1. Tackle the Hassle risk assessment and stress
(Title slide)
JPaul Tackle the Hassle

2. Why risk assessment?
Employers have a general duty of care towards their employees. They also have to “ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health safety and welfare of employees and others affected by their work” (HSWA 74)
The Management Regulations (MHSWR 99) require employers to (amongst other things):
prevent and control risks arising from all hazardous activities
consult employees and their representatives on all matters affecting their health and safety at work
make effective arrangements for managing health and safety and appoint competent persons to advise them
carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments
apply the general principles of prevention when assessing risks
identify ‘vulnerable groups’
record risk assessment findings (if there are 5 or more employees) and
monitor and review their effectiveness
The ACoP accompanying MHSWR says that employers should
prevent risks to physical and mental health
address risks at source and apply the hierarchy of prevention
evaluate risks and tackle them in order of priority
We need to look at the things that cause stress at work, or make it worse.
JPaul Tackle the Hassle

3. What should we be looking at?
So what should we be looking at in risk assessment?
How should we be going about it?
And what are the problem areas?
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4. Main sources of stress at work
physical
psychosocial
organisational
There are three main sources of stress at work.
physical stressors
psychosocial stressors
organisational stressors
Physical stressors include noise, heat and vibration. Workers are exposed to them not only in their physical working environment but also sometimes electronically or mechanically.
Psychosocial stressors concern social factors and relationships, including behaviours, attitudes and culture. They can also involve things like economic and social or family status (or attitudes to them at work and in wider society). They affect not only what people do but also the way they think and feel and how they are perceived by others.
Organisational stressors are sources of stress that arise from the nature of the work organisation -for example, systems of work, working conditions, working time arrangements, organisational structures and resources, management and supervision, staffing levels and so on.
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5. Risk factors for stress - HSE
culture
demands
control
relationships
change
role
support, training and
factors unique to the individual
The HSE has identified a number of key risk factors for stress. They group them under these headings. They don’t have to be tackled all at once, but it is clear that they are often inter-related.
The HSE’s guidance “Tackling Stress at Work” gives details of the causes of stress at work, and what can be done to prevent them. Some examples are also given here and on the TUC website.
JPaul Tackle the Hassle

6. Major life events bereavement - partner or close relative divorce
severe relationship problems
severe financial worries
long-term separation
own serious illness
serious illness of close relative or friend
moving house
taking out mortgage
job loss
children leaving home
Work is not the only source of stress in people’s lives. Stress can also be caused by events outside the workplace.
This is a list of major life events that are well known personal stressors. They are not within the employer’s control. But the effects of stress on the individual need to be taken into account in the workplace, not only because they affect the individual, and make them temporarily more susceptible to stress at work, but also because the combined effects of stress both at home and at work can make matters worse. The employer can and should control the risks of stress at work. Furthermore stress at work can affect people’s personal and family lives, and their families, and can even lead to increased risks of major life events such as serious stress-related illness or relationship breakdown.
There is a parallel with manual handling injuries here. If an individual injures their back doing DIY at home, a responsible employer would take this into account when allocating duties and ensure that work activities did not place him or her at risk of further injury. The same principle can be applied to stress.
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7. 5 steps to risk assessment - HSE
1. Look for the hazards
2. Identify people at risk
3. Evaluate risks and
identify control measures
4. Record main findings
- implement them
5. Monitor and review effectiveness
- revise if necessary
The HSE Guidance on risk assessment sets out a 5-step approach.
If you include consultation and implementation there are actually seven steps to prevention! Consultation should happen at every stage...
1. Look for the hazards (and consult workers and their representatives!)
- what could cause harm and how?
2. Identify people at risk
- who could be harmed, and how?
- is anyone particularly vulnerable?
- what are the risks to expectant new and nursing mothers and the unborn / nursing child?
3. Evaluate the risks
- what preventive measures are in place?
- what else needs to be done?
- what are the priorities?
4. Record the main findings (and implement them!)
5. Monitor and review their effectiveness (revise them if necessary)
- have they been implemented properly?
