WINNIPEG, Man. – SAFE Work Manitoba (SWM), the province’s public agency devoted to preventing occupational injury and illness, used National Mental Health Awareness Week as an opportunity to promote its new strategy on psychological health in the workplace. The strategy was announced at a press conference in Winnipeg on the morning of May 2, featuring representatives from SWM, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and FWS Group, according to a media advisory. The organization’s goal is to help employers apply the National Standard of Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, by providing helpful tools to prevent psychological injury to workers and include psychological health as part of workplace safety culture. “Physical health has long been the measure of worker safety and health. We now recognize that psychological health and safety in the workplace is also important,” SWM chief operating officer Jamie Hall said in a media statement. “Psychological harm can cause just as much pain, suffering and cost as physical injuries.” About 500,000 people across the country miss work because of psychological issues every week, resulting in a loss of $20 billion per year, according to information from CMHA.