May is Mental Health Awareness Month and it serves as a good reminder to slow down and listen to your body, mind, and state. Numerous studies show that work-related stress is one of the leading causes of stress for adults in America, and that this number has only continued to escalate over the past few decades.
Recognize your “state”
Recognize that the “state” you’re in can lead to errors and in an instant, controlled hazards become uncontrolled and cause workplace injuries.
SafeStart recognizes that there are four main states a person is in at the time of error: rushing, frustrated, fatigued, and/or complacent. When we are in those states of mind, we are more likely to make errors while doing our work.
Reasons for Mistakes in the Workplace
The most common critical errors we make are from our eyes or mind not being on the task, unknowingly putting ourselves into the line-of-fire, and/or losing balance, traction, or grip.
Your industry and work environment play a big factor in the type of mistake that can be made. For some places of work, errors can be minor such as a typo, missed deadline, or forgotten task. While, at other, more physical jobs, such as manufacturing or construction, little errors could lead to serious injury for yourself or others.
How Can We Manage Stress in the Workplace?
What’s difficult for us is that it’s our human nature to feel all of those states on a regular basis at work. And although we may not be able to rid those behaviors or feelings permanently, what we can do is take a moment to recognize when we are in those states and take steps to remind ourselves to be more conscious of keeping our eyes and mind on the task, to not put ourselves in the line-of-fire, and to be more cautious of our balance, traction, and grip.
Although we may not be able to rid those behaviors or feelings permanently, what we can do is take a moment to recognize when we are in those states…
Reduction Techniques
The first critical error reduction technique is self-trigger, which is gaining control enough to be able to come back to the moment, to slow down, and calm down. Mastering this technique allows you to analyze what’s triggering those states, observe others for patterns, and ultimately to continue working safely.
Every Day is a Learning Experience
When it comes to mental health improvement, it’s a commitment that you’re making to take notice and work on yourself a little more every day. Talk to your coworkers, human resources (HR department), and leaders when you need more support and to identify what resources are available to you.
Share Advice
Contact our team for specific supervisor training to learn how to combat these types of issues.
Sources: Paradigm Shifts: The State to Error Risk Pattern and the Concept of Self-Triggering. Larry Wilson. www.safestart.com.