People experiencing work-related trauma have reported the following reactions:

• Experiencing physical symptoms without a medical explanation for their persistence
• Having original symptoms become worse or generalize to other situations
• Feeling out of control – unexpected episodes of tearfulness, disrupted sleep patterns, appetite disturbances, panic attacks
• Having difficulty concentrating and/or experiencing memory loss or impairment
• Being hypervigilant – very tense and easily startled
• Having stomach disturbances separate from injuries related to trauma
• Increased consumption of alcohol and/or drugs

Changes to relationships in work environment:

• Being afraid of returning to workplace
• Becoming concerned and anxious about the safety of the work environment
• Changing regular work routines to avoid physical reminders of the event
• Avoiding performing job activities related to the traumatic event or refusing to use equipment or follow policies and/or procedures associated with the trauma
• Experiencing flashbacks of trauma triggered by auditory, visual and olfactory cues in the environment
• Decreasing time spent at work (sick leave, vacation, unexplained absences)
• Questioning whether or not to remain working at “this” job or “this” profession
• Feeling foggy and numb
• Being inattentive to the task at hand that leads to increased accidents and errors
• Deteriorating performance and or customer relations
• Questioning own competency to perform the job

Changes in relationship to co-workers:

• Feeling isolated – acting as though nothing has happened
• Fearing blame for the occurrence of the event
• Feeling angry about actions or in-actions of co-workers
• Losing sense of personal and professional self-esteem around colleagues
• Feeling marked or exposed
• Withdrawing from usual kinds of peer interactions

Changes in relationship to management:

• Increasing conflicts with authority figures
• Feeling betrayed and abandoned
• Withdrawing into a position of helplessness rather than usual problem solving
• Becoming “militant” about policy and procedural deficiencies
• Seeking some evidence of “justice” in management response to incident
• Turning to legal action if distress is not recognized and dealt with