- are they working effectively?
- are they still valid?
- has anything changed?
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8. Common problems misunderstandings focus methods and approach
implementation
There are some common problems in risk assessment and stress.
There are misunderstandings about the nature of stress and the stress response.
There is confusion between pressure(to which someone is exposed) and stress (which is a response to too much or too little perceived pressure) and between the stress response (which is a normal physiological response to a perceived problem or threat) and ill health (which can result from unresolved stress or continued exposure to stressors).
The approach to risk assessment is the same for stress as for other risks. It needs to focus on the causes, not just the effects. But there are different methods that can be applied to identifying hazards and evaluating, monitoring and reviewing risks and priorities.
The main problems with implementing risk assessments is lack of awareness and lack of commitment to action. The purpose of risk assessment to to ensure prevention of harm. That means that risk assessments must be implemented, monitored and reviewed to make sure they are effective. It is NOT a paper exercise.
It’s important to get the starting point right.
JPaul Tackle the Hassle

9. Common misunderstandings...
nature of stress
pressure v stress
nature of stress response
nature of signs and symptoms
prevention v cure
Stress is not an individual weakness. Nor is it just a question of mental health. The stress response is a normal physiological response that affects the whole body from hormone production to vital organs, including heart rate and muscle function.
Stress related illness can result from prolonged exposure to stressors, or can be an acute stress response (e.g. to trauma). Stress can be cumulative - like fatigue. Its effects may be physical as well as psychological - it can lead to lowered immunity, ulcers and heart attacks, not just to anxiety and depression. It has short-term symptoms but it can also do long term damage, including life-threatening conditions, unless preventive action is taken.
If people see the stress response or the symptoms as the problem, then they may see ‘coping strategies’ as the solution. While these may be helpful to the individual, they do not prevent the risks - they only control the response.
Risk assessment is designed to help prevent people being harmed at work, physically, mentally or emotionally. If work causes stress, then all the risks - not just the psychological risks - must be assessed.
For risks of stress to be properly identified, the assessors need a proper definition of stress - and they need to understand the nature of the stress response.
JPaul Tackle the Hassle

10. Problems with approach
Reactive
Proactive
assess effects
palliative measures
adapt workers
assess risks
preventive measures
adapt work
The focus for risk assessment needs to be the thing that cause stress, or contributes to it, not just the symptoms or effects on the individual. Otherwise the causes are not addressed. But if symptoms are used as an indicator or stress, then it is important to understand the full range of symptoms that may be involved.
Approaches can be reactive (wait till something goes wrong then deal with that as the problem) or proactive (try to foresee what could go wrong, and prevent it before anyone comes to harm).
Tackling the causes and making the necessary changes in the workplace can ensure that the workforce is protected. Tackling individual symptoms and requiring the individual to change their perception or their response may protect the status quo (at least in the short term) but it does not protect others, and may not protect the individual either.
protects status quo
protects workforce
JPaul Tackle the Hassle

11. Individual v collective solution
treatment
prevention
identify symptoms
adapt response
change behaviour /
perception
identify stressors
adapt work
change external
conditions / culture
So prevention and cure are two different things. Treatment may be needed, either in the form of employee assistance and support, or in the form of medical treatment and rehabilitation. But the collective remedy is to prevent harm before it actually happens. That’s where risk assessment comes in.
Individual remedy
Collective remedy
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12. Tackle the hassle - or the frazzle?
remove hazards
prevent and control risks 
remove effects
minimise and control symptoms
Risk assessment aims to address risks at source. If risks are prevented and controlled, then risks are reduced.
Treating symptoms of stress will not help to remove or control the risks of stress because it does not address the cause of the problem - only the effect. So the risks remain.
RISKS REDUCED
RISKS RETAINED
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13. Principles of prevention
Avoid / control risks
Tackle risks at source
Take account of individual
fit work to worker
Collective measures
Risk assessment steps can be applied different risks including stress. A comparison of manual handling assessment and stress risk assessment follows this section. The difference is that whilst manual handling may be a hazard, stress in itself is not. It’s the stressor (the thing which is causing the stress) that is the problem.
