Life + Death Struggle

FIRST: Mental Exhaustion

SECOND: Physical Exhaustion

THIRD: Depression

FOURTH: Nervous Breakdown

FINALLY, SUICIDE WHICH DEATH SEEMS TO BE CONSOLING.

risk of job: a risk associated with the work that somebody does

Burnt Out or Burning Bright? - 04/23/2001

Mental well-being should be a matter for every company's board of directors, just as physical well-being and equality are currently considered, according to UK's Mental Health Foundation (MHF).

The claim comes in a new report from the MHF, "Burnt Out or Burning Bright?"

The research study into the effects of stress in the workplace also found that junior employees suffer more with workplace stress than senior executives. "Burnt Out or Burning Bright?" was compiled following discussions with a number of directors, senior executives and human resource managers at companies including Credit Suisse First Boston, Volvo Car UK Limited and Pearson plc.

This was supplemented by a review of current literature on stress at work.

"We were pleasantly surprised at just how willing companies were to discuss the issue of stress," said Ruth Lesirge, chief executive with the foundation. "The business world knows just how crucial this issue is, and the ways in which it may have a major impact on business. But their key requirement now is knowing where to start and how to tackle the problem of undue workplace stress."

The report found that most companies did not view stress as a mental health problem, as only "serious" diagnosable conditions were seen as mental health problems whereas it was recognized that stress is experienced at some point by everybody.

The senior executives questioned recognized that, for a variety of reasons, employees, particularly more junior employees, felt they had to hide their stress and were perhaps unable to recognize stress which could become unhealthy. At the same time, there was a recognition that senior executives were more aware of the need to manage their own stress. Senior executives manage stress by going to the gym, and re better able to take appropriate action, according to the study.

However, newer companies appeared to be more aware of the need to manage stress, perhaps because of their focus on people and knowledge-based services and so recognizing employees as an investment to be looked after.

A variety of approaches were mentioned including external counseling, shiatsu, a quiet room and discount sporting facilities.

Recommendations from the companies involved in the research included:

- Stress should not be sidelined as part of human resources but a national campaign should be led by a mainstream champion of industry.
- All companies employing more than 100 people should offer some kind of independent employee counseling service.

Virginia Sutcliffe
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Stupidity is the quality or condition of being stupid, or lacking intelligence, as opposed to being merely ignorant or uneducated. This quality can be attributed to both an individual himself (e.g. Penny Person is stupid.) or his actions, words or beliefs (e.g., Penny Person's policies are stupid.). The term can thus also refer to poor use of judgement, or insensitivity to nuances in a person who is otherwise intelligent. The determination of who is stupid is relatively difficult, despite attempts to measure intelligence (and thus stupidity) such as IQ tests. The adjective is also used as a general pejorative. (e.g., I didn't borrow your stupid cap - go look for it yourself.)

Synonyms for stupid include idiot, moron, imbecile and retard (frequently shortened to just "'tard" in common use). The use of "dumb" can also be used to indicate stupid, but it has other frequently used connotations, including deafness and ignorance, while "dummy" is generally the same as stupid. The word is usually used in a highly opinionated sense with little regard for anything else but expressing an opinion.

Sloth is the lack of desire to act or work in general or to do an act or work that is expected of the person. In extreme cases, a generalized tendency to do nothing may verge on apathy and be a symptom of depression. What is considered sloth in any given instance, however, varies depending on cultural/societal context and magnitude, but it is generally considered a negative quality, as in laziness. Laziness can be considered an exaggeration of the natural instinct to do nothing that makes people get healthy rest. Laziness is usually associated with procrastination.

It has been argued that laziness is the source of many innovations that would have stemmed from the will to spare oneself a tiring job.

The expression "intellectual laziness" is frequently used to describe a tendency not to ask questions, and not to scratch too much behind the apparent, applying a kind of mental routine (availability heuristic) or just following the crowd (herd behavior).

Punctuality is the habit of being on time, when people work on schedules. People for the most part need to be to work at certain times. For example, many are required by their employer to be at work by 8 or 9 am. Self-employed people or business owners who are self-employed need to be at work when they say their office is open. Sometimes a little before to get things ready for the business day.

School starts at the same time every day. So too do the individual classes that students go to throughout the day. If an employee is habitually late, he can lose his job. That is why schools urge timeliness to help prepare students for the future. Church usually starts at the same time every week, too. Religious people believe that it is important to be there on time.

In societies which do not value punctuality as much or do not really care much about it, people are often asked to report to work or some other activity earlier than the real time scheduled (which in such cases only employers or organizers know anyway). This “allowance time”, as it is sometimes called, may be up to two hours long or even longer, which may be extremely infuriating to newcomers brought up in societies where punctuality is the norm. These newcomers then quickly adjust to this same kind of attitude and become as unpunctual as or even more unpunctual than the locals, having realized that punctuality in these cases is unimportant.

When people don't have places to go they may participate in many recreational activities or service projects. They began at specified times. Many people feel it is important to be there at the specified times or on time.

There is an adage called make time for a flat tire. Punctuality is a good habit to get into. Many people are habitually late for non-work commitments and sometimes work. Sometimes things do come up at the last minute. But more often than not it is a habit to be late.

Being on time and scheduling tasks is important to other people who rely on you, so you don't leave people hanging or frustrated.

Being on time barring emergencies is a habit people do or don't have.

