity
5. Poor organisational change management
6. Inadequate reward and recognition
7. Poor organisational justice
8. Traumatic events or material
9. Remote or isolated work
10. Poor physical environment
11. Violence and aggression
12. Bullying
13. Harassment including sexual harassment
14. Conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions

Featured Product: Standing and Kneeling Mats

In total, serious claims for mental health conditions in 2021-22 resulted in 584,029 working weeks of time lost from work (1).

Accumax’s range of standing and kneeling mats are a proven solution to combatting joint and neck pain when standing or kneeling for a long period of time.

The standing mats keep the body in gentle motion to improve circulation and joint lubrication while eliminating high-frequency vibrations. The kneeling mats reduce knee trauma and low back stress and are impervious to petroleum products.

An extension of the product was manufactured and customised for the use in jumbo drill machines for underground mining operations. “Our client reported personnel were becoming increasingly fatigued while operating the machines, having an impact on their mental health”, Jerry said.

The standing mat was adapted to fit the floor of the machine and since implementation reports from the mine site have been extremely positive as vibration through the floor is absorbed by the mat, mitigating the travelling of the vibration through the body.

“We recently procured an anti-vibration mat solution for our single boom jumbo from Accumax. To say we are satisfied would be an understatement. The product has not only significantly reduced the vibration levels but also greatly improved the overall comfort and safety factor”, said HSEQ&T Manager, Paul Clark.

View the Case Study here.

Join the Movement

This Safe Work Month let’s unite to increase awareness and understanding of safety hazards and solutions.

For more information and resources, visit:

Model Code of Practice: Managing psychological hazards at work
Model Code of Practice: Sexual and gender-based harassment
The People at Work Tool

About Accumax Global

Accumax Global is a leading provider of high-quality industrial and commercial products and services, committed to excellence and innovation. Our comprehensive suite of solutions is designed to meet the dynamic needs of our clients across various industries, including manufacturing, construction, energy, and healthcare.

For more information about our products and services, please contact us at:

• Phone: 1300 222 862
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: 58 Catalano Circuit, Canning Vale WA

Let’s work together to ensure a safe future for all.

References
(1). Week 2 – Working together to protect workers’ mental health | Safe Work Australia
(2)  Week 2 – Working together to protect workers’ mental health | Safe Work Australia
(3)  Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2024 | dataswa (safeworkaustralia.gov.au)
(4) Week 2 – Working together to protect workers’ mental health | Safe Work Australia