Stress Risk Support Services

The HSE define work related stress as

"The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them."

Stress or Distress?

Facts:

• About 1 in 5 people say they find their work either very or extremely stressful.
• Work-related stress accounts for over a third of all new incidences of ill health.
• Each case of stress-related ill health leads to an average of 30.9 working days lost.
• A total of 12.8 million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety in 2004/5.

The Health & Safety at work Act 1974 requires employers to secure the health, safety and welfare of employees at work (including mental health); providing a safe place of work, safe systems of work and information and training.

The 'Management Regs' (1999) require "suitable and sufficient" risk assessments of health and safety risks at work to be undertaken; including risk assessment of stress-related ill-health.

In 2003, the HSE commissioned the Institute for Employment Studies to carry out some research entitled "Best practice in rehabilitating employees following absence due to work-related stress".

There are 6 aspects in the summary of best practice:

1. Having a written policy or guidelines
2. Overseeing the rehabilitation process
3. Integrating roles and responsibilities for rehabilitating
4. Ensuring Stress awareness in line managers
5. Having good awareness of return-to-work or rehabilitation policy
6. Monitoring sickness absence patterns

COPE can support the audit or development and introduction of any of the above best practice interventions for your organisation. For a free no obligation meeting with one of our specialist practitioners please register your interest using our enquiry form.