Analysis of Occupational Health Hazards and Workplace Bullying Report

This report provides an overview of workplace bullying as a significant occupational health hazard, focusing on the context of the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act. It defines workplace bullying and discusses it as a psychosocial hazard, emphasizing the potential for physical and psychological harm to employees. The report explores the legal framework provided by the Alberta OHS Act, highlighting employer responsibilities in ensuring a safe work environment. It examines the negative outcomes of workplace hazards, including reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, and potential health issues such as stress and substance abuse. The report also suggests interventions to prevent these hazards, such as hazard identification, risk assessment, training, and the implementation of confidential reporting systems. The conclusion underscores the importance of addressing workplace bullying to improve organizational productivity and employee well-being, referencing key sections of the Alberta OHS Act.

Occupational Health
Student’s Detail

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 1
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Research...........................................................................................................................................1
Psychosocial Hazard........................................................................................................................2
Outcomes in the workplace.............................................................................................................2
Interventions in the workplace.........................................................................................................2
Summary..........................................................................................................................................3
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
Workplace hazard defines a situation that has the potential of mental and physical
adverse health impacts including illness and injuries at the workplace. Workplace bullying is a ill
practices in which a consistent pattern of mistreatment from colleagues, peers and supervisory
occur and which leads to physical and psychological harms. Workplace bullying includes
abusing acts such as verbal and nonverbal, physical and psychological humiliation (CCOHS,
2020).
This discussion contains a brief outline of ‘Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act’
in the context of Workplace Bullying. A brief discussion of workplace bullying as physiological
hazardous and its outcomes on the wellbeing of employees also has been covered in this study.
Some Recommendation also comprises in the discussion to help people who are experiencing
these ill practices.
Research
The Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act is one of the major laws in the
area of Occupational Health and Safety in Canada. This act sets minimum standards for healthy
and safe practices at the workplace in the Alberta province of Canada.
Section 1 (yy) defines 'violence’ inboard terms as 'harassment’ which means threatening
and actual conduct which causes a person physical or psychological harms at the workplace.
Further Section 1(q) covers that bullying is ‘harassment’. Bullying refers to any action including
to verbal and nonverbal action related race, color, religious beliefs, physical and mental

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disability, ancestry, age, place of origin, marital status, income, family status, gender, gender
identity, gender expression and sexual orientation and which causes of offense and humiliation.
For the overall well-being of employees, to reduce stress in employees for high
productivity, and to create a healthy and safe work environment, business managers need to deal
with such ill practices like bullying. According to this act, it is the owner's responsibility to
ensure the health and safety of employees at the workplace (AOHSA, 2017).
Psychosocial Hazard
Psychological hazards refer to the risk and dangerous elements of the work environment,
organizational practices, and management that adversely affects to mental health and well-being
of employees. In common terms, Psychological hazards include an experience of violence,
harassment and traumatic events at the workplace. Psychological hazards may also include job-
related elements such as increment in job demand and role ambiguity may also affect the mental
health of employees. Organizational factors such as shifting hours, job security, work pressure,
and pace, teamwork, and relationship and technological changes are major elements of the
negative impact on the psychological health of employees. Besides, environmental factors
including lighting, noise, and air quality and personal factors such as changing roles in the
family, work-life conflict, pre-existing anxiety, depression, and mental illness my worsen to the
psychological health of employees at the workplace (Alberta.ca, 2017 ).
Under the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act it is employer's duty to
communicate all work-related hazardous to employees and workers have the right to refuse to
work which leads to potential risk on their mental and physical health (Alberta Occupational
Health and Safety Act, 2018).

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Outcomes in the workplace
Workplace hazards including psychological hazards result in negative impacts on
employees as well as organization. It is also notable that sometimes employee develops negative
coping behaviors to overcome and deal with psychological hazards such as stress, humiliation,
insomnia, etc. People start to use alcohol and drug abuse to cope with these issues which further
create more negative health impacts. Increment in absenteeism rates, turnover rates, benefits
expenses, accidents and injuries rates, absenteeism, compensation claims, and disability rates are
the major outcomes form psychological hazards from an organizational perspective
(Mosadeghrad, 2014 ).
Interventions in the workplace
The intervention of management may prevent psychological hazards in the workplace. To
prevent such cases employer firstly need to identify potential hazards at the everyday job at the
worksite. With hazards identification, assessment of hazard to find out the risk level of hazard is
also important. Employers need to provide training to create work-related knowledge,
elaborating work-related policies and reporting procedures. In addition, employers need to
encourage employees for reporting to psychological injury at concerned authority. The employer
also needs an established confidential report system within the organization. Besides all these
interventions, the major focus required from the employer is the prevention of psychological
hazards practices through education and skills, conducting wellness programs, managing
workplace environment, developing a peer support network, etc. (Takahashi, 2017 ).

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Summary
Bullying at the workplace is a major challenge for workplace health and safety. Bullying
at the workplace is a psychology hazard that negatively effects to organizational productivity and
wellness and well-being of employees in the organization. Section 1 of the Alberta Occupational
Health and Safety (OHS) Act comprises to prohibit bullying at the workplace. The organization
can prevent psychology hazard practices by creating education and implementing some practices.

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Bibliography
Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act. (2018, June 1). Alberta Occupational Health and
Safety Act. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from alberta.ca:
https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/bf8928ad-63f0-4d0e-9e70-6cf485098145/resource/
a864d3ea-b955-4a97-b5cf-5aed84da61f5/download/act-2018-highlight.pdf
Alberta.ca. (2017, August ). Assessment and Control of Psychological Hazards in the
Workplace. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from Alberta.ca:
https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/5319ad2d-4127-4766-a230-3ed293737d40/resource/
fdc233e5-f62f-4d39-a956-4c1ff4fdd8fb/download/ohs-best-practices-bp024.pdf
AOHSA. (2017). OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from Alberta
Occupational Health and Safety Act :
http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Acts/O02P1.pdf
CCOHS. (2020). Bullying in the Workplace. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from Canadian Center of
Ocupational health and Safety :
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/bullying.html
Mosadeghrad, M. A. (2014 ). Occupational stress and its consequences. Emerald Insight, 224 -
239.
Takahashi, M. (2017 ). Tackling psychosocial hazards at work. Industral Health, 1–2.