Improve first aid offering with mental health awareness

Every shop worker knows the importance of active first aid, whether it’s triage and treatment after a cut, burn, or trip to the eyewash station, or simply being told to take a short break on a hot, humid day.

These actions maintain worker health over the long term and protect them in the short term. Accidents are commonplace occurrences, and they will happen during day-to-day shop operations. Your shop needs to be ready for them.

Training combined with personal protective equipment (PPE) reduces shop floor injuries, but education is what takes workplace safety to the next level.

Creating a culture of safety doesn’t happen by accident, either.

Best practices, especially for difficult or dangerous tasks, are important, and fewer accidents happen when workers have been trained and have high safety awareness and accountability.

But what about health problems that can’t be fixed by the first aid kit?

According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, 30 per cent of disability claims and 70 per cent of disability costs are attributed to mental illness. It reveals the need for workplace training for spotting mental health matters.

One simple solution is implementing the C.A.R.E. system.

C: Communicate. Build a communication system that employees trust and use.
A: Accommodate. Accommodate those workers taking mental health sick leave, and have a plan for reintroducing them to the workforce.
R: Recognize. Be aware of the signs and symptoms of mental illness.
E: Educate. Build a support team that has awareness of mental health issues.

The goals of this and similar systems are to reduce short-term and long-term disability, improve employee engagement, and improve productivity.

Mental health first aid training is now available from many reputable training institutions. This training teaches skills to recognize and help workers with ongoing mental health problems and aid those who are currently experiencing a crisis at work. Like first aid, it is given immediately on-site until professional treatment can be accessed.

In the most extreme situation, mental health first aid can help identify a worker who may be a danger to himself or to co-workers.

Ideally this type of training, like other medical support, never needs to be used. But in the event that it’s necessary, a trained manager or lead hand can help guide an employee to the appropriate professional help.

It also can help reduce the stigma that is inappropriately attached to mental health problems.