HSE Management Standards Update article

HSE Stress Management Standards Update

Workplace stress update: HSE Management Standards, and the Barber case

There have been new developments this week with regard to the HSE 'Management standards on stress' that will be officially launched in November.

Stress now a priority for the HSE
Stress at work is now without doubt a priority area for the regulatory authorities. The HSE are encouraging employers to act because stress at work has now overtaken musculo-skeletal disorders as the main cause of days lost at work due to injury and illness.  Stress accounts for around 13 million days lost, and in 2001/2, more than half a million individuals experienced stress levels that made them ill.  Stress markedly increases the risk to both mental and physical health.

Standards are statements of good management practice
Employers already have a duty of care, which extends to employees' mental health and wellbeing (it is not just to physical health and safety), and a duty to assess the risks posed by work-related stress.  The standards are clear statements of good management practice, supported by an ever-increasing body of evidence-based research.  They highlight what employers should do to minmise stress risks and maximise health, wellbeing and productivity.  They focus on six categories of hazards related to stress: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change.

Employers stress risk assessment obligations
The HSE have made a point in their literature this week that the Management Standards are not new regulations, they are a 'non-legislative yardstick'.  However, once the standards are officially launched it will be very difficult for employers to argue that they did not know about stress risks.  Inspectors will be trained to look carefully at whether employers are meeting their obligations, particularly in respect of risk assessment, so it is clear that employers will need to have systems in place to monitor stress risks and act when employees experience stress.

Barber Case
The recent Barber case in the House of Lords (Barber v. Somerset County Council) highlighted the legal risk to employers posed by the effects of stress on employees.  In particular the verdict, highlighted the duty of care that employers have once it becomes apparent that an employee is experiencing stress:

• The courts can take into account an "autocratic and bullying style of leadership" which is "unsympathetic" to complaints of occupational stress when deciding whether there has been a breach of duty.
• Once an employer knows that an employee is at risk of suffering injury from occupational stress, they are under a duty to do something about it.
• Employees who complain do not need to be forceful in their complaints and need not describe their troubles and symptoms in detail.
• Employers must take certified sickness absence due to stress or depression seriously. They should enquire about the employee's problems and explore what can be done to ease them. Employees should not be brushed off unsympathetically; nor should they be handled by sympathising and simply telling them to prioritise their work without taking further steps.
• A management culture that is sympathetic to employees who are suffering from occupational stress and "on their side" in tackling it, may make a real difference to the outcome. Employers must monitor employees who are known to be suffering from occupational stress. If they don't improve further steps may need to be taken to help them.