ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the second broad category of cases that have involved trauma in the workplace. The cases discussed in the previous chapter involved the psychiatric injury suffered by employees as the result of confronting the death, injury or peril of either themselves or others (including fellow employees). By contrast, the cases in this chapter involve the psychiatric injury suffered by employees as a result of non-life threatening factors in the environment in which they work. These "environmental stress cases" may themselves be conveniently divided into three sub-groups as follows:
• a pressured work environment, which may involve stress from overwork and/or inadequate resources;
• a hostile work environment, which may involve stress from bullying, intimidation and/or humiliation; and
• a punitive work environment, which may involve stress from disciplinary action, including suspension and dismissal.
