4. Using the HSE Management Standards

The centrepiece of the HSE’s efforts to tackle stress is its management standards, which have been endorsed by the TUC and unions.

Summary

The HSE says its Management Standards represent a set of conditions that, if present:

• demonstrate good practice through a step-by-step risk assessment approach;

• allow assessment of the current situation using pre-existing data, surveys and other techniques;

• promote active discussion and working in partnership with employees and their representatives, to help decide on practical improvements that can be made; and

• help simplify risk assessment for work-related stress by:

• identifying the main risk factors;

• helping employers focus on the underlying causes and their prevention; and

• providing a yardstick by which organisations can gauge their performance in tackling the key causes of stress.

“They cover six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health, lower productivity and increased accident and sickness absence rates,” says the HSE. These are: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change (see page 39).