Clearview National June 2017 - Issue 187 | Page 92

BUSINESSNEWS
MENTAL HEALTH ‘LEFT OUT’ OF
WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
» » EMPLOYERS ARE STILL NOT
recognising the importance of mental health
in their health and safety policies, a safety
consultant has said.
Paul Makoff-Clark, managing director at
Kent Safety Solutions, a quality, health, safety
and environmental (QHSE) consultancy,
warned that employers are failing to consider
the impact of mental health as part of their
health and safety procedures, despite the
significant number of working days lost due
to stress and other mental health-related
issues.
Statistics from the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) indicate there were
approximately 12 million days lost due to
stress, depression and anxiety in 2015/16.
Although there is a legal requirement for
organisations to have health and safety procedures
in place, many employers focus just on the safety
aspect when implementing policies and carrying
out risk assessments.
Paul Makoff-Clark said: “Safety controls are
relatively straightforward to implement. But
mental health is much more difficult to consider
from a risk perspective due to the difficulties
posed by pre-existing health conditions, less
evident risks and potentially longer-term
consequences.
“Mental health, particularly stress, is being
left out of health and safety processes such as
risk assessments. With many credit-crunch roles
remaining unfilled and one person taking on
additional responsibilities along with time-
fixed deadlines so prevalent in many industries,
especially construction, work-related stress is
responsible for a phenomenal number of days lost
due to absence.”
His comments followed the national launch
of Mental Health Awareness Week last month,
which this year focused on thriving with good
mental health.
Makoff-Clark added: “The HSE has excellent –
and free – tools for testing and monitoring stress
at work, yet these tools are sadly underutilised.
“Sadly, mental health is still not embedded
in an organisation’s everyday thinking – it’s
just not considered in risk assessments. Very
few employers are asking, ‘how do I avoid
damaging my employees’ mental health because
of workplace stress?’ and they absolutely should
be.”
Kent Safety Solutions, launched in 2014, is a
leader in safety management and training, quality
and the environment. It provides a range of
management systems including health and safety,
IS09001 and ISO14001 and provides advice
and guidance on the latest regulations including
CDM 2015.
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