The Mental Health Commission of Canada estimates that mental illness costs the Canadian economy $51 billion a year in health care service use, lost workdays and work disruptions. This is probably why the commission, in cooperation with CSA Standards, is now in the process of a public consultation to develop the country’s first standard on mental health in the workplace.

For many years I have been trying to show employers, union representatives, senior managers and employees how ergonomics is really about designing the workplace for all people — from employees to clients.

On December 20, 2010, a coroner’s report was released concerning the November 2008 death of a twenty-year-old Australian nurse, Annemarie Sweeney.  She was returning home after a shift at the local hospital when she lost control of her car and hit a tree.  The report concluded that sleeping medication and fatigue were major contributors to her death.  It remains unclear whether private or professional issues (or both) caused Annemarie to be fatigued, but it is likely that her occupation played a significant role in her tragic death. 

We all got back to work after the weekend; we made the drive or the commute to work; we rode the elevator or took the stairs; got to our workstations; performed our work to the best of our abilities and then headed home. We did not think twice about the day and how we even got to and from work.