The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (the Standard) is the first of its kind in the world. As Canadians, we should be very proud of this.

“Launched in January 2013, it has already garnered much attention and uptake from coast to coast, internationally, and across all sectors and sizes as leaders champion the need to focus on PH&S in the workplace (www.mentalhealthcommission.ca).”

This was developed by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group) and the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ), has the backing of the MHCC and is a voluntary set of guidelines, tools, and resources focused on promoting employees’ psychological health and preventing psychological harm due to workplace factors.

Why is this important?

• On any given week, more than 500,000 Canadians will not go to work because of mental illness
• More than 30% of disability claims and 70% of disability costs are attributed to mental illness.
• Approximately $51 billion each year are lost to the Canadian economy because of mental illness.

In October 2014, a new Psychological Safety Award was introduced, and 27 winners were honoured at an event in Toronto – these can be found at https://www.safestemployers.com/winners/ , including such companies as Bell, Air Canada, County of Wellington, Nestle Waters and many more.

The County of Wellington, for example, provides education, encourages face to face interaction versus intra company email, management training, gym facilities, personal or EEAP programs, and in general has a culture promoting positive mental health.

How does your company rate?