HSE Issues First Stress-at-Work Enforcement Notice

Every school, hospital and business in the UK faces criminal prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act unless it can prove that it takes account of employee stress and will introduce programmes designed to combat stress at work.

The HSE has issued an enforcement notice against West Dorset Hospitals NHS Trust – the first of its kind – giving the organisation until 15 December to audit stress levels among their 1,100 staff and introduce systems to reduce them. If it fails, it may face unlimited fines.

The enforcement notice comes as part of a drive by the HSE to tackle stress in the workplace, estimated to cost the UK economy £370m per year and cited as the second biggest cause of illness. A full media advertising campaign, supporting material, leaflets, helpline support and guidelines on how to prevent work-related stress have all been introduced to help raise awareness among managers in UK companies of all sizes.

The notice will further dishearten hospitals around the country, at a time when they also face the task of tackling the long hours worked by junior doctors, a major contributor to work-related stress. The British Medical Council has recently warned that three out of four hospitals are failing to meet the targets on working hours set out under the New Deal agreement for junior doctors of 1991, and may face legal action if they do not comply.

The HSE’s move will come as a shock for many UK businesses, making them realise that the HSE intends to take stress at work seriously and to seek further prosecutions. Reports are that more enforcement notices are likely.
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