Cultural attitudes towards punctuality
Some cultures put a premium on punctuality while others claim to value it when they do not or do not regard it as highly. Sweden, Finland, and the United States generally belong to the former, while to the latter category belong—among others—Spain, most of Latin America, and the Philippines. To cultures which value punctuality, being late is tantamount to showing disrespect for another’s time and may be considered insulting.
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Don't Overlook the Hazards of Heat Stress - 05/13/2004

If the dangers of heat stress are well known, why do workers keep getting hurt, or even killed, by the heat?

by James L. Nash

Heat stress is a common, yet often ignored hazard in the workplace. While it is widely recognized that heat stress can pose a serious health hazard to workers, employers may not realize that working in hot environments also increases safety risks.

Research conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) shows that work in hot environments is linked with lower mental alertness and physical performance, and subsequently, more injuries. Factor in elevated body temperature and physical discomfort and it's easy to see how workers can divert their attention from hazardous tasks and overlook common safety procedures.

Sources of heat stress range from the hot summer sun to the body heat generated inside a hazardous material suit worn during the cleanup of a toxic chemical spill. While often considered a summer or southern states problem, many companies need to take precautions throughout the year regardless of where they are located.

Heat-Related Slips

The safety hazard of heat stress is overlooked partly because the "accidents" that result from it are often not properly recorded, according to Mike Wurm, vice president of engineering at Oconomowoc, Wis.-based Quest Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of industrial hygiene and safety instrumentation. To illustrate the issue, Wurm recounts an episode that occurred at a heat stress meeting in California he attended.

"One guy stood up and said, 'I've been in construction 9 years and no one ever died from heat stress,'" Wurm recalled. "But then someone asked him how many slips and falls his company had during 100-degree days that were recorded as non-heat-related 'accidents.' The fellow sat down and had nothing more to say."

Loren Tapp, M.D., a medical officer at NIOSH, agreed. "If a person trips or breaks an ankle, there's not an emphasis on finding out if the person was heat-stressed," she said. "There needs to be more awareness about that."

Monitoring the Heat

Wurm and Tapp both say that awareness of heat stress is growing. "We see growth in our business," said Wurm. Tapp added, however, that even where the problem is recognized, many companies "have a long way to go as far as training employees to work in heat, surveillance and medical screening."

Medical screening of workers can help identify those who are more vulnerable to heat stress, such as workers who are older, overweight or taking medications that affect their ability to handle exertion in hot weather.

Tapp recommends that employers monitor hot environments by using a wet bulb thermometer, an essential component in obtaining the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT).

"Use of WBGT is essential, because it allows you to measure not just the air temperature, but humidity in the air, radiant heat and wind velocity," said Tapp. All four factors are crucial in determining the risk of heat stress. The level of work activity, plus the clothes and the condition of the employee, are additional factors that must be considered.

The American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) uses WBGT in its threshold limit value (TLV) for heat exposure. Research confirms that WBGT mirrors how hot a person will become in any given environment, according to Thomas Bernard, vice chair of ACGIH's TLV physical agents committee.

"People have looked at bio-physical models of heat exchange, and they find that WBGT behaves much as a human behaves," said Bernard, a professor at the College of Public Health in the University of South Florida. "I've personally done work that has looked at maintaining thermal equilibrium at the upper limits of the heat index, and it tracks WBGT measurements."

Bernard cautioned however, that the critical missing piece from WBGT measurements is how hard somebody is working. "In order to decide if heat stress is of concern, you must know the time-weighted average of the metabolic demands and the time-weighted average of the WBGT, and compare that to the TLV table."

Northern Hazards

An additional reason heat stress may be overlooked is that many people living in the northern part of the U.S. think the issue does not affect them, according to Bernard. A person's ability to withstand the heat is affected by whether the individual has "acclimatized" to high temperatures. That's why sudden hot spells in traditionally cooler areas may pose more acute risks than heat in southern climates.

In addition, many employees are exposed to indoor high-heat environments and northern regions may lack proper ventilation or air conditioning because such precautions are not normally needed. As an example of this phenomenon, Wurm pointed to the number of people who died in France during a heat wave last summer.

"I believe there are plenty of people in northern states who don't believe heat exhaustion and heat strokes are a common problem," Bernard asserted. "But each year, 10 to 15 people die from these causes. It happens more often than we appreciate."

Sidebar: OSHA's Advice About Protecting Workers From Heat

Simple precautions, such as those listed on OSHA's Heat Stress Card, can prevent many heat-related deaths and injuries. Available in both English and Spanish, these laminated, fold-up cards are offered free to employers to distribute to their workers.

The tips on the OSHA cards recommend that you:

- Encourage workers to drink plenty of water – about 1 cup of cool water every 15 to 20 minutes, even if they are not thirsty – and to avoid alcohol, coffee, tea and caffeinated soft drinks that dehydrate the body.
- Help workers adjust to the heat by assigning a lighter workload and longer rest periods for the first 5 to 7 days of intense heat. This process needs to start all over again when a worker returns from vacation or absence from the job.
- Encourage workers to wear lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing. Workers should change their clothes if they get completely saturated.
- Use general ventilation and spot cooling at points of high heat production. Good airflow increases evaporation and cooling of the skin.
- Train first-aid workers to recognize and treat the signs of heat stress and be sure all workers know who has been trained to provide aid. Also train supervisors to detect early signs of heat-related illness and permit workers to interrupt their work if they become extremely uncomfortable.
- Consider a worker's physical condition when determining fitness to work in hot environments. Obesity, lack of conditioning, pregnancy and inadequate rest can increase susceptibility to heat stress.
- Alternate work and rest periods, with rest periods in a cooler area. Shorter, more frequent work-rest cycles are best. Schedule heavy work for cooler times of the day and use appropriate protective clothing.
- Monitor temperatures, humidity and workers' responses to heat at least hourly.

James L Nash

updated on August 20th, 2006