The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) now sees stress as the most important health and safety issue. It has now overtaken musculo-skeletal disorders as the biggest cause of lost days at work. On this page we provide links to the key pages relating to stress at work on the HSE website. Please check these out. The information you will find there is important for all employers and employees.

The HSE's key messages on stress are as follows:

• Work-related stress is a serious problem for organisations. Tackling it effectively can result in significant benefits for organisations.
• There are things organisations can do to prevent and control work-related stress.
• The law requires organisations to take action.
  

HSE commissioned research has indicated that:

• About half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill;
• Up to 5 million people in the UK feel "very" or "extremely" stressed by their work; and work-related stress costs society about £3.7 billion every year (at 1995/6 prices).
  

HSE Stress Management Links

You can access the main HSE stress web page here. From this page, you can access all other pages on stress, including detailed reports.

Latest news on the Management Standards - Launched 3rd Nov 2004  All employers should be aware of these standards and what they mean.

The HSE have collated a wide variety of statistics that show the scale of stress in the UK.

The HSE's latest press releases on stress