What is Stress Risk?
‘Stress is the point at which pressure causes physical or mental damage’
It is fine to put your employees under pressure as long as it does not cause stress. Unnecessary and avoidable stress is unacceptable.
An employer risks liability for an employee’s stress related health issues if he knows that an individual employee is suffering stress because of the demands of the job, and then does nothing about it.
All employers with five or more employees should under the 'Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999' undertake stress risk assessments. These should be undertaken by competent persons, i.e. who has experience / training in both the risk assessment process and the identification and management of organisational stress.
The 'Health and Safety at Work Act 1974' allows employers to restrict their actions to 'reasonably practicable measures', however the definition of reasonably practicable measures is vague and is usually established retrospectively by the judge following legal action.
We are able to provide the full stress risk assessment service described below or simply help you as and when you need help.
A Formal Stress Risk assessment:
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1.
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Undertake a full stress risk identification, sometimes referred to as a stress audit. We normally recommend:
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Employee consultation, e.g. -
Key staff interviews
Identified 'hot-spot' staff interviews
Examination of existing records for evidence of stress problems
Sickness and absenteeism
Accidents
Staff appraisals (where permitted)
Staff incidents and complaints
Overtime and reworking
Examination of working environment issues.
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2.
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From the results of the stress risk identification process, an assessment of the level of the risk of each stress risk identified is made.
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3.
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Existing stress minimisation measures are examined to determine if these are sufficient to reduce the stress risk to 'low' as required under the 'Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations'.
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4.
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Any risks at this stage that remain above 'low' is examined and appropriate additional stress risk minimisation measures investigated to be implemented as appropriate.
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You always remain in full control of the process.
We present a full report at each of the above stages indicating both our assessment results and recommended additional stress risk minimisation measures.
When the work-related stress within an organisation has been identified and risk assessed, the agreed reasonably practicable measures should be applied to reduce any remaining risk to 'low'. There are many ways in which this can be done, however it always remains your choice on what to implement.
As corporate stress management professionals we are familiar with the various ways in which stress risk can be reduced and can recommend and help you implement the most appropriate for your site conditions and set up systems to monitor feedback.
