Causes of stress in the workplace and the effect on the staff as well as the clients

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Part two 4d

Discuss how staff feel empowered in the workplace

Within the Environmental Health Department, the head of Public Protection encourages, supports and inspires the rest of the team of officers and recognises people for who they are, and helps them find their own way forward by making best use of their strengths and abilities.

By doing this, achievement, development and recognition becomes quite natural to the staff, and it is these things which are the true fuels of personal motivation.

The employees and management solve problems and make decisions that were traditionally reserved to higher levels of the department.

All of the staff are treated as adults and are consulted before decisions are made, that may affect them. The staff want to do an outstanding job at all times and be proud of their work, and commitment to positive outcomes are facilitated by getting barriers out of the way.

Within the Department, management makes the other staff feel empowered by routinely delegating authority to individuals along with responsibility , routinely using corrective, cross functional process improvement and self directed teams, devoting resources to education and training, recognising and rewarding improvement efforts and success, consulting and coaching employees and removing barriers that prevents outstanding performance.

Trust and commitment are paramount as winning individuals hearts and minds leads to their willing contribution of ideas, loyalty, determination and extra effort.

The department also feels that communication and information are the lifeblood of empowerment.

By Dawn Bewick

Part two 3d

Causes of stress in the workplace and the effect on the staff as well as the clients

Nearly everyone agrees that job stress results from the interaction of the worker and the conditions of work. Views differ, however, on the importance of worker characteristics versus working conditions as the primary cause of stress. These differing viewpoints are important because they suggest different ways to prevent stress at work.

Some of the causes and effects of stress within the Environmental Health Department include:

* High demand for performance - unrealistic expectations, which sometimes, puts unhealthy and unreasonable pressures on the staff.

* Increased workload, extremely long hours and intense pressure to perform at peak levels all the time for the same pay.

* Personal or family problems tend to carry their worries and anxieties to the workplace. If one of the staff is in a depressed mood, their unfocused attention or lack of motivation affects their ability to carry out job responsibilities.

Job pressures and too much work for skill level and personal inability to cope can cause stress.

Also job termination for all reasons often causes stress because it is either handled poorly or no attempt is made on the part of the employer to assist the employee in transferring to a new job without great distress. The termination may cause or accentuate financial distress and they might suffer a sense of hopelessness.

However, most commonly stress on the job is created by poor communications between employees or between employees and employers.

Sometimes stress can also occur from misperception of events or actions of others (fellow employees, managers or service users). Generally, the situation which triggered the stress was only an event or situation which required resolution of some kind but no solution was either attempted or resulted.

Stress can affect the organisation and the service users by making mistakes, increasing service user complaints.

Increased referring of problems onto others to sort it out and staff being less prepared to tolerate uncertainty. Staff can also become less caring about service user's complaints and less inclined to listen and empathise with their service users causing chaotic systems and high levels of staff burn out.

By Dawn Bewick

Part Two 3c

Demonstrate the skills required to work effectively in a team and give examples from the workplace

Good listening skills are invaluable when working with others. There is an art to being able to discover what another person is trying to communicate, and this can take many years to perfect. However the following are good examples:

* Demonstrate clearly that you are listening, using appropriate body language and facial expressions.

* Let people complete the point they are making without interruption

* Make some reference, however brief, to what they have been saying before you change the subject

* Listen for the underlying message, what does the person actually mean, what do they really want you to hear or to know

* Check for meaning, ask questions to check you have heard or understood correctly

* Clarify details; ask for more details, ask questions to clarify points and to show your interest

* Leave silences - this enables other people to enter the dialogue or to work out their own position.

Group work and team work

A good team has:

* A shared vision - it knows what it wants to achieve

* Puts the desired team outcome first, individual interests take a secondary place

* Is clear about targets and priorities - and agrees these together

* Can make decisions

* Has members with different strengths, who can make different contributions

* Includes all members, everybody counts, efforts are made to ensure that nobody feels left out or undervalued

Good Team members

* Respect the time of all members

* Are punctual for meetings

* Turn up

* Complete their own targets to deadline so that other people are not kept waiting

* Respect the opinions of others in their team

* Take turns

* Share responsibilities keep each other informed about developments.

