Stress at Work: The Importance of Risk Assessments

How satisfied are you with the quality of your risk assessments? For many businesses, the answer to that may be that it depends on what risks are being assessed. Most businesses are now relatively comfortable with the principles of risk assessment in as much as they apply to physical risks in the workplace such as hazardous substances, or dangerous machinery.

However, far fewer businesses have carried out risk assessments in relation to workplace stress, and of those who have, the vast majority are dissatisfied with the quality of the assessment.

Under proposed changes to the legislation next year, a failure to have carried out a risk assessment, whether for physical risks, or for psycho-social hazards such as stress, will be able to form part of employees' claims if they have suffered injuries as a result of risks not being properly controlled in the workplace. The same will be the case where risk assessments are deemed not to be suitable or sufficient.

The proposed changes are to the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations. Currently, a breach of the regulations (particularly those relating to risk assessment) cannot form the basis of a claim for damages by employees. However, once this restriction is removed, employees will be able to point to a failure on the part of an employer to take pro-active steps to assess and control the risks arising from, for example, work related stress, as a breach of duty which, if it has caused or contributed to illness or injury, could lead to an award of damages.

Now is the time to start considering the quality of risk assessments in all areas of your business to ensure that there is no unnecessary exposure to litigation because of the absence or the poor quality of such assessments.
This document is for general guidance and research purposes only, and does not purport to give professional advice. Please check the date at the top of the article; the Workplace Law Network retains historic articles for general research.