Stress

HSE research in 2001/2 has revealed about five million workers in the UK experience stress and half a million believe it makes them ill, costing the nation £3.7 billion. The 2003 Stressed Out survey by the Samaritans, the UK emotional support charity, found: "People's jobs are the single biggest cause of stress... with over a third (36 per cent) of Briton's citing it as one of their biggest stressors."

Our hearts and minds can face intolerable pressures from work. Overwork, bullying, low job control and satisfaction, job insecurity, new ways of working, poor work organisation and pace of work can all cause work stress.

The mental symptoms of stress range from sleeplessness and listlessness through to clinical depression and suicide. The physical effects range from appetite loss and nausea through to heart damage and stroke.

A workplace with a lot of stress may suffer from high absenteeism, higher risk of accidents, industrial relations problems, demotivation and high labour turnover.

The HSE have produced Management Standards on how employers should tackle workplace stress. In the absence of specific legislation, these standards, based on the risk assessment approach, are seen as the most useful method of tackling stress in the workplace. The TUC has produced guidance for safety representatives on these Standards. The guide outlines the standards and explains what safety representatives need to do to ensure that their employer takes effective measures to reduce stress. You can view the guide here

Links

Take the TUC stress MOT!

Tackle the hassle: risk assessing stress A step by step Powerpoint guide

TUC It's about time! campaign

Hazards Worked to death webpages

Hazards Get-a-life! webpages:

HSE stress pages

UK National Work Stress Network

TeacherStress web site