LRD guides and handbook May 2019

Law at Work 2019 - the trade union guide to employment law

Chapter 8

The HSE management standards




[ch 8: page 301]

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) management standards on workplace stress provide 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, and 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.




www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards

TUC, Tackling workplace stress using the HSE Stress Management Standards (https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/tacking-workplace-stress-guide.pdf)

LRD Booklet: Stress and mental health at work — a guide for trade union reps (www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=BK&iss=1843)

Acas guidance — Approaching a sensitive conversation regarding mental health 
 (www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/t/6/Tips_to_approach_having_sensitive_conversations_2018.pdf)