Bringing Stress from Home to Work

We always hear the term “don’t bring work home with you”. But sometimes it’s the other way around. We all have various things going on in our home life, but when the stress from home spills over to the work site, we now have a safety hazard. If our mind is wondering, how could we possibly have the focus we need to stay safe? Here are some tips to keep your focus when things are overwhelming outside of work.

First, acknowledge your stress. It’s hard to suppress it, meaning your mind will be even more off-task. Try talking to someone. Sometimes just getting it off your chest can be such a relief. Stay focused. Use your JHA’s to remind you of the dangers.  If you find your mind wandering take a two second break and get back on track. If needed ask for some time off to deal with what’s on your mind. It’s much better than being so distracted you end up injuring someone or yourself.

We all have stress at home, whether it’s money, health, divorce… The list goes on and adding a worksite injury to it, would be awful. we owe it to ourselves and our co-workers to stay focused and leave home stress at home.