World Mental Health Day: Listen, Identify, And Act On Work Related Stress

The Health and Safety Executive is calling on employers to listen to staff, assess stress risks and take practical steps to control them. HSE highlights the scale of work related stress in Great Britain and points employers to the Working Minds campaign and free tools to turn conversations into risk management actions.

The Health and Safety Executive has used World Mental Health Day to remind employers to listen to workers, identify the causes of work related stress and act on what they find. HSE cites an estimate that 964,000 workers in Great Britain are experiencing work related stress depression or anxiety, accounting for 22.1 million working days lost and representing 52 percent of work related ill health and 62 percent of working days lost due to work related ill health.

HSE says work related stress can result when job demands and the way work is organised or managed place excessive or hard to manage pressures on people. Employers have a legal duty to assess the risk of stress related ill health arising from work activities and to take reasonably practicable measures to control those risks.

HSE is promoting its Working Minds campaign which provides free tools and online learning based on HSE Management Standards for work design and management. Resources include the Stress Talking Toolkit to help start structured conversations, stress risk assessment tools to record planned actions, and guidance to review what is already in place. The campaign sets out five practical steps for employers: reach out, recognise, respond, reflect and make it routine.

HSE emphasises that listening must be followed by action. Practical measures employers might consider include reviewing workloads, improving communication, increasing worker control where possible and strengthening support. Employers should identify the risks, record the measures they will take, and review whether those measures are working to reduce stress related ill health.

HSE Corporate News