New HSE Guidance on Stress

The HSE has published new guidance on managing stress at work in electronic format. The booklet – 'Work-related Stress: a short guide' – provides some useful pointers to employers who are drafting or revising policies on stress in the workplace.

The HSE defines work related stress as "the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demands placed on them". Work related stress is not an illness in itself, but if prolonged or particularly intense, it can lead to physical or mental ill health. Absences from work through stress contribute to the estimated overall cost of health and safety failures in the UK economy, estimated at between £3.3bn -£6.5bn each year.

More detailed information is available from the HSE through its publication 'Tackling Work-related Stress: amanagers’ guide to improving and maintaining employee health and well-being'.

In May 2002, the government carried out research into the effect of stress in the health sector. The research, jointly funded by UNISON and the Royal College of Nursing, focuses on ways to detect and manage stress issues in the health environment, was carried out following the publication of a 1993 report "Health at Work in the NHS", which identified that stress-related illness accounted for 30-40% of all sickness absence in the NHS, with work-related stress thought to be a significant factor in many cases. Additionally, the"Self-reported Work-Related Illness Survey for 1995" showed nursing had one of the highest reported rates of stress, depression or anxiety - 2.2% compared to national average of 0.7%.
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