The Law and HSE Management Standards

“All employers have legal responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to ensure the health safety and welfare at work of their employees. This includes minimising the risk of stress-related illness or injury to employees.” www.hse.gov.uk

In order to assist organisations to comply with the law and reduce work related stress, the HSE have developed The Management Standards approach.

The overall aim is to bring about a reduction in the number of employees who go off sick, or who cannot perform well at work because of stress

The Standards and supporting processes are designed to:

• Help simplify risk assessment for stress
• Encourage employers, employees and their representatives to work in partnership to address work-related stress throughout the organisation
• Provide the yardstick by which organisations can gauge their performance in tackling the key causes of stress

The Management Standards cover six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and well-being, lower productivity and increased sickness absence. In other words, the six Management Standards cover the primary sources of stress at work. These are:

• Demands – such as workload, work patterns and the work environment.
• Control – such as how much say the person has in the way they do their work.
• Support – such as the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues.
• Relationships – such as promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour.
• Role – such as whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles.
• Change – such as how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation.

Contact STRESSWORX for  stress audits, training and strategies to implement the standards