Stress at work

“Stress” is the reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed upon them.

It arises when they worry that they can’t cope… Stress is not therefore the same as ill health. But in some cases, particularly where the pressures are intense and continue for some time, the effects of stress can be more sustained and far more damaging, leading to longer-term psychological problems and physical ill health”.

Stress at Work, a guide for Employers. Health & Safety Executive.

Stress at work is an issue that has achieved an increasingly high profile in recent years. A Report published by the Health & Safety Executive estimated that 5,000,000 workers in the UK suffer from high levels of work related stress. Figures produced by the CBI in 1998 suggested that 90,000,000 working days are lost each year because of absence from work caused by stress at a cost of £7 billion pounds through sick pay, lost production and NHS charges.

A variety of work related factors have been found to negatively affect well being and although no single factor is likely to cause stress a combination of problems can affect an individuals ability to cope with stress at work. Factors which may contribute towards stress at work include :-

• Lack of control over work
  
  
• Under utilization of skills
  
  
• Too high a work load, impossible deadlines
  
  
• Too low a work load, no or few challenges
  
  
• Low task variety
  
  
• High uncertainty e.g. lack of clear priorities and targets, job insecurity
  
  
• Low pay
  
  
• Poor working conditions e.g. noise, overcrowding, lack of ventilation, excessive heat, inadequate breaks
  
  
• Low inter personal support e.g. via inadequate or insensitive management, hostility from colleagues.
  
  
• Under valued social position.

Anyone can experience stress at work, depending on the demands of their job, the conditions in which they work and their personal susceptibility which can be increased by problems outside of the work place.

In a recent research survey of company line managers, some 88% claimed a moderate or high level of stress in their work with 39% considering that this had got worse in the previous year. Further, 52% indicated they knew somebody who had stopped working because of severe stress requiring long term medical treatment.

Most people will suffer from stress at work at some time. This alone is not enough to establish a claim against an Employer. It is important to realize that stress is not in itself an injury.

A claim for personal injury pursued in a County Court or the High Court will only succeed where an individual has suffered a clinically recognized psychiatric condition. An Employment Tribunal can, however, award damages for “injury to feelings” and does not require a diagnosis of a clinically recognized psychiatric condition.

Three possible routes to pursuing a claim for stress at work exist :-

A personal injury claim against an Employer based on negligence

This may be possible where an employee has suffered stress due to working conditions for which his employer is responsible or where an employee has suffered a psychiatric response following a particular event whilst working.

A series of Court Judgments in February 2002 laid down sixteen “practical propositions” or tests to be applied to the facts of each stress at work claim in order to determine whether or not such a claim can succeed. It is now apparent that where an employee is alleged to suffer from work related stress he or she should inform his or her employer. In the absence of such notification the employer cannot take steps to deal with workloads or work related problems and a claim made in such circumstances will likely not succeed.

A claim in the Employment Tribunal based on breach of contract of breach of statutory duty.

Such a claim can be pursued where stress has been caused by harassment/discrimination on the grounds of race, sex or disability. The Employment Appeal Tribunal has, however, re-emphasized that “stress” on its own is not a “disability” within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and an employee must demonstrate some form of recognized psychiatric illness if a claim is to succeed under that Act.

A Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claim

Such a claim will exist in a limited number of cases and, for example, where an employee has suffered stress as a result of an assault at work.

Sources of further information

· Health and Safety Executive - Employment Medical Advisory Services (EMAS) - provides free advice and support to employers and employees regarding work related medical problems including stress at work.: www.open.gov.uk/hse/hsehome.htm

· Employers Forum on Disability - The Worlds Leading Employers Organization focused on disability: www.employers-forum.co.uk

· The Mental Health Foundation who have published a booklet reviewing the effects of stress at work and identifying ways in which employers can help to create a psychologically healthy work environment.