Although it does not go so far as recognizing workplace burnout as a medical condition, the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the burnout many employees experience on the job as a bonafide occupational phenomenon in its International Classification of Diseases.
Overworked, under compensated, with work related emails and texts to answer 24/7, many American workers are succumbing to feelings of physical and mental fatigue, exhaustion, and cynicism toward their jobs leading to reduced professional efficacy and productivity.
Although decreased alertness brought on by fatigue may not seem all that consequential in an office job despite the clear disadvantages of low retention rates and productivity, in industries with a lot of moving parts or inherent hazards, fatigue can lead to injuries and fatalities.
Decreased alertness from worker fatigue has been a contributing factor in numerous disasters. Employee fatigue has played a role in Industrial explosions, airline crashes, commercial truck accidents, and even nuclear facility meltdowns.
In the healthcare industry, not only is there a risk of errors in patient care when a doctor or nurse is burnt out, but also occupational injuries when weariness, sleepiness, irritability, reduced alertness, impaired decision making, and lack of motivation, concentration and memory leads to mistakes.
With employees working more hours with an expectation of higher productivity, the exhaustion and fatigue that follows may make on the job injuries more prevalent. When employees are hurt in the workplace, Iowa workers’ compensation is there to provide medical coverage and lost wages. Over the past 70 years our Quad Cities workers’ compensation insurance attorneys have helped thousands of Iowa workers obtain their work comp benefits. Contact McDonald, Woodward & Carlson PC. for a free consultation at 563-355-6478.