Stress Management

5. Managing Workplace Stress

5.1 Be aware of your legal responsibilities.

• Under health and safety regulations you are responsible for the occupational health of your employees.

5.2 Conduct a stress risk assessment of your business

• Your audit should highlight actual and potential causes of stress.
• It should reflect the areas of risk identified in the Health & Safety Executive's management standards (see 5.1).
• The audit can be done by using questionnaires or by talking to staff, individually or in groups.

5.3 Put in place an effective stress policy and procedures for managers and employees.

• A model stress policy can be found on the Health & Safety Executive website (see 6.1).

5.4 Make sure managers understand their roles and responsibilities in managing workplace stress.

5.5 Consider offering access to counselling services (see 6.5).