Workplace Health, Safety, Well-being, and Engagement

Exam Information and Course Overview

Today’s topic comprises one-fifth of the exam content but one-quarter of the marks due to question choice.
Assignment feedback: High-quality written analyses were produced, demonstrating significant progress from the beginning of the course.
Final reflection: A choice is offered for this week's reflection - either on today's topic, gains from the course, or course feedback - and submitting it earns a %.
By the end of the week, an email will be sent with your current mark and the required exam score (likely around 45%) to pass the course, along with potential grade scenarios.
Example exam questions will be provided by the end of the week to familiarize students with the format, especially those new to the New Zealand education system.
The teaching evaluation survey is available on Learn; feedback on the teacher is appreciated.
Content warning: Today's lecture includes potentially sensitive topics such as bullying, sexual harassment, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Students are free to step out or pause if needed.

Workplace Health, Safety, Well-being, Engagement

The lecture begins with the heavy topics and transitions to a positive focus on employee well-being and engagement.
The first hour focuses on workplace safety, addressing risks and physical harm.
The second hour covers workplace health, particularly mental health, well-being, burnout, and engagement.
Exam primarily focuses on the content from the second hour; academic understanding is essential from master's level students.
Celebration of anti-bullying day, highlighting the importance of preventing bullying.

Health and Safety in the Workplace

The lecture aims to define health and safety in the New Zealand legal context and overview the legal framework protecting employees.
Important to message that New Zealand takes health and safety really seriously.
Discusses benefits of providing a healthy and safe workplace for employees and the organization.
Explores stress, its impact, and how it can be both positive and negative, addressing job demands and resources.
Briefly looks at employee engagement and HR's role in fostering it.

New Zealand Attitude Towards Health and Safety

Historically, there was a “she’ll be right, mate” attitude.
There were instances of health and safety overreach, humor, and so on.
This approach is changing and health and safety is more of a serious topic.

Global Statistics on Workplace Incidents

$390$ million non-fatal workplace accidents occur annually, ranging from minor to serious.
Losing fingers or degloving of fingers is common in trades and construction in New Zealand.
Nearly $3$ million work-related deaths occur annually, as a result of injuries (directly and indirectly).
Approximately every $15$ seconds, someone dies due to their work.
This costs the global economy around $4$ percent of global GDP, equivalent to $3$ trillion dollars.

Improvements in Workplace Safety

China reduced work-related deaths from $66,000$ to a third of that number by greater valuing of employees and shifting focus.
South Africa reduced mine deaths from an average of $800$ to less than $80$ annually by valuing all humans equally and focusing on health and safety.
$70$ % of the global workforce lives on less than $13$ dollars a day.
$45$ % of workers are in low-skill or manual operation jobs with increased health and safety risks.
$77$ % of the global workforce are in temporary or vulnerable situations.
$38$ % of the global workforce are stressed, unhappy, and unsafe at work with feeling of excessive pressure.
A significant percentage of the global population is disengaged

Workplace Fatalities in New Zealand: Statistics

New Zealand performs poorly in workplace fatalities compared to other countries.
It costs the economy a lot: construction, farming, and agriculture are main areas for fatalities; quad bike rollovers for international students.
ACC premiums increase for employers in high-risk industries when injuries occur. ACC covers injuries, preventing lawsuits.
Work-related claims cost the economy hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
To this date is sitting at approximately $300,000,000$ . There are $100,000$ active claims year to date average in $300,000$ active claims a year.

Legislation in New Zealand

Employers are legally obligated to keep employees safe and ensure a healthy work environment.
Organizations must balance profit goals with employee well-being and safety.
There are multiple obligations to keep people safe, to keep the public safe and so on.

Costs of Poor Health and Safety

The true costs of work-related injuries go beyond first aid, including production shutdowns, time off, lost productivity, and increased ACC claims.
WorkSafe investigates incidents due to negligence on employer's sides and impose fines and reparations.
Average fines have escalated from around $20,000$ to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maximum fine is around $3,000,000$ (or 5 years in prison).
Largest fine was imposed on BP, $13,700,000,000$ , arising from the Gulf of Mexico accident.
The Health and Safety at Work Act is used to determine the risk to others and to staff in a legal context.
ACC claims are assessed individually. There is always a human element aspect.
ACC helps people in New Zealand by covering costs through injuries.

WorkSafe's Role

WorkSafe offers education around managing the risks, legislation and obligations.
There are protocols that everyone has to go through to demonstrate that this is actually an injury or it is a result of work and there may be tests you have to take and then fail repeatedly before it'll be claimed or covered.
Health and Safety at Work Act $2015$ Legislation covers hospital schools not for profit businesses and so on.
The role of WorkSafe is to educate employers around their obligations around legislation, around what's expected, but then to work with employers to help manage risks.
Then, enforce compliance with the legislation, and then lastly to actually take action when things go wrong.

Impact of Effective Workplace Health and Safety

Effective measures ensure employee safety, increase productivity, reduce overhead costs, and build trust with employees and communities.
They improve employer branding and corporate social responsibility.
Costs include: employee absenteeism, reduced class rates. Industry wide, there is the factor of reputational damage.
$4.4 billion is being drained out of the economy.
WorkSafe imposed a fine of $180,000$ as a result of falls off roofs.
The Whakaari/White Island documentary had a big impact on health and safety.

