Ottawa develops workplace mental-health standards, but stops short of legislation
Posted on June 16, 2011 in Policy Context
Source: Globe & Mail — Authors: Erin Anderssen
TheGlobeandMail.com – news/politics
Published Thursday, Jun. 16, 2011. Erin Anderssen, Ottawa
A new Canadian-wide standard for employers to deal with mental health in the workplace will be released next year – though it will stop short of being a legislated requirement for companies.
The new standard – which will be developed by a federally funded committee of health-care professionals, government and labour representatives – will be voluntary for businesses. A 60-day public review process will be held in the fall.
The development of a national standard comes at a time when employers are under increasing legal pressure to provide healthy workplaces, even as the personal and financial cost of mental health rises in Canada. A report released in October found that over the past five years, damages awarded for workplace mental-health injuries have increased by 700 per cent.
“What that says is that the courts are now recognizing that conditions in the workplace can precipitate mental illness,” Senator Michael Kirby, chair of the Canadian Mental Health Commission, said in a statement Thursday. “And they’re finally recognizing that depression, anxiety, and burnout are not a normal part of the job.”
The standards are intended to lay out specific tools and guidelines for employers to assist workers struggling with illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
Canadians miss more far more work days for personal reasons than American and British workers – the side effects and symptoms of stress are believed to be a key factor is rising absentee rates. A study by the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health suggested that half a million Canadians miss work each day because of mental-health issues.
Not even counting the severe personal toll on patients and families, that’s an expensive problem, costing the Canadian economy roughly $20-million in medical expenses and lost productivity. And the trend is increasing: By 2020, the World Health Organization has predicted that depression will become the second leading cause of disability globally, behind only heart disease.
And recent Canadian research has also shown that the mental and physical tolls often fall heaviest on the most successful employees in a company. In a national survey of Canadian workers conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental health, nearly one on five said their job was “highly stressful.”
< http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-develops-workplace-mental-health-standards-but-stops-short-of-legislation/article2063602/ >
Tags: economy, mental Health, rights, standard of living
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 16th, 2011 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Policy Context. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
333 Responses to “Ottawa develops workplace mental-health standards, but stops short of legislation”
« Older Comments | Newer Comments »
Recent Comments
This is something that will need all of our combined efforts to address.
Just came from google to your website have to say thanks.
Cherished is likely to be what people say about your comments.
Wish I’d thought of this. Am in the field, but I procrastinate alot and haven’t written as much as I’d like. Thanks.
Simply wish to say the frankness in your article is surprising.
Assume you are doing good linking to position you on the first pages of search engines.
Woah this is just an insane amount of information, must of taken ages to compile so thanx so much for just sharing it with all of us. If your ever in any need of related information, just check out my own site!
Nice Post. It’s really a very good article. I noticed all your important points. Thanks.
This is definitely a wonderful webpage, thanks a lot..
This information is very important and you’ll need to know this when you constructor your own photo voltaic panel.
Hi my family member! I want to say that this article is amazing, great written and include approximately all important infos. I’d like to see more posts like this .
You appear to know so much about this, and I see you’re a published author. Thanks
I found your blog through google and I must say, this is probably one of the best well prepared articles I have come across in a long time. I have bookmarked your site for more posts.
Our family had similar issues, thanks.
Good points – – it will make a difference with my parents.
whoah this weblog is wonderful i like reading your articles. Keep up the good paintings! You already know, many people are looking around for this information, you can help them greatly.
Are the issues really as complex as they seem?
Just wanna admit that this is extremely helpful, Thanks for taking your time to write this.
I’ve thought about posting something about this before. Good job! Can I use part of your post in my blog?
Assume you are doing good linking to position you on the first pages of search engines.