Presented by: Charlene Neuhoff, Instep Ltd at OHSIG 2014, Thursday 11/9/14, Mental Health Forum, Limelight Room 1, 10.45am

1. Sustained and high wellbeing – But with too much
caffeine?
Charlene Neuhoff
Intern Psychologist Instep Limited Mental Health Foundation Massey University

2. Situation
• Electricity and internet supplier in the South
Island.
• The workforce is unionised.
• Safety conscious.
• Employees do dangerous work:
- joining fibre optic cables
- traffic control
- operating heavy and expensive machinery
- literally work in the trenches
- risk of trench collapse
- underground contaminants
- working at heights
- risk of electrocution

4. Situation
• The employer renumerates well and many
employees live on lifestyle blocks.
• The employees are doing ok, but seem a bit
tired, especially during busy periods.
• Workload rapidly increasing as a result of
the growth of dairy farming in the South
Island.

5. Complication
• The company expect their business growth
to continue.
• This will put more pressure on the
employees.
• Employer and union not willing to
compromise on safety.
• The company want to put safe guards in
place before things get busier.

6. Need
• Employer wants their workforce to know they
will not let them fall through the cracks. They
want to monitor their health in some way.
• Employer wants to manage the increased risk
they will be taking on as a result of being
busier.
• Employer expressed their need by requesting
the introduction of an alcohol and drug
programme (i.e. random testing &
rehabilitation)

8. Response
• Encouraged the company to channel their
efforts into a wellbeing approach - Not an
approach focused on AOD detection and
rehabilitation.
• Wellbeing approach would encompass and
address AOD issues by first working to reduce
the incidence of the causes of AOD problems.
• Advised the company that a punitive approach
could not only set the unions back up, but also
would not accomplish the outcome they were
after.

9. Response
• Company already had a comprehensive safety
policy, so a complementary health and
wellbeing strategy was drafted.
• This health and wellbeing policy encompassed
wellbeing training for staff.
• It was decided that decisions around further
action by the company would be better
informed by knowledge of where employees
were struggling and where they were doing
well.
• Data from employees was collected
anonymously from staff during wellbeing
training. This data was then aggregated into a
company wellbeing profile.

10. Employees completed their own
individual profile
then individual responses were
aggregated to build a company profile
Risk 1.
Sleep
profile
LENGTH OF SLEEP 5.
Inso-mnia
6.
Sleep
apnoea
7.
Narco
-lepsy
8.
Gastric
reflux
9.
Rest-less
legs
10.
Sleep
habits
11.
Sleep
enviro
-ment
12.
Sleep
disturb
-ance
by
partner
13.
Sleep
before
first
night
shift
14.
Travel
15.
Out-side
activ-ities
16.
Family
commi
tments
17.
Work
environ-ment
18.
Work
stress
19.
Health
&
Self-care
20.
Major
health
issues
21.
Caffeine
use
22.
Alcohol
use
23.
Is your
drinking
danger-ous?
24.
Drugs
to
help
sleep
25.
Smoke
Before
sleep
26.
Exercise
2.
Days
off
3.
Day
shift
4.
Night
shift
M F
Low
Risk
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Mod
Risk
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
2
4 4 4 4 4 4 4
5 5 5 5 2 2 2 2 2 5 5 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
High
Risk
7 7 7 7 3 3 3 3 3 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
3
7 7 7 7 7 7 7
8 8 8 8 4 4 4 4 4 8 8 4 4 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
9 9 9 9 5 5 5 5 5 9 9 5 5 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

11. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
16: How Resilient Are You
15: Caffeine Drinks per Day
14: Are You an Aggressive
Driver
13: How Well Do You Look
After Yourself
12: Is Yours a Healthy
Lifestyle
11: Your Sleeping Habits
10: Your Work Enviro
9: Your Family
Commitments
8: Your Sleeping Enviro
7: Sleep Impact of your
Working Long Hours or…
6: What are your Hours of
Sleep
5: What Is Your Sleep Type
4: How Tired Are You
3: What Style Do You Prefer
to Use
2: Who is in Charge
1: How Stressed Are You
Number of Dependents
Employees
CompanyWellbeing Profile

12. Benchmarking Within Wellbeing Profile
Current Company 2014 (n = 53)
Australian Companies 2003-2014 (n = >50,000)
21%
30%
23%
45%
35%
Caffine
19%
6%
21%
AU Companies:
Caffeine
EA Networks:
Caffeine
Caffeine Assessment Results: Comparison
Low Risk Low-Med Med-High High Risk
Current Company:

13. Effects of Arousal When Very Fatigued
High Arousal
Fatigued Rested
Low Arousal
Safe
- Rested
- Moderate Arousal
Low-Mod Risk
- Rested
- Low Arousal
High Risk
- Fatigued
- High Arousal
Extreme Risk
- Fatigued
- Low Arousal

14. When Driving While Tired Caffeine Can Improve
Performance
Sagaspe, et al.
(2007)

15. Response
• Overall employees had quite a high wellbeing
profile; the company and employees
themselves were doing well, but they were
tired.
• Going forward we recommended the employer
focus on helping their employees manage
fatigue (i.e. fatigue management training,
review of manageable workload, talk about
things they could help with staff).
• Suggested feedback of assessment results to
employees (awareness of where they were all
struggling).
• Recommended ways to help employees engage
in strategic caffeine use.

16. Sustained and high wellbeing – But with too much
caffeine?
Charlene Neuhoff
Intern Psychologist Instep Limited Mental Health Foundation Massey University