OSH News

Margaret Kirby of the Health & Safety Review, EU-OSHA’s media partner based in Ireland, has recently published an article exploring the prevalence of stress and burnout among occupational safety and health (OSH) practitioners. The feature brings attention to what happens when the experts involved in supporting workers’ mental health experience these issues themselves.

To illustrate this, the article presents two case studies covering OSH professionals who have experienced these issues. In addition, it highlights a range of contributing factors to stress and burnout, including the demands placed on these practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic, the weight of responsibility for workers’ wellbeing and workplace safety, as well as the pressure linked to constantly evolving legislation and technologies. The broad scope of the role, often combined with limited time and resources, also contributes to these risks.

Along with these insights, the article proposes practical measures to prevent and manage these mental health issues, including initiatives like coaching and mentoring and the use of digital tools to better address psychosocial risks.

This topic is in line with EU-OSHA’s upcoming Healthy Workplaces Campaign ‘Together for mental health at work’, which will explore mental health and psychosocial risks in the workplace. The campaign will officially launch in October, with the first resources becoming available from April.

Read the article in PDF or access it on Health & Safety Review’s website (subscription only).