Workplaces of the future: the built environment meets safety and wellbeing

As cities, jobs and technology have evolved over the decades, so too have our workplaces. Some of the most recognisable features of this evolution include open plan designs, collaborative spaces, hot desks and facilities for recreation. These workplace changes are an inevitable consequence of changes in our working lives.

In spite of this, office occupier requirements have barely changed in decades. Cost and location remain the two key factors. In recent years, however, another factor has inched its way up into third place: connectivity. The ability to communicate seamlessly with colleagues and clients around the globe is vital, as is the need to access information held in computer systems or in the cloud. It is becoming increasingly important to have a well-connected building because the workplace is more diffuse due to the rise of flexible and remote working. Organisations with mobile and flexible workers may require a central hub or meeting point rather than a constant and static work location.

It is also clear that the built environment can have a material impact on health and wellbeing and, if optimised, can reduce absence rates and liability exposure as well as increase productivity.¹ In this article, we look at why organisations are placing increasing value on well-designed workplaces.

The built environment and health, safety and welfare

The House of Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment commented in 2016, “It is widely acknowledged that the quality of life, prosperity, health and wellbeing of an individual is heavily influenced by the ‘place’ in which they live or work”.²

Similarly, in 2015, Public Health England released a report in which it stated that the physical environment that organisations provide for employees to carry out their work activities has a powerful role in shaping a range of psychological and behavioural outcomes for employees.³

The link between health and the built environment is now so well accepted that many building accreditation schemes include a component concerning the health and wellbeing of occupants. For example, the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method, the first sustainability rating scheme for the built environment, addresses the health and wellbeing of occupants and other stakeholders by rating buildings in terms of indoor environment (health and wellbeing), active/healthy lifestyle, and safety and security.⁴

An important reason to take the design and use of workplaces seriously is compliance with health and safety law. In the UK, employers have a duty of care under common law and the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for the health and safety of their employees. Furthermore, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 place a specific duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees and other people who may be affected by the workplace. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 also require employers to assess and control risks to protect their employees. Similarly, in Australia, a person conducting a business or undertaking has a primary duty to manage risks associated with exposure to hazards arising from work that could result in physical or psychological harm to workers and other persons. Psychological hazards are required to be addressed the same way as physical hazards, through a hierarchy of control mechanisms starting with elimination of the risk and, if that is not possible, mechanisms which minimise or reduce exposure to it.

Different components of the built environment can have different effects on employee safety and their mental health and wellbeing. While the connection between the built environment and physical health is obvious, well-studied and well-regulated, recent studies have increasingly shown that building design and the environment can operate as a positive or a negative factor in workers’ stress and mental health.⁵ For example, it has long been clear that poor lighting in an office environment can expose employees to trip hazards and can cause physical injuries such as eye strain, headaches, fatigue and musculoskeletal injuries.⁶ It is also becoming increasingly clear that poor lighting, particularly a lack of access to natural light, also has consequences for stress and mental health. A 2013 study found that workers in workspaces with windows slept an average of 46 minutes more per night than workers in offices without windows, and that the latter group reported lower scores than their counterparts on quality of life measures related to physical problems and vitality, as well as poorer outcomes on measures of overall sleep quality, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction.⁷

Hidden costs

If health and safety issues in the workplace are not managed properly, as well as giving rise to compensation claims, they can have an economic impact on productivity and overheads. In more serious cases, breaching health and safety legislation can give rise to enforcement action. Such action can lead to adverse consequences which may include criminal penalties, unplanned expenditure and reputational damage. A breach of health and safety law can support compensation claims by helping to establish a breach of a common law duty by the employer, and whether harm or injury suffered as a result of that breach was reasonably foreseeable. Health and safety should not only be a priority for HR and occupational health specialists, but also senior management as part of discharging their corporate governance responsibilities, and managing potential personal liability exposure. A workplace designed to optimise the health and safety of its occupants is therefore likely to be attractive to organisations which proactively manage health and safety.

Health and safety regulators have also been giving increasing attention to workers’ mental, as well as their physical, health. In the UK, poor mental health cost employers £30 billion in 2014 through lost production, recruitment and absence.⁸ The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recently published statistics which show that workplace stress accounts for almost half of all working days lost to ill health (11.7 million working days in 2015/16).⁹ In the majority of these cases of workplace stress, the precipitating event for workplace stress involved factors “intrinsic to the job”. The HSE’s strategy “Helping Great Britain work well” places an emphasis on managing workplace stress, and the HSE’s Management Standards for work-related stress recognise that the work environment falls within one of its six primary categories of stressors at work.¹⁰

