WHS and Work-Related Stress: Legal and Management Analysis Report

This report examines work-related stress within the context of Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) regulations. It defines work-related stress as a hazard under the OHS Act, leading to potential mental, physical, and emotional health risks for employees. The report emphasizes employer responsibilities under WHS legislation, including establishing communication channels, providing supportive responses, and implementing effective policies to manage and mitigate stress. It also addresses workplace bullying as a form of stress hazard, detailing its impact on employees and the organization. Furthermore, the report discusses workers' compensation for work-related stress, outlining the conditions under which employees are eligible for compensation. The report references several studies and articles to support its claims, providing a comprehensive overview of work-related stress and its management in the workplace.

PARTICIPATE IN
WHS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PARTICIPATE IN WHS.................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

PARTICIPATE IN WHS
Work related stress are the issues that an employee faces at the workplace which creates
stress and there is a risk to his health and safety due to stress. These stresses can be mental,
physical and emotion or by the work they are getting in the organisation. These issues come
under the OHS Act and is required to be addressed under workplace stress (Sahlin, Ahlborg and
Grahn, 2014). Work related stress are the stresses that causes mental illness and possibly the
issues that are caused under the WHS legislations.
 Liable under WHS legislations for work-related stress.
An organisation is liable under WHS legislations only if they are able to organise their
work culture properly and there are no risk of hazards and stress for the employees in the
organisation. To comply under the legislations there are few responsibilities under the state
legislations that need to be followed and their policies should be effectively undertaken
(Rauschenbach, Krumm and Hertel, 2013). Employer is able to meet their legal workplace health
and safety obligations by establishing few practices to monitor work-related stress such as:
1. Encourage communication- Effective communication between the management and
the employee is essential to ensure stable mental health. Employer need to understand
the problems that are against the commencement of healthy work culture and there is a
need to evaluate the poor work performance and should make plans to monitor such
issues. They need to communicate effectively and find out the problems relating to the
workplace stress.
2. Respond supportively- Employers need to consider the issues and also give supportive
suggestion to overcome the issues. It is their responsibility to respond the problems and
address the ways to overcome these issues (O’Rourke and Antioch, 2016).
3. Apply policies- After identifying the policies and responding supportively to the
problems the employer need to apply the legislations that are developed for the
workplace safety and for work-related stress. Frequent consultation with the employees
encourages enhancing workplace policy.
 Workplace bullying- It is a repetition of health harming activities that are conducted
more than once and are abusive on the part of individual and treatment such as
threatening, humiliating, interfering in the work and verbal abuse. It is related to the
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demotivating individual and not letting him to finish his work and activities such as
violating the work culture. It is a stress hazard that shows the behaviour of the person
and harassing him and encourages mental stress. These stresses are implemented through
meaningless assigning of work which have no consideration with the work. Workplace
bullying creates differentiation among the employer and employees and also with the co-
workers in the organisation.
 Workers compensation for work-related stress- Workers are compensated in the case
only if they are unable to work due to injuries caused to them by work in the
organisation even when the employer is not wrong. They are provided with the
compensation if they are suffering from mental issues or any accident caused in the
organisation and are not able to work due to injuries (McDonald, Brown and Smith,
2015). Management need to make decisions to overcome these issues and communicate
with the employees and compensate then for the wrongs done to them. According to the
legislations Act worker is liable to file a compensation demand if they are bullied and
not treated equally in the company.
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REFERENCES
McDonald, D. N., Brown, E. D. and Smith, K. F., 2015. Workplace bullying: A review of its
impact on businesses, employees, and the law. International Journal of Business and
Social Science. 6(2).
O’Rourke, A. and Antioch, S. K., 2016. Workplace bullying laws in Australia: Placebo or
panacea? Common Law World Review. 45(1). pp.3-26.
Rauschenbach, C., Krumm, S., and Hertel, G., 2013. Age and work-related stress: A review and
meta-analysis. Journal of Managerial Psychology. 28(7/8). pp.781-804.
Sahlin, E., Ahlborg, G., and Grahn, P., 2014. Nature-based stress management course for
individuals at risk of adverse health effects from work-related stress—effects on stress
related symptoms, workability and sick leave. International journal of environmental
research and public health. 11(6). pp.6586-6611.
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