1. WHAT IS STRESS AND WHO DOES IT AFFECT — THE SCALE AND COST OF THE PROBLEM

What is stress?

Work-related stress is defined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as: “The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them.” It says that stress is not an illness but if it becomes excessive and/or prolonged, mental and physical illness may develop.

The specialists’ union Prospect explains that people experience stress when there is an imbalance between the demands placed on them and the resources they have to cope with those demands. It also makes clear that stress is different from pressure — while pressure can be a motivator, prolonged stress becomes a risk to health and safety.

And the general union Unite explains: “A distinction is made between the level of pressure that is an acceptable challenge which speeds our reactions and sharpens our perceptions to produce good results in the workplace, and the destructive nature of stress where lives are dominated by sleepless nights, anxiety, dread, depression and physical ill-health, reactions to demands and unacceptable pressures that an individual perceives they cannot cope with.”