Legal duties:
MHSWR 99 (regs 3 and 4) Reg 4 sets out some general principles of prevention that should be applied when assessing risks. (summarised on slide)
See also Manual Handling Regs 92 - employers’ duty to avoid the need for hazardous MH activities, and also SRSC Regs 77 and Consultation Regs 96 - requirements to consult safety reps and employees.
Apply these principles
Apply the Hierarchy of Prevention
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14. Hierarchy of prevention
Remove the hazard if possible
Reduce to minimum
If risk remains:
Control risks / exposure
Protect worker
Should be approached in this order
tackle the hazard first - can it be removed / avoided?
Can it be minimised?
If risk remains -
can risks be controlled?
Can exposure to risks be minimised?
Protective measures are the last resort if there’s still a residual risk
What can be changed?
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15. Manual Handling Assessment
T ask
I ndividual
L oad
E nvironment
Task
purpose?
location / destination?
method?
equipment?
demands (physical / mental)?
intensity / duration / frequency / repetition?
time constraints / pace / control?
hazards and risks?
Individual
characteristics / capabilities?
information, instruction and training?
susceptibility / vulnerability?
risks to individual?
Load
weight / size / shape?
centre of gravity / stability?
ease of handling?
Environment
workplace / layout?
conditions (e.g. temperature / lighting)?
environmental hazards other activities / equipment?
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16. Manual Handling Assessment
PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Can task be avoided / redesigned?
Done differently? Mechanical aids?
Less demands?
Redesign load?
Reduce weight / size?
Stabilise / secure?
Alternative location?
Remove environmental hazards?
Controlled environment?
Individual training? Aids or adaptations? PPE?
This isn’t rocket science but it involved more than just teaching people lifting techniques!
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17. Stress Risk Assessment
W ork
O rganisation
R esources
R oles and relationships
I ndividual
E nvironment
D emands
Same principles apply to stress risk assessments. But there may be more things to consider - the interaction between them may also be important. They may have combined effects. But you can still tackle the risks at source. And you don’t have to tackle them all at once as long as you tackle the most serious ones first.
Here’s another possible acronym you can use if you want for stress risk assessment - WORRIED:
Work
Organisation
Resources
Roles and relationships
individual
Environment
Demands
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18. Stress Risk Assessment
WORK
work activities
tasks / job design
working methods
working times / location
workload / workflow / pace
worker’s control
work equipment and PPE
Look at the work people do and the way they have to do it
activities / tasks?
variety / repetition?
Methods and systems of work?
When and where is work done and for how long?
duration / frequency / intensity / pace?
How much control does the worker have over the job and how it is done?
What equipment is being used?
These are objective things. They can be measured and observed.
What could cause stress?
Remember the individual nature of the stress response - they may affect different people in different ways. The issue is whether they have the potential to cause harm! If they do, they need to be addressed.
Who might be harmed, when and how?
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19. Stress Risk Assessment
ORGANISATION
organisational structures
work organisation
management systems
pay systems
communications
change management
corporate culture / ethos
Organisational issues are often inter-related. For example, work organisation may be controlled by technology. Call centres are classic examples.
Organisational issues are not always visible but the effects can still have a major impact on work-related stress.
Work organisation is a major area. It includes staffing and shift arrangements, division of labour,work distribution, skill mix, management and operational decision-making, communications at all levels, change management and corporate culture. Systems include management procedures and pay systems. Unfair systems can be a major source of stress within an organisation.
All these things can impact on individuals but also on the organisation as a whole.
What could cause harm?
What are the risks involved?
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20. Stress Risk Assessment
RESOURCES
time?
people?
money?
materials and facilities?
equipment / technologies?
information, instruction, training and supervision?
welfare facilities / occupational health?
Resources play an important part in creating a healthy workplace. They may not be adequate. They include external resources (provided by the organisation or others) and internal resources (belonging to the individual). For example:
is there enough time to get the work done?