Part two 1a

Health and Safety Policy

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health recognises the need to reduce accidents, reduce ill health arising from work and improve welfare standards for workers.

Aims

The CIEH believes that everyone should be protected from ill health and accidents arising from work activities and that the facilities and arrangements for the welfare of workers should be improved. The CIEH expects the highest level of professionalism from those of its members involved in the health and safety system. The CIEH is committed to work with others to ensure:

. The effective management of health and safety risks

2. The improvement of health, safety and welfare standards

3. The profile of health and safety is raised

The CIEH will implement this through:

* Education and training

* Provision and facilitation of a liaison network

* Encouraging compliance with legislation

* Promoting the development of healthy workplace policies

* Partnerships

The CIEH will contribute to the competence of its members by:

* Ensuring the provision of underpinning knowledge within CIEH accredited courses

* Ensuring high standards in the education and professional development of its members

* Supporting the Environmental Health Officers Registration board in the provision of education, training and the issuing of its Certificate of registration

* Supporting the environmental health officers registration board in accrediting and administering a Diploma in Health and Safety enforcement

* Overseeing the CPD scheme

* Administering the APC scheme

* Encouraging joint training initiatives with the Health and Safety Executive

* Encouraging local training/awareness initiatives in partnership with other stakeholders

Increasing health and safety awareness of the public by:

* seeking to provide training for employers and workers at all levels in respect of general and specific health and safety competency awareness.

3a

Explanation demonstrating awareness of competence when undertaking activities as well as accepting limitations of the role

During my work placement I have learned to analyse and reflect on what is required for competent, effective and safe practice, providing active support for service users and staff members.

Continually monitoring, evaluating and reflecting upon my knowledge and skills, attitudes and behaviour and my experiences and personal beliefs that may have affected my work.

I have asked staff members and management for constructive feedback to enable me to develop my practice and treat the views of all persons with due care and respect.

I have demonstrated work readiness by having a positive attitude towards learning in an environmental health workforce and making an honest commitment to the experience.

Due to the type of work that the environmental health department deals with, I have had to work in a manner consistent with the departments policy and practice, maintaining confidentiality and ensuring that identifying information does not leave the department.

I believe that I have absorbed and understood a body of information sufficient enough to conceptualise the range of professional issues that I can reasonably expect to encounter on my placement.

While out on placement, you also need to be able to make good judgement, knowing when to apply which skills under what circumstances. It also involves critical reflection regarding how my own values, attitudes and experiences influence my actions, interpretations and choices etc.

Good judgement incorporates the intent of increasing the probability that any of my actions will benefit and not harm anyone, ensuring that my performance meets professional expectations and standards.

The impact of activities that I assist with in promoting competence is measured in two key ways - did a certain activity change my practice in any way? Did the activity benefit the outcome of the service user?.

By developing a competency self-assessment, setting objectives and developing a plan, it has helped with the development needs gained both via situations encountered in practice and focused critical reflection.

By Dawn Bewick

6b

Identify the qualifications, skills and attributes for chosen career type

To become an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) in the UK it is necessary to be accepted on a course accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health at a University or College.

Entry requirements for school leavers include Science 'A' levels or an appropriate GNVQ or an equivalent BTEC qualification.

Becoming qualified as an Environmental Health Officer involves both academic study and practical training. This is usually a sandwich course, which integrates theoretical academic study with practical training, so that each can build on the other but it is also possible to undertake the academic course first, followed then by the necessary practical training. It is important that the course enrolled on is accredited by the CIEH, if it is not, it will not lead to a qualification as an EHO.
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To be an EHO you should:

* Have problem solving skills

* Have an accurate and methodical approach to gathering information

* Pay close attention to detail

* Have excellent verbal and written communication skills

* Be able to work with people from a wide range of backgrounds

* Have good negotiating skills

* Be able to apply scientific and technical understanding

* Be self confident, assertive and tactful

To be an EHO, applicants must be in good health with adequate learning and vision. Applicants should be able to ...

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