TUC/HSE guidance on tackling stress


January 2017 saw the TUC and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publish joint guidance, Tackling workplace stress using the HSE Stress Management Standards. It aims to help union reps work with employers to find practical solutions to work-related stress and is based around the HSE Management Standards.


The Management Standards group the principal causes of work-related stress into six key areas:


• demands – includes issues like workload, work patterns and the work environment;


• control – how much say the person has in the way they do their work;


• support – includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues;


• relationships – includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour;


• role – whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that the person does not have conflicting roles; and


• change – how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation.


The guidance makes clear that: “HSE’s position is that work-related stress should be treated as any other workplace hazard; it is subject to the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and therefore a risk assessment is required”.


It also makes clear that safety reps have an important role in the process of managing stress in the workplace:


• as an integral part of the communication between members and the employer;


• by encouraging members to take an active role in the process where it is being properly used; and


• by tackling the stigma of stress to prevent under-reporting.


The Management Standards adopt an “organisational” as opposed to an “individual” approach to tackling workplace stress and to issues relating to job demands and job quality. Reps can play a key role in ensuring that stress problems are looked at from the perspective of work processes — adapting working practices to reduce stress, rather than seeing the problem as one person’s inability to cope.


The joint guidance advises employers to carry out an audit or survey to establish a picture of what is happening and to give an overall view of the workplace using the HSE online indicator tool/questionnaire (available on the HSE website). The aim is to identify priority areas for further discussion and measure how the organisation is currently performing against the Standards.


Data from the questionnaire can then be fed into an analysis tool which is also available on the HSE website. The analysis tool can be used to indicate possible hot spots and prioritise areas for action. The questionnaire can be repeated following the implementation of practical controls, allowing progress towards achieving the Management Standards to be measured.


The TUC/HSE guidance can be found on the TUC website. It recommends the TUC Stress MOT for union surveys.


Information on the HSE Management Standards can be found on the HSE website.