Work–family interference, psychological distress, and workplace injuries

We draw on conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, ) to investigate in two studies the relationship between work–family interference (i.e., work–family conflict and family–work conflict) and workplace injuries as mediated by psychological distress. In S tudy 1, we use split survey data from a sample of UK health care workers ( N = 645) to first establish the model, and then cross‐validate it, finding that work–family conflict (but not family–work conflict) was partially related to workplace injuries via psychological distress. In S tudy 2, we extend the model with a separate two‐wave sample of manufacturing and service employees ( S tudy 2; N = 128). We found that psychological distress fully mediated the relationship between work–family conflict and workplace injuries incurred 6 months later, controlling for prior levels of workplace injuries. The implications of making workplaces safer by enabling employees to better manage competing work and home demands are discussed. Practitioner points This research illustrates how the stress from managing work and family is related to more frequent workplace injuries. Reducing psychological distress – particularly from the conflict between balancing work and home domains – may be a way of keeping workers physically safe.