WorkSafe New Zealand has developed infographics on psychosocial risks for the construction, agriculture, manufacturing and forestry sectors, as well as for all New Zealand workers.

The infographics collate existing WorkSafe data into an easily digestible format. The infographics will support a range of industries to easily find data on the psychosocial risks and protective factors relevant for them.

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Manufacturing psychosocial risks – infographic (PDF 187 KB)

Read the infographics for other sectors

Psychological harm1

The percentage of manufacturing workers that report experiencing the following in the last 12 months:

  • 25% – any work-related mental health or wellbeing issue
  • 18% – work-related anxiety
  • 13% – work-related depression
  • 12% – high work-related stress
  • 9% – new mental health or wellbeing issues

Self-rated health2

Self-rated health is a key indicator for monitoring quality of life and population health.

Manufacturing workers were slightly more likely to rate their health as good or above compared to all workers.

[image] Manufacturing – self-rated health – graph

Image shows a stacked bar graph comparing the self-rated health of manufacturing workers and all workers. Workers could rate their health as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor.

Self-rated health of manufacturing workers:

  • excellent – 19% compared with 15% for all workers
  • very good – 33% compared with 32% for all workers
  • good – 33% compared with 34% for all workers
  • fair – 13% compared with 15% for all workers
  • poor – 2% compared with 4% for all workers

End of text alternative.

Work-related suicide3

Work-related suicide research reviewed 1,678 coronial findings (from applicable cases) between 2017–2021.

  • 7% – an estimated 7% of workers who die by work-related suicide each year are in manufacturing
  • 5 – estimated number of manufacturing workers who die by work-related suicide each year

All 14 manufacturing workers who died by work-related suicide during 2017– 2021 experienced significant work-related stressors. The following workrelated stressors appeared in work-related suicides by people who worked in manufacturing:

How work is designed

  • Job demands
  • Work hours and schedule
  • Job security and precarious work

Social factors at work

  • Bullying and victimisation
  • Interpersonal relationships
  • Support

Work environment

  • Work injury

Work context

  • Making a mistake at work

Offensive behaviours2

Offensive behaviours can cause harm to the person they are directed at as well as people witnessing the behaviour. Repetitive or severe exposure can cause both physical and psychological harm.

Percentage of manufacturing workers who were exposed at least once in the last 12 months:

  • 26% – bullying
  • 14% – threats of violence
  • 17% – cyberbullying
  • 11% – sexual harassment
  • 13% – physical violence

Policies around bullying, harassment and violence1

  • 25% of manufacturing employers report they do not have a policy to support the management of incidences of bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment.
  • 43% of manufacturing employers report they do not have a policy to guide their response to violent incidents, including threats of violence.

Psychosocial risks2

Manufacturing workers are more likely to be exposed to:

  • lower quality of leadership
  • higher job insecurity
  • lower meaning of work
  • lower vertical trust.

Protective factors2

Protective factors can mitigate the impact of risk factors and may enhance mental wellbeing.

Manufacturing workers are more likely than all New Zealand workers to report:

  • lower demands for hiding emotions
  • lower emotional demands.

What workers in manufacturing say makes a good day:

  • strong interpersonal relationships
  • career development
  • safe physical work environment and equipment
  • organisational culture
  • supportive leadership
  • manageable workload.

Employer attitudes1

  • 81% of employers feel a strong sense of responsibility for the mental health of staff and how well they get on with others

Mentally healthy work concerns4

This data involves mentally healthy work concerns WorkSafe received from 26 April 2022 to 1 May 2023.

  • 4% of mentally healthy work concerns that WorkSafe received in that period were from workers in the manufacturing sector (11 out of 283 concens).

Percentage of concerns by issue

[image] Manufacturing – percentage concerns issue – graph

Image shows a column graph. Each column shows the percentage of an issue as a proportion of all mentally healthy work concerns for manufacturing workers:

  • 80% work-related stress
  • 20% fatigue at work
  • 90% bullying and harassment
  • 10% violence at work
  • 0% sexual harassment
  • 60% other

End of text alternative.

Percentage of concerns by levels of harm

[image] Manufacturing – percentage concerns level harm – graph

Image shows a column graph. Each column shows the percentage of a level of harm concern as a proportion of all mentally healthy work concerns for manufacturing workers:

  • 55% minor
  • 33% significant
  • 11% severe

End of text alternative.

Employer health and safety maturity in manufacturing1

[image] Manufacturing – employer health safety maturity – graph

Image shows a pie graph with percentages of employer maturity in healthy and safety for four types:

  • 17% – Care for others
  • 34% – Protect me and mine
  • 32% – All talk, little walk
  • 18% – It's just common sense

End of text alternative.

Employers’ health and safety perceptions1

Percentage of manufacturing employers that agree with the following statements:

  • 69% – we make the time and effort to ensure we’re up to date with changes in health and safety legislation
  • 64% – health and safety is a real investment in our business
  • 29% – the main reason we follow health and safety rules is so we don’t get in trouble
  • 20% – complying with health and safety regulations is a cost to our business, with little benefit
  • 18% – management wouldn’t need to get involved in health and safety if workers just used their common sense
  • 77% – we have a strong safety culture where each person is always watching out for each other’s health and safety

Employers’ health and safety practices1

Percentage of manufacturing employers that:

  • 36% say they conduct an assessment on workers’ level of exposure to a health risk
  • 40% say they provide workers with health checks/monitoring for health problems that could be related to their work
  • 66% say they make changes to the work environment or equipment to reduce the risk to people’s health and safety
  • 41% say they develop or update a formal management plan or policy to address key health and safety risks.

Footnotes

1. WorkSafe Workforce Segmentation and Insight surveys 2020 and 2021

2. WorkSafe (2022). New Zealand Psychosocial Survey 2021

3. WorkSafe (2024). Work-related suicide: Examining the role of work factors in suicide

4. WorkSafe (2023). Mentally healthy work online form analysis: Review of concerns received from 26 April 2022 – 1 May 2023.

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