I have observed that the health of a company’s employees seems to be related to the health of a company’s Quality Management System (pardon the use of phrase “Quality Management System”. I know it’s a Business Management System for a quality product or service). The worse the shape of the QMS the worse the stress related illnesses. At one company where a QMS was non-existent and “fire fighting” was the norm, I observed 8 deaths due to heart attack in 10 months. At another company that had a strong QMS and preventative action system there were very few illnesses (even colds or flu). Both companies were high tech with short deadlines, first to market pressure, long hours and all that goes with a competitive market.

I am interested in your observations. Does the health of the employees reflect the health of the Quality Management System?

I worked at a start-up company from Japan here in the U.S. for four years. The stress related illnesses were so high we actually created an matrix documenting the 5 why's of the death, illness (most were hospital overnights from stress related or heart attacks), or people leaving the comapny for other personal reasons.

I worked at a start-up company from Japan here in the U.S. for four years. The stress related illnesses were so high we actually created an matrix documenting the 5 why's of the death, illness (most were hospital overnights from stress related or heart attacks), or people leaving the comapny for other personal reasons.

Wow!!!!! I never put that correlation together. I guess I can say that because of our healthy QMS/BOS system we can try to lower our insurance premiums. Very interesting topic!

Look at clause 6.4 and ask "Is there a relationship?"

Look at clause 6.4 and ask "Is there a relationship?"There is a relationship... and an obvious reason for 6.4.

/Claes

Really I don’t see any connection between a strong QMS and less illness...
More illness at the work place are indeed related to the competitive market and not so with having or not a good QMS.
I f you work at a place where things are calm, you can do it without ever hearing of Quality Management. On the other hand, if you always work with constant pressure:mad: , there’s no QMS or any good preventive actions that may help you...

Could be this a sort of example of synchronicity?
http://www.crystalinks.com/synchronicity.html
:magic:
:bigwave:

I have observed that the health of a company’s employees seems to be related to the health of a company’s Quality Management System (pardon the use of phrase “Quality Management System”. I know it’s a Business Management System for a quality product or service). The worse the shape of the QMS the worse the stress related illnesses. At one company where a QMS was non-existent and “fire fighting” was the norm, I observed 8 deaths due to heart attack in 10 months. At another company that had a strong QMS and preventative action system there were very few illnesses (even colds or flu). Both companies were high tech with short deadlines, first to market pressure, long hours and all that goes with a competitive market.

I am interested in your observations. Does the health of the employees reflect the health of the Quality Management System?

I think there will always be some anecdotal examples where this or that company had an issue. And, high stress certainly causes more heart attacks. But, I think you would have to draw a lot of data before we can make a direct cause and effect correlation between QMS and heart attacks. Stress and heart attacks would be an easier link to make, in my opinion.

I agree that clause 6.4 is meant for promoting employee wellness and it truly is related to quality. The link is the reason for that clause.

Isn't it easier, or more likely to make a continously positive product or service if there are fewer disruptions due to accidents or disease (defined as the absence of wellness)? One could count the costs in many ways, including the outright costs of safety problems in lost time etc., and quality problems if key personnel are removed from the stream.

António, does your company have any issues with repetetive muscular/skeletal disorders? Ergonomics is becoming a major U.S. issue (especially among aging workers) as it slowly gains recognition as a true and largely preventable workplace health hazard.

Just as ISO, and arguably the QMS doesn't guarantee quality, it does not guarantee wellness. It is behavior that generates these outcomes. The QMS merely provides the vehicle to make and follow the plans for achieving the objectives.

This is similar to the study done on the sales of ice-cream in Summer. It was found that there was a tremendous increased in sales of ice-cream in summer and a corresponding increase in cases of heat stroke which resulted in fatality. So, some people conclude that you should not eat ice-cream in summer because statistices show that you may die from it.

Its just a misintepretation of statistics or mis-correlation of two unrelated events. Does it mean that there were no deaths or heart-attacks during the pre-ISO/QMS days? Hardly twenty odd years ago!

There is no need to complicate matters. I think we all know that people both feel better and produce better results, when there is a bit of order around them?

I have worked in poorly as well as well managed environments. There is no doubt in my mind that the latter put less strain on my health.

Besides, even though ISO may be a modern thing, a QMS (or should we drop the Q and just call it a Management System?) is nothing new. Such systems have existed all through recorded history, and probably even before that. They were just as real in old Egypt or Babylon as they are now. It may be that they were not always on print, but they certainly existed.

/Claes

I'd say the health of the employees is related to the overall health of the corporation - Quality, Safety, and Operations.

We've been running several "leading indicators" in our Safety and Health program, and we have an employee survey that is taking during the annual employee refresher training. The survey results and the recordable injury rates track very closely together.

I also recently helped a person with the statistical analysis of her Phd dissertation. This involved surveying workers for their perceive levels of work related pain, and several factors about their work, including their perception of control over their work. There was a very strong correlation between self reported pain and self reported control over their work. This fits in with several theories that have been put forth in the literature. I found it very fascinating.

I think that's interesting too, Steve. It's time there was some improvement to "that feeling" people like me get, which convinces us that safety leads to wellness, which greatly assists in reaching objectives.

The Navy has understood the relationship for quite some time, and strengthened Family Services as well as physical wellness. (Too bad they sacrificed the hobby centers to do it though) The old saying "Your family didn't come in your seabag" faded as correlations were drawn between wellness and work quality. Safety and physical wellness was the first part, but I played a tiny role in financial wellness after the Command Financial Specialist program was established, and as a customer of it I quite understand how hard it is to function well when under mental stress.

And so an organization could conform to element 6.4 in a variety of ways; whatever is most appropriate.

Personally, I have an easier time believing stress is engendered by lack of personal control over a situation than whether that situation is orderly or "sloppy."

I have visited workplaces that were micromanaged and looked "neat as a pin" where employees were unhappy and nonproductive.

I have also visited comparatively messy workplaces where employees were indifferent about how full wastebaskets were but who took immense pride in the work product. The difference being the priority was for good product and satisfied customers and the employees took care of clutter AFTER the work was on the shipping dock.

(I am making a unfair generalzation, I realize, but I think it IS fair to say only a small minority of people relish having every moment and movement of their workdays micromanaged by someone else.)

Stress-related illnesses AND other illnesses transmitted by germs or viruses plus injuries on the job usually have an "unhealthy" effect on operations. They result in either absence or reduced capacity on the job. This seems reason enough to provide health care services and protective policies throughout the organization to ameliorate the loss of effective workers. This may mean special effort to identify causes of stress in the workplace because the mechanism for causing health woes is not universally understood.