date: 4 November 2002 embargo: 00.01 hrs Tuesday 5 November 2002

Attention: Industrial, social affairs and health correspondents, regionals, personnel, safety

2 pages

Work overload is main cause of stress at work

Ahead of National Stress Awareness Day tomorrow (Wednesday), the TUC has revealed today (Tuesday) that work overload is the main cause of stress at work across Britain. A TUC survey of 5,300 union safety reps shows that stress is the main health and safety concern in Britain’s workplaces.

80% of safety reps who reported that stress was a problem at their workplace said workload was a major cause, half of the reps also cited change and staff cuts as factors.

To try to tackle the UK’s stress epidemic, the TUC is today (Tuesday) launching a web-based tool that enables safety reps to assess the risk of stress in the workplace, before using the TUC online stress MOT to diagnose any problems (find both at: www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/). The TUC is also offering online help and advice for all workers in identifying and dealing with stress at work at www.worksmart.org.uk/health/index.php

TUC General Secretary John Monks said:

'Britain’s workplaces are some of the most stressed in Europe, and it’s time to stop working harder and start working smarter. Long hours and heavy workloads combine to make a lethal mixture which leads to heart attacks, mental illness and social problems like divorce and alcoholism. It’s plainly a false economy to work people into the ground, and it’s the number one problem that needs to be tackled.'

The worst industries for stress, according to union safety reps, are:

Central government (72.5% of safety reps in government were worried about the effects stress was having on their colleagues)

Banking, finance and insurance (72%)

Education (71.5%)

Health service (61.2%)

Construction (15.3%) and manufacturing (30.8%) safety reps were the least likely to notice stress as a workplace hazard.

The regions where stress is worst are:

South East (60.5% of safety reps in the region cited stress as a problem)

South West (60%)

London (59%)

Wales (57%)

Scotland (56.5%)

East Anglia was the least stressed out region, but even so nearly half (49.2%) of safety reps in the area said that it was one of their main concerns.

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Press release (500 words) issued 5 Nov 2002