Are there enough people to do it / supervise it / manage it?
If there are budgetary constraints, what activities and resources do they restrict? How do they affect the organisation and the work?
suitable and sufficient supplies of materials and facilities required for the job / services / finished product?
equipment / technology? Are they fit for purpose? Do they work? Are they properly maintained?
Is there adequate information, instruction, training and supervision? Have needs been identified and met? Are managers and supervisors trained? Do people have the skills and experience they need for the job?
Are there adequate welfare facilities at all times? Are there any occupational health facilities?
What are the risk factors for stress?
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21. Stress Risk Assessment
ROLES and RELATIONSHIPS
role definition?
role ambiguity / conflict?
relationships with others?
attitudes / culture?
relationship between work
and personal life?
Roles and relationships are important risk factors for stress, both at work and at home. Because work can affect home, and vice versa, the roles and relationships people have at home are also relevant here. Role ambiguity is a know risk factor for stress. Are roles clearly defined? Is there any ambiguity or role conflict? Are perceptions of other people’s roles accurate and fair? Do they lead to conflict or risks of violence?
Working relationships are important too. Look at relationships between colleagues,teams, managers, decision-makers, support staff. What about members of the public, clients and customers and service users? On shared sites, what about contractors and other employers, and agency staff? Can people contact friends and family at work within reason if they need to?
What about the relationship between work and personal life? Is there a healthy work life balance? What prevents it?
Some of these issues concern the organisation, some concern individuals. Independent audits and union surveys can be particularly helpful here. They need to be be inclusive and anonymous. These can be highly sensitive issues. Confidentiality must be ensured.
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22. Stress Risk Assessment
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS
background / culture?
personal circumstances?
characteristics?
perception / response?
Individual factors also need to be considered. People are not all the same and neither is their stress response. What affects one person will not necessarily affect another, or it may not affect them in the same way. Differences in background and culture, skills and experience, personal circumstances, individual characteristics such as health status, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy age or disability as well as physical characteristics and personality type may all be relevant factors.
These factors, and past experiences, can affect perception and response to stressors both at work and at home. These are not individual weaknesses - they affect perception, susceptibility and response.
MHSWR requires you to record risks to ‘vulnerable groups’ and to young workers and expectant, new and nursing mothers.
Identifying these individual risk factors means recognising diversity. It involves handling sensitive personal information and it is therefore essential that there are assurances of confidentiality and care in the handling and recording of information.
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23. Stress Risk Assessment
ENVIRONMENT
physical?
psychosocial?
environmental
hazards and risks?
The working environment can be another source of occupational stress. ‘Environment’ covers both the physical environment and psychosocial environment. Look for:
(a) physical hazards / stressors - e.g.
heat /noise / vibration
hazardous substances
overcrowding / lack of physical privacy / confined spaces
poor workplace design and layout
postural problems / other ergonomic problems
(b) psychosocial hazards / stressors - e.g.
violence
lack of control
isolation
conflict
attitudes and culture
Workplace attitudes and culture are important here. Is personal privacy at work protected and is personal dignity at work respected? Is there any evidence of discrimination, harassment, bullying or abuse? What are the problems? Who is at risk?
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24. Stress Risk Assessment
DEMANDS
physical?
mental?
emotional?
What are the demands placed on the worker that could cause stress at work? There are many possible sources. Here are just a few examples:
Physical demands include:
physical effort (explosive or repetitive)
awkward / restricted postures
working long hours / at night / doing rotating shifts
working in hostile environments
meeting unrealistic performance targets / having to keep up with machines / other people
intensive listening or speaking (e.g. call centres staff, interpreters)
Physical stressors can include having too little as well as too much work.
Mental demands include:
mental effort (e.g. concentration / memory, attention to detail / precision / multi-tasking)
exercising responsibility (e.g. judgement / decision-making)
management (e.g. of time / people / resources / relationships)
Emotional demands include:
dealing with distressed / disturbed / sick / vulnerable people
handling hostility, conflict or trauma
working in emotionally-charged or distressing situations
These risk factors are closely linked to job role, work activities and workplace culture. External factors such as social attitudes are also important here. It’s important to recognise the things that could cause stress, whatever the source.
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25. Stress Risk Assessment
RISK EVALUATION
What preventive measures are already in place?
Are they sufficient / effective in preventing the risk?
Does anything else need to be done?
Which risks are the most serious?
What are the priorities?
Evaluating risks involves looking at what risks exist, and to what
extent they are already prevented or controlled by existing measures.
Then you have to decide whether anything else is need, and if so what
(apply the hierarchy of prevention here - tackle the risk at source, use
personal protective equipment as a last resort)
Identify which risks are the most serious, and tackle them in order of
priority
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26. Stress Risk Assessment
PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Can hazards be removed / avoided / contained / reduced? Can risks be controlled? Can people be protected?
What can be changed for the better? What control measures are needed?
What is needed in terms of information, instruction, training and supervision?
Preventive measures depend on the nature of the hazard or stressor, and
also on individual factors.
For example, if long working hours are a key stressor, then a shorter
working week or longer breaks between turns may be a possible solution.
But if the worker is a pregnant women, her doctor may advise her to
stop working nights because of the particular risks to her and her unborn
child of fatigue and stress at this time. If an employee is returning to
work following stress-related absence, for whatever reason, what
measures are needed to promote rehabilitation and prevent and control
any risks arising from stress at work?
It is essential to identify what control measures are needed - what needs
to be done to ensure health safety and welfare and prevent stress at work.
It’s also important to identify any needs for information, training,
instruction and supervision arising from the risk assessment. Remember
to include everyone’s needs from senior managers to agency workers and
temporary staff. In some cases (especially when dealing with violence and
abuse) information may also be needed for members of the public.
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27. Methods Quantitative (data analysis / trends)
stressors
contributory risk factors
stress symptoms / ill health
other indicators
Qualitative (in-depth exploration of issues)
subjective factors
inter-relationships
How do you know the extent of the problem? And how do you know
how many people are at risk, or what the priorities are?
There are many different ways of gathering information about stress
at work and its causes and effects. Both quantitative and qualitative
methods are useful.
Quantitative methods rely on facts and figures to show a picture of
the situation at the time the information was collected. They can focus on
both causes and effects of stress, as well as the incidence of stress
symptoms and stress-related ill health
Qualitative methods seek to explore issues in more depth, and can
be particularly useful in helping to understand the relationships
between different problems at work, and the way that different
stressors have a combined impact on people at work. This can include
the combined impact of personal and work stressors.
It is not always practicable to deal with all the possible issues at once.
The focus may have to be narrowed down so that it is manageable.
Or there may be a clear and urgent need for a particular problem to be
addressed.
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28. Sources Quantitative (data analysis / trends)
company records (pay, hours, overtime, turnover, attendance, accidents / incidents / ill health statistics etc.)
surveys / audits
Qualitative (in-depth analysis)
union research / risk mapping etc.
focus groups / workshops
individuals / individual cases / interviews
Sources of information are wide-ranging. They include both external and internal sources. Extensive data can be gathered about attitudes, incidence rates, employee behaviour and sickness absence, and employment records will also reveal information about organisational issues such as pay systems and working time arrangements.
Tracking the trends in data once it has been properly analysed (and properly interpreted) can help to show what problems exist both inside and outside a company. But not all organisations have the resources to conduct detailed audits or undertake extensive data analysis. They may need to rely more on qualitative methods - talking to people and listening to their concerns, for example, and simple data collection about turnover, incidents and absence rates, in order to get a fuller picture. This can lead to problems, especially if there are issues involving bullying or harassment within smaller workplaces. People are a crucial source of information - they are experiencing the job and its effects first hand. But they are unlikely to come forward with sensitive information if they fear that they will be identified. So it is important to build trust and confidence in the process and in the commitment to prevention, and to have access to union representation and/or advice and assistance in dealing with these issues.
Even for large companies, off-the-shelf questionnaires are unlikely to deal with the particular issues affecting the individual company and its staff. It is important to have a customised approach tailored to the particular needs of the organisation. Great care should be taken to ensure confidential handling of stress audits and staff surveys, where possible through independent advisors. Fear can be a real barrier to communication on sensitive issues. Independence and expertise can help to ensure that results are correctly interpreted. These can then be discussed by those responsible for taking the findings forward.
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29. Suitable and sufficient?
consultation
meaningful, in good time
inclusion
ALL workers / work activities / risks
hierarchy of prevention
tackle / control risks at source if possible
principles of prevention
adapt work to workers
vulnerable people
take account / make adjustments
ensure maternity protection
How much you need to do depends on how big the problem is and how much has already been done to prevent or control the risks.
MHSWR says you must ensure that the assessment is suitable and sufficient. This doesn’t mean you have to assess all the risks all at once, or that you have to do a full stress audit in order to start assessing the risks.
If stress is a risk associated with a hazardous activity (e.g. working long hours or dealing with the public) you can still start to tackle the risk at source, once you have identified it and assessed it, before waiting for a full audit of all the stressors in the organisation.
If there is a problem with the working environment, you can tackle the problem through normal health and safety risk assessment.
If there is a problem with workplace culture - such as discrimination or bullying - you can tackle the discrimination through effective equality or dignity at work policies.
If there is a problem with lack of control and input into decisions affecting people’s working lives and working conditions, you can tackle the problem - and many of the other stressors at work - by trying to develop effective partnerships for prevention and getting effective consultation and involvement.
If you do conduct a survey or an audit, it’s important to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate. Otherwise it may affect the findings, and people may feel aggrieved at being left out. This can be divisive and counter-productive.
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30. Working Together? What partnerships can deliver
meaningful consultation
agreed goals / action
shared understanding / knowledge
open 2-way communications
improved working relationships
positive culture change
greater trust / empowerment
better risk assessment
benefits all round
The TUC believes a partnership approach is the best way to tackle stress prevention at work.
Effective partnerships for prevention mean unions and employers working together to identify and solve health and safety problems at work - including the problems of stress at work.
Partnerships help by working for mutual benefit - creating a positive health and safety culture, improving working relationships and communications, and building trust by delivering benefits that work for different interest groups.
Here are some examples of partnerships that have helped stop stress at work by introducing measures that have addressed the problems that cause stress in the first place. Some have specifically looked at stress, violence and bullying. Others have looked at things that cause stress - even though they didn’t set out to deal with stress when they tackled the problems. They are useful examples of preventive measures.
What they have in common is that they have all tackled the risks at source. They have introduced preventive measures. There’s more than one way to stop stress at work, but it helps to do it together.
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31. A partnership approach: Stage 1
Recognising
stress
Communication
+ training
arrangements
Shared
understanding
Unions +
senior
management
AGREEMENT
Selecting
training
Commitment
to prevention
Reporting
lines
Tackling stress
together
The first example involves a corporate stress prevention initiative. This is a large inner-city local authority. The work activities are very diverse. So is the community they serve. The Council’s services range from libraries and leisure services to education and housing, and from estates management and highways to social services and environmental health. Occupational stressors include organisational change, heavy workloads, dealing with the public, lone working and violence. But each Directorate has its own particular problems and priorities.
The Council and the unions agreed to work together to introduce a comprehensive stress prevention strategy. They signed a formal agreement to this effect, setting out their aims and commitment to prevention.
The strategy involved two stages: the first stage was to set up a firm base and framework for the initiative, with a joint steering group role at corporate level.
This stage involved work on Authority-wide issues: policy development, selection of advisors and trainers, agreement on objectives, methods and approach, and the conduct of an independent stress audit across the whole Authority which could provide a clear picture of problems and problem areas.
competent
advisor
Steering
group
objectives
and approach
Policy
development
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32. A partnership approach: Stage 2
ACTION ALL AREAS
Publicise
policy / raise
awareness
Union
reps +
managers
ACTION
Local action
groups / plans
Survev / audit
/ stress MOT
Training -
all levels
Involve
everyone
Once the ‘big picture’ was clear, the next stage was to involve the different Directorates in joint action to consult staff, assess risks, address priorities and tackle stress in their own areas. Working Parties were set up in each Directorate. This was also done on a partnership basis, and extended ownership and involvement to local levels within the Authority.
The Steering group continued to have a strategic development and co-ordinating role, raising awareness, receiving reports and monitoring and reviewing progress in implementing the policy and the risk assessments.
Consult /
inform others
Review
findings
Report findings /
recommendations
Identify
priorities
RISK
ASSESSMENT
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33. Example: Tackling Bullying
policy development
roles, responsibilities and procedures
training and awareness-raising
monitoring and review
Another local authority example (Bournemouth Borough Council) concerns joint action to prevent bullying at work.
Here the unions and the Council agreed a policy on preventing bullying at work.
They also agreed to work together to ensure that it was actually implemented.
They developed procedures for handling complaints about bullying and harassment, defined roles and allocated responsibilities for both managers and union reps in supporting staff and handling complaints.
They also identified the need for training and awareness-raising at every level of the organisation. They used the joint TUC / Industrial Society Video and training pack as a basis for training trainers, managers, union reps and staff, and used GTS to deliver the courses. Courses were attended by union reps and managers and other members of staff, including senior management, in mixed groups across different directorates. This ensured that there was awareness at all levels right across the organisation.
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34. Example: Tackling Violence
policy
working party
reporting and recording
risks assessment / action
In the transport sector there have been several examples of partnership approaches to tackling violence at work, including London Transport and GNER.
For example, Tube unions and bosses formed a joint working party to address the problems, develop policy and improve procedures for reporting and handling violent incidents.
This was an important part of the risk assessment process. It helped improve reporting and sharing of information and this in turn helped to identify issues that needed to be addressed in risk assessments.
This was particularly important as it’s known that there is widespread under-reporting of violence (and threats of violence), but this information is needed to ensure that risks are properly identified and monitored, and that training and preventive measures are correctly targeted.
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35. Preventive measures - example 1
decision-making / control
working conditions / hours
work environment / culture
job security / change management
This is a large chemical manufacturing company in West Yorkshire, Hickson and Welch. In the last decade it has transformed its workplace culture and working relationships through partnership working, despite serious pressures due to global market competition. Partnership here has meant a far greater say for workers in the decisions affecting their work and working lives – and a much healthier workplace culture.
All decision-making, from risk assessment and audit findings to board-level decisions on business plans, is subject to wide-ranging consultation and union approval. This helps tackle the problems of lack of control and lack of input into decision making that are known risk factors for occupational stress.
Working time arrangements and shift systems are operated by self-managing teams within agreed standards on staffing levels and skill mix. They can swap shifts and have extended breaks between turns as long as business needs are met and the system is not abused. These were popular changes, even though overtime was cut back. The changes were proposed by the union after surveys of their members. This tackled some of the problems of excessive working hours, poor work-life balance and inflexible shift systems that are linked to stress-related ill health.
Reaching agreement on organisational change has been a continuing feature of union/management partnership work at this company. They have worked together to find ways of securing employment and maintaining competitiveness through improved health and safety, quality and environmental performance as well as through efficiency measures. This tackles the problem of job insecurity and change management which are known risk factors for occupational stress.
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36. Preventive measures - example 2
pay systems
work-life balance
dignity at work
lone workers (homeworking)
This is a large call centre supplying outsourced call centre services, mainly in the energy sector. It includes lone workers in the form of home-based call handlers operating within a virtual call centre environment. Against a background of privatisation, union derecognition and personal contracts, the union regained recognition and embarked on a series of partnership initiatives (supported by the DTI) with the company, Vertex, in Bolton,. Joint working groups met for training purposes and for partnership working and addressed some of the issues they jointly identified as priorities. Their proposals were subject to full consultation with staff.
