Mental Disease PresentationJune 2013

Brad Parker Assistant Director WorkCover Tasmania

What we will cover today

• Key Findings from a SafeWork Australia Report

• Tasmanian Experience

• Causes of Mental Stress

• Bullying

• Fair Work Australia.

• Managing Bullying

• Looking Forward

A National Perspective

Mental stress claims are the most expensive form of workers’ compensationclaims because of the often lengthy periods of absence from work typical ofthese claims. Mental stress claims are predominantly made by women. Men and women are more likely to make a claim for mental stress as theyget older but after they reach 54 years the likelihood that they made a claimdecreases. More Professionals made claims for mental stress than other any otheroccupation with over a third of their claims made for Work pressure. There were more mental stress claims made for Work pressure than anyother sub-category. The hazards that result in mental stress claims vary with worker age.Younger workers are more likely to make claims as a result of Exposure toworkplace or occupational violence, whereas Work pressure is the maincause of mental stress claims for older workers, peaking for those aged45–49 years. General clerks, School teachers and Police Officers accounted for themajority of claims for Work pressure. Women were around three times more likely than men to make a workers’compensation claim due to Work-related harassment &/or workplacebullying. Approximately one-third of all claims in this mental stress subcategorywere made by workers in the occupational categories of Advancedclerical & service workers and General clerks. For the industries with the highest number/rate of mental stress claims, themajority of claims were for Work pressure. This was particularly true in theEducation sector. Claims for Exposure to workplace or occupational violencewere notable in the Retail trade industry, while the Transport & storage andHealth & community services industries dominated claims for Exposure to atraumatic event.

Key ObservationThe full extent of mental stress in Australian workplaces (prevalence) is not known but is likely to be greater than indicated by workers’ compensation statistics because not all workers with mental stress apply for or receive compensation for their illness.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Work-related Injuries Survey 2009–10 showed that 70% of workers who reported they experienced work-related mental stress did not apply for workers’ compensation

Tasmanian Experience2009 – 2012

All Claims “Mental Disease”

Mental Disease 2009 – 2012 TSS removed

Greater than 1 week of Lost time

Claims greater than 12 week of Lost time

Claims greater than 12 week of Lost time

Work Pressure

Work related harassment / bullying

• Trend would suggest that this is becoming more prevalent

• Not confined to specific industries• These types of injuries are

preventable

By GenderFemales

Males

Prevalence of Bullying• “I just want it to stop – Australian Workplace Barometer 6.8% of

employees surveyed in six months prior to survey• Recent CPSU survey identified that 46% of TSS employees had

witnessed bullying.• Safework Australia 2009 – estimated 9% (NHEWS Study)• NZ 2009 Study 3.9% - 17.6%• The Australian Public Service Commission (the APSC) found

that 17 per cent of staff had experienced harassment or bullying at work.

• The Assistant Commissioner of the Productivity Commission (the PC) stated that ‘it is probably higher than that ... it could be over 15 per cent’.30

• We are not capturing in whatever studies are done the actual rates of workplace bullying, which would be far higher than the 22 to 33 per cent that I have found

• the Productivity Commission estimates that workplace bullying costs the Australian economy between $6 billion and $36 billion annually

Self Labeling

• Can exacerbate health effects for low exposure• Workers experience to intense

bullying have the same health effect regardless of the labeling applied• Typically when we measure

bullying is via self labeling method or behavioral experience method• Key to getting real data is in the

use of a common definition

Definition of BullyingWorkplace bullying is repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety 

• Repeated behaviour refers to the persistent nature of the behaviour and can refer to a range of behaviours over time.

• Unreasonable behaviour means behaviour that a reasonable person, having regard for the circumstances, would see as victimising, humiliating, undermining or threatening.

• Bullying can involve many different forms of unreasonable behaviour, which can be obvious (direct) or subtle (indirect).

What isn’t bullying? 

Reasonable management actions carried out in a fair and reasonable way are not bullying.

• Managers have a right to direct the way work is carried out and to monitor and give feedback on performance.

• Differences of opinion or personality clashes)are generally not considered to be bullying

• However, if the behaviour goes beyond a one-off disagreement, if it increases in intensity or becomes offensive or harmful to someone, it has the potential to escalate into bullying.

Fair Work AustraliaGovernment’s response to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment’s report Workplace Bullying ―We just want it to stop.

The Act will:

• allow a worker who has been bullied at work in a constitutionally-covered business to apply to the FWC for an order to stop the bullying;

• adopt a definition of ‘bullied at work’ which is consistent with the definition of ‘workplace bullying’ recommended by the Committee in its report, and the proposed Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying;

• require the FWC to start dealing with an application for an order to stop bullying within 14 days of the application being made; and

• enable the FWC to make any order it considers appropriate (other than an order for payment of a pecuniary amount) to stop the bullying.

Manage the HazardPsychosocial hazards Definition Probable alignment to TOOCS

Revision 1 Mechanism Mental stress sub-categories

Job content Lack of variety or short work cycles, fragmented or meaningless work, under use of skills, high uncertainty, continuous exposure to people through work

Work pressure

Other mental stress factors

Work load & work place Work overload or under load, machine pacing, high levels of time pressure, continually subject to deadlines

Work pressure

Work schedule Shift working, night shifts, inflexible work schedules, unpredictable hours, long or unsociable hours

Work pressure

Other mental stress factors

Control Low participation in decision making, lack of control over workload, pacing, etc.

Work pressure

Environment & equipment Inadequate equipment availability, suitability or maintenance; poor environmental conditions such as lack of space, poor lighting, excessive noise

Other mental stress factors

Organisational culture & function Poor communication, low levels of support for problem solving and personal development, lack of definition of, or agreement on, organizational objectives

Work pressure

Interpersonal relationships at work Social or physical isolation, poor relationships with superiors, interpersonal conflict, lack of social support, bullying, harassment

Work-related harassment &/or workplace bullying

Role in organization Role ambiguity, role conflict, and responsibility for people

Work pressure

Career development Career stagnation and uncertainty, under promotion or over promotion, poor pay, job insecurity, low social value to work

Other mental stress factors

Home-work interface Conflicting demands of work and home, low support at home, dual career

Other mental stress factors

Sources: Leka & Jain (2010) and ASCC (2008)

What is your organisation doing?• Does your organisation have an up-to-date policy that sets out standards of acceptable

behaviour and defines bullying, sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination as potential workplace hazards?

• Does your organisation have a documented procedure for addressing complaints of workplace bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination?

• Does your organisation have trained contact persons to whom aggrieved employees can go and talk about their concerns?

• Do your policies provide for conflicts that do not reach the threshold of workplace bullying?

• Have all managers received training on their responsibilities to prevent and manage complaints of bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination? Has the organisation kept records of this training?

• Have all managers received training on merit based promotion and recruitment processes? Has the organisation kept records of this training?

• Have all employees received training on their rights and responsibilities in relation to bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination? Has the organisation kept records of this training?

• Does your organisation have a performance management policy and system of addressing poor performance? Have all managers and supervisors with line management responsibility received training in how to manage employee performance?

Looking Forward• Fair Work Australia Amendments apply from 1

January 2014

• WorkCover Tasmania developing a Strategy aimed at reducing the frequency and severity of Bullying

• Survey to determine “Tasmanian experience” – Identify issues

• Identification of areas where interventions can be applied to improve outcomes

Mental Disease PresentationJune 2013

Brad Parker Assistant Director WorkCover Tasmania