JISCMail - OCC-HEALTH Archives

I’d have to agree with Sharon & Carr.

The key word is “reasonable” and there does come a point when nothing further can be done. Now a management decision.

Regards

Helun Ford RGN RSCPHN(OH)

Occupational Health Specialist

Capita Health Solutions

Tel / Fax: 02920 326983

Mobile: 07779 702671

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carr Barnes
Sent: 27 October 2011 13:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] anxiety/depression induced by music - please help

I agree with Sharon.

In these sorts of situations it comes down to what management are willing to do. It is looking like tolerance to change is reduced and any change outside his control therefore could trigger perceived stress.

I would suggest his aggressive outburst not be medicalised though and be managed separately...bad behaviour is bad behaviour. The Shaw Trust have a great website for managers called Tacklingmentalhealth which advises on how to handle conversations, including difficult ones, and decide how much support they can give. It's become a standard link in my reports over the last year.

Regards

Carr

On Oct 27, 2011 11:33 a.m., "Simon Chilton" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Liz,
Interesting issue. If you want to discuss this, I would be happy to have a chat over the phone. You can reach me on 07853320131. I'm away on holiday until Saturday, after that is fine.

Regards
Simon Chilton
Occupational Mental Health Advisor
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

-----Original Message-----
From: Liz brown <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:53:38
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Occupational Health mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] anxiety/depression induced by music - please help

Dear List,
Please can you advise me on the following,
I have been looking after an employee for the past few months who has been suffering with anxiety and depression due to radio music being played throughout the factory on a Tannoy system. The employee has quite an extensive history of clinical depression.
This employee has never liked particularly loud environments but perceives certain music (he calls it the “boom boom” music, pop, dance and R&B) as repetitive and particular radio stations replay the same music frequently throughout the day. His anxiety did escalate so that any repetitive noise including people speaking would set off his anxiety.
Over the past few months I have worked with this employee with advice from his GP / counsellor and have tried different ways to support him. The company has re-performed the noise survey for his working areas – which are within expectable limits and have undergone an employee survey on the radio service/Tannoy system. Following the employee survey a list of the most popular stations was derived and rotated on a daily basis, the employee responded well to this as his ‘worse’ station was not included on the rotated list. The employee also responded well to initially desensitising techniques and now has specialised hearing protection (they block out the low tones of the “boom boom” music) which he can wear when needed.
All was going well until the company realised that they cannot get all the requested stations and so are using the next most popular station from the survey which is this employee’s ‘nemesis station’. The employee has not responded well to this information and has been verbally aggressive to managers. I have been asked by HR to re-assess this employee and I really would appreciate some advice on what to do as the company are now starting to feel that they have “done enough”and will not turn off the radio as the majority of employees like it.
Thanks Liz.

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