HSE Management Standards for Work Related Stress

There are legal , moral and business reasons for employers to reduce Work Related Stress and the HSE Management Standards provide a structure to enable employers to achieve as stress free an environment for their employees as possible.

Legal: 1. Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 -under this employers have a general duty to ensure, as far as

                 is reasonably practicable, the health of their employees. This includes taking steps to ensure they

                do not suffer stress-related ill health as a result of their work.

             2. Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 - under this employers must assess the

                 risk to all employees of work-related stress.

             3. Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005 - includes mental ill-health.

Moral: A duty of care by employers towards employees and between employees.

Business: 1. The cost of Absentism is rising annually, on average £531 per employee per year (2006) a rise

                         of £97 on 2005.

                     2. Self-reported work-related illnesses, depression or anxiety acount for 12.8 million lost working

                         days per year in the UK.

                     3. Direct costs of absenteeism: Salary of absent employee

                                                                    Replacement cover

                                                                    Lost time in service or production

                     4. Indirect costs of absenteeism: Unnecessary high staffing levels and overtime payments

                                                                       Delayed production

                                                                       Lower quality or levels of service

                                                                       Disruption of the flow of work

                                                                       Low morale and general dissatisfaction resulting in low productivity

                                                                       Poor customer satisfaction or relationships

                        (ACAS 2005)

The Standards

There are six areas of work that HSE has identified as the causes of stress in the workplace:

Demands - includes workload, work patterns and the work environment

Control - how much say a person has in the way they do their work

Support - encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and

               colleagues

Relationships - promoting positive working to avoid conflict and ealing with unacceptable behaviour

Role - whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the the organisation ensures

           that the person does not have conflicting roles

Change - how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation