The HSE management standards on workplace stress

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) management standards on workplace stress are a good benchmark for measuring the employer’s actions in the context of mental wellbeing at work. They can be useful when representing members off work with mental health conditions. The six standards: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change, try to identify the main sources of stress at work. They help highlight the organisational causes of work-related mental ill-health such as working hours, workload, effective leadership and line management, shifting the focus of responsibility away from the individual and onto the organisation.

There is advice for reps on using the management standards on the Health and Safety Executive website and in LRD’s annual legal guide, Health and Safety Law (www.lrdpublications.org.uk/hslaw). There is also a TUC guide, available from the TUC website.