One of the principal Australian safety regulators, Safe Work Australia (SWA), is also paying close attention to workplace stress. SWA reported in 2016 that the total cost to Australian employers of workplaces with a poor physiological safety environment is estimated to be approximately A$6 billion per annum, and that workplaces with poor physiological safety environments have significantly higher levels of “absenteeism” and “presenteeism” than others, equating to an annual cost to employers of A$1,887 per employee. SWA also recognises that psychological hazards can have environmental causes, and encourages duty holders to address the hazards at an organisational level.¹¹

There are also other justifications for workplaces to be designed in a manner that protects employees’ physical and mental health. A person who has a sufficiently long term and serious condition affecting their physical and/or mental health may have a disability for the purpose of anti-discrimination and equal opportunity law. Discrimination law imposes obligations on employers to make reasonable accommodations for a person’s disability. What is a reasonable accommodation will depend on the circumstances; however, it can often include modifications to the built and physical environment. A workspace which is designed with accessibility and safety in mind can not only assist in preventing harm to health, which may develop into disabilities, but also assist employers and occupiers in meeting their obligations to accommodate.

Furthermore, while attention is often given to the ways in which workspaces are designed to attract and retain younger generations of employees, employers must also consider older workers. As the workforce ages (as is the case for the workforces of many industrialised countries), businesses will need to look for workspaces which accommodate a mature workforce, that may have a higher rate of disability and different susceptibilities to physical and mental harm.

One of the defining characteristics of office environments today is the fostering of a sedentary lifestyle. Three-quarters of UK GDP is generated by the largely office-based service industries, and most office-based employees conduct their work at desks.¹² Physical inactivity, particularly excessive sitting, is now recognised to be a health hazard in itself and an emergent health and safety issue. During 2016, SWA released a report which reviewed the literature on sedentary behaviours, and characterised “excessive occupational sedentary behaviour” – or too much sitting – as a potential workplace health and safety concern. A UK study has also suggested that an inactive lifestyle is, in itself, a risk factor for early death, as well as a risk factor for conditions such as obesity, heart disease and cancer.¹³ All of this has direct, and indirect, economic costs to employers. A research team which extensively studied office buildings found four “killer” variables of productivity (personal control, facility management, building depth, workgroup size) which are directly influenced by building design.¹⁴ Each of these “killer" variables represents not only a risk of harm and cost to individuals and the organisation, but also a lost opportunity for greater efficiency and productivity.

Checklist - Building for health, safety and wellbeing¹⁵

• Air quality
  Productivity improvements of between eight and 11 per cent are not uncommon as a result of better air quality.
• Windows
  Several studies in the last decade have estimated productivity gains as a result of proximity to windows. Experts now believe that it is the view
  through the window that is likely to be the most significant factor, particularly where that view offers a connection to nature.
• Thermal comfort
  Studies have consistently shown that personal control for employees over thermal comfort returns improvements in productivity.
• Noise and layout
  Being productive is practically impossible when noise provides an unwarranted distraction. Noise distraction relates closely to interior layout. There are a whole range of fit-out issues which can have an effect on wellbeing and productivity including workstation density and having breakout and
  social spaces.

Conclusion

While office occupier requirements have barely changed in decades, it is becoming ever more apparent that the quality of workspaces can have a significant impact on health and wellbeing. The spotlight on workplace health and safety continues to shine, bringing with it an increased risk of liability exposure for employers. A workplace that is designed to optimise the health, safety and wellbeing of its occupants is therefore more likely to attract organisations who proactively manage health and safety, and who want to take advantage of the productivity and cost savings that a well-designed workplace can offer.

Notes

<sup>1.  Health, Wellbeing & Productivity in Offices, World Green Building Council
2.  “Building Better Places”, House of Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment, 19 February 2016
3.  “The impact of physical environments on employee wellbeing – topic overview”, Public Health England, 2015
4.  See further www.breeam.com
5.  “Health Wellbeing & Productivity in Offices”, World Green Building Council, pages 7-9
6.  “Lighting at work”, Health and Safety Executive, 1997
7.  Chueng I. (2013) Impact of workplace daylight exposure on sleep, physical activity, and quality of life, American Academy of Sleep
Medicine 368
8.  "Promoting Positive Mental Health at Work", ACAS 2014
9.  "Workplace related Stress, Anxiety and Depression Statistics in Great Britain 2016", Health and Safety
Executive
10.  "Helping Britain Work Well", HSE, 2016; "Management Standards for work-related stress", HSW, 2007.
11.  "Preventing psychological injury under work health and safety laws", Safe Work Australia, 2014
12.  RIBA "Good design - it all adds up" page 16
13.  "Physical inactivity kills twice as many as obesity, new study claims", The Independent, 14 January 2015.
14.  Leaman A and Bordass B "Productivity in buildings: the "killer" variables; Clements-Croome D (2000), Creating the productive workplace, E& FN Spoon, London
15.  Drawn from "Health Wellbeing & Productivity in Offices", World Green Building Council, page 8</sup>