Do you feel like workplace stress is fairly common? Maybe you work in a face-paced job with a lot of deadlines. Everyone always tries to work hard to hit their deadlines and make progress.
While productivity is important in any industry, experts warn that stress often causes people to rush. It’s the only thing that they can do to try to alleviate that stress. And when they rush, it increases the odds of a workplace accident.
In this way, workplace injuries are directly tied to that culture of stress.
For instance, perhaps you have to do a fair amount of work on ladders. You’re hurrying to get the job done, but you know you have to be careful and slow down when climbing the ladder.
Unfortunately, you didn’t set the ladder up. The other employee who was responsible for it was also stressed and rushing, and they did not double-check to make sure the ladder was at the proper angle. As you climb it at a safe, reasonable speed, the bottom slides out away from the wall and it falls to the floor.
Needless to say, this undermines the entire effort. If that worker had taken five more seconds to check the ladder, they could have avoided a major accident that takes you out of the workplace entirely and perhaps ties up the staff for hours during the day.
Even though rushing can be counterproductive in this way, it is still common. If it leads to an accident and you get injured at work, be sure you know what legal steps to take next.