Priorities included incremental pay systems, achieving a better work-life balance through more flexible working time arrangements, more choice and control over shift patterns, and a dignity at work policy. This tackled pay anomalies, difficulties balancing work and personal life,inflexible shift patterns, harassment, bullying and discrimination which are all known risk factors for occupational stress.
These measures were supported by union members who were consulted at all stages. They led to improvements in morale, improved attendance, increased retention of staff and better communications and working relationships. The Partnership gave workers more say over decisions affecting their working lives and working hours.
This was followed by agreement on homeworkers’ terms and conditions of employment. This sought to overcome, amongst other things, the problems connected with lone working and working from home. This tackled not only their terms and conditions of employment but also the problems of isolation, lack of support or training and remote supervision that are known risk factors for occupational stress.
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37. Preventive measures: Example 3
regional partnership
job design, training and support
work equipment / work environment
organisational working practices
There have been regional and sectoral partnership developments on the stress front as well.
The Merseyside Call Centre Partnership has brought together employers, unions, inspectors, training providers and recruitment professionals to promote good employment and health and safety practice in call centres in the region in line with HSE guidance.
This is significant not only because Merseyside is one of Europe’s top ten locations for call centres, but also because many call centres report high stress levels and worryingly high sickness absence rates and turnover of staff.
Recent HSE research has highlighted some of the things that have contributed to this. They include lack of training and support, poor work environments, organisational working practices, performance monitoring and repetitive or restrictive tasks.
Tackling these issues means tackling some of the main causes of stress in call centres. The Partnership hopes that the lessons learned can be put to good use when tackling similar problems elsewhere.
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38. Preventive measures: example 4
sector-level agreement
(employers’ association)
joint policy development
awareness raising / industry culture
The last example is a sectoral partnership approach within the film and television industry.
It’s not a new example and it isn’t even obviously about health and safety – it was an equality initiative involving the technicians union and the independent producers’ employers association. So it didn’t start with formal risk assessment. But it did identify problems and stressors, and tackled issues such as work-life balance, discrimination, harassment and bullying. But it is relevant. All these factors involve workplace culture and conduct. They are known risk factors for occupational stress, particularly for women, black and disabled workers. Tackling inequalities also involves tackling these causes of workplace stress.
The agreement specifically covered freelance workers and small production companies. It was followed by an agreement with the same employers’ association on health and safety. This included sections on stress prevention and working time. These were ‘umbrella’ agreements but nonetheless important in reaching some of the parts - and people - that other agreements did not reach.
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39. Commitment to Action?
“One of the cardinal sins in the area of occupational health is to conduct elaborate studies, describing in considerable detail the work-related stress of the employees, its causes and consequences – and then leave it at that. To diagnose, but not to treat and even less to prevent. If this is done it adds insult to injury”
[European Commission Guidance on Work-related Stress 2000]
Risk assessment is a tool, not an end in itself. The goal is prevention.
It must result in effective action to prevent and control the risks of stress at work.
Union safety reps and others should be involved in helping to make sure that employers implement the preventive measures, and in monitoring and reviewing their effectiveness.
Sharing information with employers, monitoring trends, having regular discussions with members, listening to their concerns, observing them at work, carrying out site tours and workplace inspections, using DIY research methods such as body mapping and risk mapping and carrying out surveys of members all contribute to this process and help to make members’ working lives healthier and less stressful.
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40. Must Haves... Must Do’s... awareness / understanding
meaningful consultation - involve everyone
commitment to action
Must Do’s...
Effective action to stop stress at work means raising awareness, recognising the issues, having meaningful consultation and involving everyone. It needs real commitment to action - from the top.
If the exercise is only a paper one, it won’t be worth the paper it’s written on. The findings must be implemented and properly communicated to all concerned. Whichever way that risk assessment is approached, and whichever way the causes of stress are tackled, the key to success is involvement -working together for prevention.
implement findings
monitor and review effectiveness / trends
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