The economic downturn in the forest industry and news of recent mill closures are causing stress and worry among all workers in the industry, including logging and trucking contractors, and mill employees.
This Safety Alert will review information and good practices for managing stress.
Stress is our body’s mental and physical reaction to changing or challenging external pressures. While stress can be helpful, if it becomes prolonged or excessive it can lead to mental and physical health issues.
Excessive stress can cause physical symptoms such as headaches, an upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain and problems sleeping. Mental health problems can also result, including depression, panic attacks, or other forms of anxiety.
Stress also becomes harmful when people engage in the compulsive use of substances or other negative behaviors to try to relieve their stress.
When dealing with stress, there is the potential to lose focus on tasks at work and incidents can occur. Managing stress effectively reduces the negative symptoms and allows us to pay attention to the critical safety aspects of our jobs.
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| aom_2019_07.pdf |
