Mental Health in RMG

[fishtank]

So the point remains, if people find this work stressful, how would they get on with a job which really was stressful?

What do you mean by "this work" Tman?
Your work or my work?
I can't comment on your work........

[Tman]

So someone who feels they cant cope with the stress of being a postie, may well indeed be a good bomb disposal officer because the causes of stress, and how you handle them are different.

I can understand that; I mean, defusing a car bomb or worrying about the dog inside number 13 Acacia Avenue.... it's a tough one right enough..

[BELIAL]

Maybe it's a cumulative thing? Perhaps 24 X 13 Acacia avs x 5 days a week x48 weeks per year = 1 car bomb every 3 years

[Tman]

Yep, that could well be it...

[POSTMAN]

POL001.gif

[Tman]

You should've mentioned it to the Doc before now POSTMAN. More likely that riding those bikes (rather than stress) is the cause of your particularly distressing ailment.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

So someone who feels they cant cope with the stress of being a postie, may well indeed be a good bomb disposal officer because the causes of stress, and how you handle them are different.

I can understand that; I mean, defusing a car bomb or worrying about the dog inside number 13 Acacia Avenue.... it's a tough one right enough..

Quite obviously reading your reply you have applied the "Engineering" or linear approach to stress which I and others disagree with. I and the counsellors I have dealt with are of the opinion that stress is cumulative and individualistic and therefore if people believe one job is less stressful than another they are probably correct for themselves on an individual basis, but it certainly cannot be applied in exactly the same way to everyone else.

For instance a bomb disposal officer goes through years of training and is passionate about his job, at least the ones I knew were. If he has a bad experience with a bomb it is unlikely he will survive to suffer stress. But a Postie who has had a bad experience with a dog and has to deliver to the same address day in day out, may well start to suffer stress because every time they enter that property they will perhaps wonder if this is the day they might get attacked again.

Perhaps some posters here have mistaken pressure and stress. No doubt about it a Bomb Disposal officer will have more pressure on a single task than a postie will have in 30 years of delivering.

[Tman]

[

Perhaps some posters here have mistaken pressure and stress

.

And perhaps some more have confused "stress" with "working hard".
To go home tired is no indication of stress at work, and there's nothing inherently stressful about delivering mail.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

[

Perhaps some posters here have mistaken pressure and stress

.

And perhaps some more have confused "stress" with "working hard".
To go home tired is no indication of stress at work, and there's nothing inherently stressful about delivering mail.

Who has confused stress with working hard I haven't. I actually find working hard de-stresses me.

[Tman]

Who has confused stress with working hard I haven't. I actually find working hard de-stresses me.

Working hard seems to "distress" quite a few in RM and maybe that's why some are quick to give it the old "oh, I'm so stressed" routine..

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Who has confused stress with working hard I haven't. I actually find working hard de-stresses me.

Working hard seems to "distress" quite a few in RM and maybe that's why some are quick to give it the old "oh, I'm so stressed" routine..

Well that advanced the discussion quite markedly. Perhaps I should reply in the same vein as you but frankly I don't see the point.

[fishtank]

Working hard seems to "distress" quite a few in RM

Again with the sweeping statements Tman.
What's your study based on......personal experience?

[Tman]

Well that advanced the discussion quite markedly. Perhaps I should reply in the same vein as you but frankly I don't see the point.

Just a little play on words, although I'm sure you've been an RM employee long enough to realise there's more than a grain of truth in it.
Do you need to be quite so quite so po-faced though?

[clashcityrocker]

What if Teebs agrees not to be so po-faced.
And you agree not to be such a dickhead.
Deal?

[brothermagrew]

Stress tops workers' safety concerns and spending cuts will make it worse.

Stress, bulling and harassment, back strains, slips, trips and falls, and overwork top the list of workers' safety concerns, according to the TUC's biennial survey of safety reps published today (Thursday).

The 2010 survey finds that stress is by far the most common health and safety problem at work. Nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of reps say that stress is in the top five of problems faced by the workforces they represent.

More than a quarter of reps (27 per cent) pick out stress as the hazard at work that most concerns them. The TUC survey reveals that stress is most often found in the public than in the private sector - 68 per cent of public sector union reps say it is a problem compared to 54 per cent in the private sector.

Stress is more prevalent in larger workplaces and is most common in London - 70 per cent of reps in the capital cite it as an issue - than in any other part of the UK.

The survey's findings on stress are revealed as TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber prepares to address the launch of the British Academy's Stress at Work report in London tomorrow (Friday). Stress at Work explores the impact of the recession on stress, and the potential of the impending cuts and restructuring of the public sector for increasing workplace anxieties.

Brendan Barber said: 'Stress can be caused by heavy workloads, cuts in staffing, long hours and bullying.

'The economic crisis and redundancies have created more anxiety about job security, and as the spending cuts begin to bite and even more jobs start to go, stress at work is bound to increase.

'Unions and employers must work together to combat stress at work as it can have a devastating impact on workers and a damaging cost on businesses.'

Other findings from the survey include:

Bullying and harassment is this year's second most common health and safety concern. More than a third of reps (37 per cent) list it as a top five concern in the workplace - almost double the proportion (20 per cent) who cited bullying as an issue in 2008. It is more prevalent in the public sector than the private sector, and the larger the workplace, the more likely it is to be a concern. Londoners are the most likely to report bullying as one of their top five safety issues.

Back strains constitute the third most frequently mentioned hazard, with a third (33 per cent) of reps saying this was a top five concern for their workplaces, slightly up on the 31 per cent figure in 2008.

Slips, trips and falls is again the fourth most common hazard identified, with 32 per cent of reps regarding it as one of the top five causes for concern (33 per cent said it was in 2008).

Overwork is listed as a separate issue to stress for the first time in the survey, and it is the fifth most likely hazard to be identified as a major concern with more than one in four (29 per cent) of safety reps listing it as one their top five issues. Overwork is slightly more common in workplaces with more than 1,000 workers and is most prevalent in London and the South East.

The TUC is also concerned by the increase in the proportion of reps saying that asbestos is a worry in their workplace, with almost one in 10 (nine per cent) saying this compared with less than one in 20 (four per cent) in 2008.

Another change in the findings of this year's survey is that display screen equipment (DSE) and repetitive strain injuries (RSI) present fewer concerns now than in 2008 - both were reported by 28 per cent of reps now compared to 41 and 40 per cent previously.

There are also quite dramatic falls in the proportion of safety reps saying that psychosocial hazards like working alone (down from 30 to 21 per cent) and violence and threats (down from 26 to 18 per cent) were main hazards.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Top 10 hazards of concern to workers, as cited by union safety reps (per cent) - top figure 2010 middle figure 2008 bottom figure 2006.

Stress
62
60
61

Bullying/harassment
37
20
15

Back strains
33
31
28

Slips, trips, falls
32
33
27

Overwork
29
n/a
n/a

DSE
28
41
36

RSI
28
40
38

Long hours of work
21
23
24

Working alone
21
30
27

High temperatures
19
20
26

Handling heavy loads
18
13
13

This is the eight biennial TUC safety representatives' survey, 1,819 union safety representatives responded to the questionnaire in the period May-June 2010.