Strategic Considerations of Safety

Factors determining employers' health and safety emphasis include moral obligations, legal imperatives, and economic considerations.
Moral obligations depend on the value of people; legal requirements depend on strict legislation and strong compliance; economic considerations rely on affordability.
Rana Plaza collapse is an example of building being occupied despite cracks; leads to moral, economic factors weighed.
Nike accused of using child labor which goes into the values placed on individuals in the organization.

Moral Obligations and Organizational Strategy

Based on moral, legal, or economic obligations, an organization adopts a strategy: obstructionist (do nothing), accommodative (bare minimum), or proactive (lead the way).
Health and safety is also the role of the employee and the government.
WorkSafe influences businesses, workers, educates, and helps employers mitigate risks. Key message: real change happens when the pain level gets high enough.
Gun laws (after the terrorist attack) could have been changed way earlier. So things have to be really important to actually adjust as a culture and in an organization. Because moral obligations are so valuable, we shouldn’t wait for the pain level to get high.
The ACC ads also play into personal responsibility.
HR has the responsibilities to influence the workplace by building motivation for employees to stay healthy and identifying the workplace risks. HR is in the middle and plays a role in keeping things safe in all parts of the company.
Fletcher EQR changed their approach and messaging - mindset (making it personal) - obligation to one another for well-being. Changing the mind shift to personal responsibility.
How to create a safe space and make it easier for people to report what's been happening to them.
The focus is mostly on the easy things, but the health aspect is starting to get attention.

Mental Health and Well-being in the Workplace

Most people are not dying from accidents, but from long-term consequences from unhealthy work environments.
Responsibilities start at the domestic violence record and stop there as well. But now we better manage those employers and give them time and space to be at work and so on.
There is a global survey that a fifth of New Zealanders don’t feel that they have enough energy to go to work each day, and $95$ percent of workers believe that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is their responsibility.

Stress and Its Impact

Family issues create stress. Domestic violence is something serious that needs to be addressed as a society.
Bullying. Every time I see you, or undermine the way you work or get in the way of you doing your job, that’s bullying. The definition in NZ law is that there is unreasonable, repeated behavior that’s not wanted. It will cause problems and affect the job and the attitude of being at work. I you're being sexually harassed, are you bringing your best self at work?

Definition of Stress at Work

Stress is a condition of strain that affects our emotions, thought processes, and physical condition.
This is a condition of strain that affects our emotions and thought processes and physical condition. However, stress is classified as an occupational disease.
Stress is the consequence of stressors (factors) that lead to us experiencing strain (impact our emotions and thought processes).
There are work, external, personal and family stresses, but it is often used in a more negative way. Physiological (can't sleep). So it is a general physiological response to both positive and negative stressors, but the basic is roughly the same. Problem is too much. So is something to be able to. Sleep affects ability to concentrate. People also get to the point where there's so much going on and they burnout.
There is a new piece on the radio that New Zealand has the second worst rates of bullying among young people in the OECD. That transfers over into the workplace. Two out of five people report witnessing bullying. So we need to look after people and realize how fragile people are.
I came back and she was like, oh Russell, you have such nice legs, you just wear shorts more often and but not sexual harassment cause it was just a one time thing. If every time she comments on my looks it grows into sexual harassment.

Sources of work-related Stress

Family factors: poor health. Death of family member and death of a loved one. Dysfunctional environment.
Domestic violence. You realize how good can come to everyone, but what the society actually looks like comes from a very diverse society looking at these families.
Work: Career progress - can I really do this (imposter syndrome). Fly in- fly out, shift work. All this creates stress. Need to think about shift workers.
There are jobs that would be cool, but the reality is shift work. After a week, you are saying that this is no fun. These things are hard.
Personal Factors: Lifestyle and personality. Aspects of your personality can make you more susceptible to stress.
External Factors: What the hell do we have to deal with this. Some things are just stress and not work related. It creates stress for what the politicians can do.
So there each of the complex lives and what they can do to operate in a complex. Organization as well. So easy. So to be able to manage their well-being.
It should be a shared responsibility. It is an employers’ job to put the practices to encourage people to take breaks. I haven’t done that for years. Like, that's not good for you. So how we promote, don't use so they've just never had that one because I'd actually got social engagement and we talk, and it was amazing. Like, who am I, talk, and then we go back to all those types of those and I don't talk nobody has the have together only think thing that's not healthy. So just to can manage it there are many people to do

Key stressors affecting work

Domestic violence also influences productivity, but they try 35 working hours.
What the biggest thing it does is creates the habit to sleep with the phones as well. Then creates cognitive problems down the road.
If you tolerate a certain thing for a long time, it leads to problems later on. The first thing is you actually need to come and say you aren that behavior and it has been. I can can't just be. I don't like this and I have told to. So I don't tell. I’ve heard the piece on the radio that New Zealand has the second worst rates of bullying among young people in the OECD. That transfers over into the workplace. Two out of five people report witnessing bullying: that to is unreasonable, repeated behavior's not won a way. I will cause problems if there's no safe space.

Workplace Issues on Workplace Issues

Not enough exercise and you can’t be happy all the time. So there are things like a rec center the promote healthy engagement. How do they structure about so and promoting those. Most common thing is we always see. I'm not sure there's what I want. How do people help people. It may take the work, may become a real part and how you can the there are problems may not not be I am can’t the well. The what may you I can't the You a there I'm. There. I
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