Psychosocial Factors Effect Human Performance And Injury
Psychosocial factors are present in every job; however, they are commonly overlooked as a contributor or cause of low performance or injuries in workers. Employers that ignore them can miss the root or adjoining cause of productivity and safety issues. Psychosocial factors can include:
- job demands (i.e. time pressure, workload, work pace, piece work)
- job satisfaction (i.e. lack of task variety, poor skill utilization, boredom, lack of opportunities for development/learning)
- job control (i.e. lack of influence on how the work is done, not involved in decision-making opportunities)
- support (i.e. social and emotional support from management and co-workers)
Studies have repeatedly shown a strong association between psychosocial risk factors and musculoskeletal injuries as well as human performance/productivity. Specifically in regards to physical risk factors, psychosocial factors increase the risk and severity of musculoskeletal injuries. This means that if a worker is exposed to moderate to high risk factors for injury and if psychosocial factors are present, the risk for injury goes even higher and likewise, if the worker does get injured with psychosocial factors present the injury will be more severe. The result is greater cost to the employer and long time for the worker to return to work at full duty.
The non-physical aspect of work
Workplace psychosocial factors are non-physical—they are created by the culture, policies, expectations, and social attitude of the organization. According to CCOHS (Canadian Center on Occupational Health and Safety) “psychosocial factors define what demands are placed upon a worker while they are performing their job. If the worker’s individual attributes and abilities cannot meet these demands, the worker may experience stress induced responses that can contribute to the development of musculoskeletal disorders.”
The link that binds psychosocial factors to injury and low performance is stress. When the psychosocial factors on a worker exceed his/her ability to manage them then him/her experiences stress-in most cases it is chronic stress. The physical and effect of stress on the body is well documented. According to Mayo Clinic online, the effect of long-term activation of the stress-response system — and the subsequent overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones — disrupts almost all of the body’s processes. This puts workers at increased risk of numerous health problems, including:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Digestive problems
- Heart disease
- Sleep problems
- Weight gain
- Memory and concentration impairment
Stress also creates certain behavioral responses within a person. These responses are often done automatically, i.e. the person isn’t aware that they are doing it in response to the psychosocial factors. Other times, the person is aware but their actions cause more harm than good because it exposes them to greater musculoskeletal risk factors for injuries. Here are some examples:
- A worker who feels pain from a certain activity alters their posture to avoid pain. The new posture takes pain from one area and places it on a different area thereby continuing to place them at risk for injury
- The worker avoids the workplace to avoid pain (physical or mental), and therefore calls in “sick” more often (greater absenteeism)
- Tasks become frustrating and therefore workers may use excessive force while performing tasks
- Tasks become boring and therefore workers’ minds go on “auto-pilot” resulting in errors or injury
- Tasks that are pain may cause workers to use medications in an uncontrolled manner to deal with the pain which in turn affects their performance
Ergonomics/human factors is the best way to identify and deal with all risk factors of the job. That is all three component of HF/E, physical, cognitive and organizational, must be used to significantly reduce the risk of injuries and human errors in the workplace.