Work Related Stress

[fishtank]

No. 454/10 Ref EX5 Date: 24 May 2010

To: All Branches

Dear Colleagues

Work Related Stress - HSE Figures Show It Remains A Major Issue - HSE Guidance

The HSE once again is emphasising that stress is a major issue in workplaces and is directing health and safety professionals to examine its statistics on the issue, in order to ascertain the magnitude of the problem in the UK.
Some of the key points about stress in the UK recently published by the HSE:
• In 2008/09, an estimated 415,000 individuals in Britain who worked in the last year believed that they were experiencing work-related stress at a level that was making them ill.
• Around 16.7% of all working individuals thought their job was very or extremely stressful.
• The annual incidence of work-related mental health problems in Britain in 2008 was approximately 5126 new cases per year. However, the HSE says: “This almost certainly underestimates the true incidence of these conditions in the British workforce.”
• Data from general practitioners indicates that 30.9% of all diagnoses of work-related ill health are cases of mental ill health, with an average length of sickness absence per certified case of 26.8 working days.
• Occupation groups with the highest levels of self-reported work-related stress are teachers, nurses, and housing and welfare officers, customer service workers, and certain professional and managerial groups.
• People working within public administration and defence also have high prevalence rates of self-reported work-related stress.
• Other groups with high incidence rates of work-related mental illness include medical practitioners and those in public sector security-based occupations such as police officers, prison officers, and UK armed forces personnel.

The HSE is urging employers and health and safety professionals to manage and prevent work-related stress through effective stress policies and assessments based on the HSE Stress Management Standards.

What are the Management Standards for work related stress?
The Management Standards define the characteristics, or culture, of an organisation where the risks from work related stress are being effectively managed and controlled.
The Management Standards cover six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and well-being, lower productivity and increased sickness absence. In other words, the six Management Standards cover the primary sources of stress at work. These are:
• Demands – this includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment.
• Control – how much say the person has in the way they do their work.
• Support – this includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues.
• Relationships – this includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour.
• Role – whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles.
• Change – how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation.

The Management Standards represent a set of conditions that, if present, reflect a high level of health well-being and organisational performance.
The Management Standards:
• demonstrate good practice through a step by step risk assessment approach;
• allow assessment of the current situation using surveys and other techniques;
• promote active discussion and working in partnership with employees to help decide on practical improvements that can be made;
• help simplify risk assessment for work related stress by:
o identifying the main risk factors for work related stress;
o helping employers focus on the underlying causes and their prevention; and
o providing a yardstick by which organisations can gauge their performance in tackling the key causes of stress.
See attached:

Health and Safety Executive Guide INDG430 - 'How to tackle work-related stress - A guide for employers on making the Management Standards work'

Indg430.pdf

Health and Safety Executive Guide HSG218 - 'Managing the causes of work-related stress - A step-by-step approach using the Management Standards'

Hsg218.pdf

Yours Sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer