by R.L Hanlon

Created on: February 16, 2008

It doesn't matter how many Occupational Health and Safety regulations my place of employment put into place, my job is highly stressful and demanding. Health and Safety is rarely considered when there is deadlines and pressure, it's all forgotten.

The new phone headsets, the new furnishings, the hi-tech computers and the resources available to me, costing the company thousands, do not lower the amount of stress my job entails.

To give you some background into my employment and why it's stressful, this is what I do.

I work in the Dispatch Center of a very busy towing company. I know you may be thinking, "Towing industry, how stressful can that be?" There are two sections to the dispatch job, one for machinery and the other for cars. I can do both functions but am only to do one at a time. We have a large contract that requests we arrive at each job within sixty minutes of it being entered into the computer. Police towing requests the truck must arrive within thirty minutes so police can get onto other matters. On a busy day, we have more jobs then what we do available vehicles at our disposal. Together, both fleets total nearly one hundred vehicles.

Being a twenty-four hour company, these trucks are rostered on through scattered hours and may incorporate more than one driver and scattered start and finish times.

Consider this and then surround yourself with incompetent and insufficient support, management who questions and interferes with decision and the unpredictable actions of trucks and human error. Then consider a mobile phone constantly ringing with each individual driver's requests, for a taxi to be organized or a membership to be questioned. Then there is a phone handset that rings with customer requests and perpetual interruptions from your support staff asking about delays and Estimated Times of Arrival.

Phew! Just thinking and writing about it has my blood pumping.

There are very few of us who can survive in this type of environment and the demands that are asked, the staff turn over is evident of that. But in saying so, I love this environment. I thrive on stress and the adrenalin it creates. Following are the ways I have learned to maintain my sanity within this environment and how I remain positive and productive.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE STRESS

Some people, like myself thrive on stress. I love to perch on the edge of my seat and you can often here me saying, "Bring it on." Whereas beside me I have someone who does not like to be under pressure. I hear groans

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