Health and Safety Executive

Tackling work-related Stress

Steve Lee Senior Occupational Psychologist, HSE Stress Priority Programme Team

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The Next 30 Minutes

• The Health and Safety Commission’s Approach • Expectations and Existing Guidance • Management Standards

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What is stress?

• • • • • A natural reaction to excessive pressure; When perceived demands exceed the individual’s ability to cope; It is not a disease but if excessive/prolonged can lead to mental and physical ill health; There is no such thing as positive stress (only positive pressure), stress is always negative; Stress is not a recognised medical condition

HSE Definition:-

“Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them.”

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Why tackle work-related stress?

•

1 in 5 people

find work either very or extremely stressful • •

13.4 million working days lost

in 2001 due to stress, depression and anxiety (SWI01/02) Stress costs the UK economy

£3.7-3.8 billion

(HSE estimate – 1995/96 prices) per annum •

Teachers and nurses

have the highest prevalence rates of work-related stress (SWI01/02 & Bristol SHAW Study 1998)

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Working within HSC’s strategy

• Sensible management of risk • Offering advice and support • Targeting resources on the biggest risks • Communicating the strategy effectively

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Where will this take us?

• Towards self-regulating businesses who invest in health and safety as an marker of positive organisational performance • Towards a workplace culture where the business, moral and ethical cases for health and safety is recognised and accepted

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Stress Grand Plan

• Develop standards of good management practice for a range of stressors (D, C, S, R, R, C) • Better equip enforcement officers to be able to handle the issue routinely • Encourage a more comprehensive approach • Tell people what they can already do

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Legal Expectations

• • The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (1974) • places a general duty on employers to protect the health of their employees.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (1999).

• place a duty on employers to risk assess for health and safety risks, including risks to mental health.

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HSC/E’s Expectations

• • • We expect employers to: Implement the guidance Undertake the 5 Steps of Risk Assessment Consult with Safety Reps and their Workforce

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Existing help and support

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Existing Help and Support

•

Tackling work-related stress – a manager’s guide:

offers practical advice on identifying the nature and scale of stress in the workplace and how to deal with it.

•

Real Solutions, Real People:

helps managers work with their employees to identify locally applicable solutions to work-related stress. • Both documents are available from HSE books (T: 01787 881165, W: www.hsebooks.co.uk

) at a total cost of £25.00.

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Why Management Standards?

• Stress is a unique problem • Guidance preferred to regulatory approach • Poor work design leads to ill health • How to measure current state?

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Management Standards Development

• The development process included a pilot study (Autumn 2003) and a public consultation exercise (Summer 2004) • HSE’s partners on stress said that the standards should be: • Based on evidence • Practical and easy to use • Applicable across the board • About problems and their solutions • Flexible and adaptable • Supported by a business case

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How Can We Measure Our Performance?

• Along with its Stress Partners, HSE has developed a suite of Management Standards • The Standards provide a yardstick against which to measure performance in tackling the causes of work-related stress • They are supported by indicator tools

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The Management Standards (1)



Demands:

e.g. workload, deadlines, work scheduling, physical environment 

Control:

e.g. decision authority, autonomy, pacing, interruptions 

Support:

organisational, managerial colleagues; practical and emotional

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The Management Standards (2)

  

Relationships:

e.g. interpersonal conflict, bullying and harassment

Role:

e.g. ambiguity, conflict, image, responsibility

Change:

e.g. new ways of working, new technology, change strategies, consultation and involvement

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Where to start

• • The Management Standards for work-related stress were launched on

3 November 2004

• The Standards help organisations to undertake a 5 step risk assessment on work-related stress • The Standards combine with HSE’s existing guidance: • Real solutions, real people; and • Tackling work-related stress: a managers’ guide To form the

Management Standards Approach Step by step guidance on the approach is available free on HSE’s website at www.hse.gov.uk/stress

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The Management Standards Approach

• The approach is not about eliminating stress entirely -it encourages organisations to take pragmatic steps towards improving their workplaces • The Management Standards approach is targeted principally at medium to large employers • Employee engagement is critical to the success of the Management Standards approach • Consultation with the workforce and their representatives is the key to developing effective solutions • The approach is based on the best available evidence and is broadly supported by the academic community

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The Management Standards - Outline

• The Management Standards look at six areas of work: Demands, Control, Support, Relationships, Role and Change • Each area contains simple statements that describe what would be happening in an organisation achieving the Standards • The Standards help organisations to prioritise areas of highest risk. • The standards are about using good management practice to prevent work-related stress.

• The Standards are not designed to tackle individual responses or stress outside the workplace

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The Management Standards - Process

• Gaining organisational buy in: senior managers, trades unions, line managers and staff • • An initial indicator tool survey across the workforce Follow up focus groups to verify the results of the indicator tool and develop solutions • • • Implementation/intervention phase Review and results The aim is to shift the UK workforce from an undesirable state to a desirable one

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Setting achieveable goals

The current UK picture as reported by employees in the OMNIBUS Survey (ONS) in February/March 2004 Top 20%

Harm >

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Achieving success

Organisations are encouraged to move towards the reported success of the top twenty percent of employers as reported by their employees (2004) Top 20%

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The Management Standards - Next steps

• Wider implementation – a logical approach • Targeting resources to support key sectors • Providing information and guidance to all employers

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Coming up…

• New guidance for SMEs – a revised Work Positive pack developed in association with NHS Health Scotland • Other paper based guidance on the Standards to complement the on-line guidance now available • Upgraded online analysis tools • Proactive support and guidance from HSE and partners, including in the Education sector

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Any questions?

www.hse.gov.uk/stress [email protected]

Steve Lee, Senior Occupational Psychologist, HSE Stress Priority Programme Team