What measures and controls can you put in place to help tackle work related stress?

Employers have general legal responsibilities for the health and safety of employees at work and should undertake occupational stress risk assessments.

Under most circumstances, an employer can assume that employees are able to withstand the normal pressures of work. However, where there are situations that indicate stress, for example, an employee being off sick or making it clear to the employer that they are under extreme pressure, then the employer should take "reasonably practicable" steps to investigate and take action as necessary. The actions must be of substance and could include work re-arrangement, training or counselling but might also include redeployment or even demotion or dismissal if these were the only reasonable steps that could be taken.

Prevention will always be better than cure and in order to manage and prevent work-related stress from happening, employers can look at the following six areas;

• demands
• control
• support
• relationships
• role
• change

Employees will be able to indicate that they are able to cope with the demands of their jobs and that they are able to have a say about the way they do their work. They will be able to indicate that they receive adequate information and support from their colleagues and superiors and are not subjected to unacceptable behaviours, eg bullying at work. They should be engaged with frequently when the organisation goes through any change and there must be systems in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.