Stress risk assessment

What a stress risk assessment is, and how this tool works

Work-related stress is a health and safety issue, and the duty to assess it is the same as for any other risk — under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Because the hazards are psychosocial rather than physical, the HSE provides a dedicated framework — the Management Standards — that breaks work-related stress into six areas, and this tool assesses each one:

• Demands — workload, work patterns and the work environment.
• Control — how much say people have over how they do their work.
• Support — the encouragement and resources from the organisation and line managers.
• Relationships — positive working, and dealing with unacceptable behaviour such as bullying.
• Role — whether people understand their role and aren't given conflicting ones.
• Change — how organisational change is managed and communicated.

Do it with people, not to them

Stress risk assessment only works if it involves the people doing the work. This tool helps you structure and record the assessment, but the findings should come from talking to your team — through conversations, a staff survey, or the HSE's free indicator tool — and the actions should be agreed with them. Treat anyone showing signs of stress as an individual case, and signpost professional support (occupational health, an EAP or the GP) where needed.

This is a self-help planning aid that drafts findings and actions. It is not a substitute for consulting employees, for professional or occupational-health support where an individual is affected, or for the employer's duty to actually assess and manage work-related stress.