UK STRESS NETWORK

Enforcing the Stress Management Standards

David Snowball

HSE

Regulatory challenges

• Define harm

• Surface perceptions

• Establish cause and effect

• Distinguish between minor/serious harm

• Identify greatest exposures

• Intervene with impact and effect

‘Must-haves’

• A sound methodology

• Robust and evidence based

• Straightforward to understand

• Straightforward to adopt

• Good targeting

• Wider acknowledgement

• Wide take-up

Sound methodology?

• Stressor - element of work design

• Standard – the measure

• What should be happening – descriptors of what good organisations might be doing

Target sectors

• Health

• Education

• Local authorities

• Government

• Financial sector

Legal

• The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (1974)

• General duty: protect the health of their employees

• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (1999)

• Specific duties: assess risk, including risks to mental health

Conventional risk control hierarchy

• Eliminate

• Substitute

• Minimise

• Control at source

• Personal protection

Enforcement process steps

• Assess initial risk of ill health

• Determine risk gap

• Initial enforcement expectation

• Dutyholder factors

• Strategic factors

• Enforcement conclusion

WRS: intervention options

• Primary: tackle at source

• Secondary: individuals trained to cope

• Tertiary: eg counselling services

Primary Interventions

• Eliminate or modify stressors to reduce their negative effect on individuals

Examples

– Follow the Management Standards – Redesign jobs– Clarify personal workplans – Prevent work overload– Flexible working arrangements– Commitment from senior managers– Improve communications– Increase participation

Secondary Interventions

• Focus on raising awareness and equipping employees to cope with sources of stress / pressure

Examples

• Promote healthy lifestyles

• Help managers to recognise the impact of managerial styles on staff

• Increase support from managers and co-workers

• Help develop other skills to deal with stress eg assertiveness, problem solving skills

Tertiary Interventions

• Treat the individual who is suffering from the effects of stress

Examples

• Counselling services

• Employee assistance programmes

• Managing the return to work

Stress Priority ProgrammeDevelopment

DOING

AWARE

NOT AWARE

NOT DOINGEDUCATECommon agreements to:Risk assessment approachTerminologyEvidence

INFORMDevelop tools/approachesManagement standardsWeb siteJoint initiatives

ENFORCETraining for enforcersJoint initiatives/case studiesLinks to providers

SELF REGULATEContinuous improvementSharing Best practice

Enforcement outcomes

• Define what compliance looks like

• Select indicators for change

• Monitor and measure improvement

• Spread message

• Reinforce

• Review and repeat