How Working Conditions Affect Worker Health
Your workplace is where you invest your time, create innovative programs and products, and earn your living. That said, there are clear health risks associated with working. Working in a hard-labor job or a chaotic environment particularly compromises health outcomes. Here are three important examples of how working conditions affect worker health.
Noise Damages Hearing
Many companies underestimate how chronically high noise levels affect workers. Noise is really difficult to contain, and in certain industrial and manufacturing settings, noise builds up to dangerously high levels, verging on 85 decibels. At and beyond this threshold, workers’ inner ear health deteriorates and lessens their ability to hear high pitch sounds. A high decibel reading is one of several signs a company needs a sound enclosure around machinery to contain noise.
Stress Causes Psychosocial Harm
Another category when thinking about how working conditions affect worker health is stress and its psychosocial effects. Depending on the work a company does and the culture that surrounds it, there are several ways excess pressure and stress mount and affect employee health. For one, asking or expecting workers to consistently work overtime hours limits their downtime outside of work and leads to several ill effects. Because they’re at the office or job site longer, they get less face time with family and friends, leading to decreases in relational satisfaction and support. Also, working beyond a regular day limits the ability for people to pursue other fulfilling interests that allay stress, allowing it to build up.
Additionally, poor employee-supervisor relationships destroy workers’ hopes for the job. Supervisors are the people capable of noticing employee achievement, supporting them, and perhaps recommending them for a promotion. When these relationships fracture, people lose hope in their upward mobility and stop communicating work struggles with their supervisors. This eliminates an outlet for stress relief while increasing hopeless thoughts, potentially leading to or exacerbating mental struggles.
A Lack of Structure Leads to Injury
Finally, when a company doesn’t plan appropriately and take safety measures seriously, workers get caught in the crossfire. Companies that neglect to perform regular maintenance on their machinery will more likely experience worker injury due to system failure. Also, when people don’t have the proper training to operate machinery or otherwise participate knowledgeably, they may make a mistake that leads to an injury. Each of these consequences is the result of a lack of structure.
