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What's New 30.01.12

Conference Report 2011

A new page is now available giving you access to information about our 2011 Stress Network conference held in November last year. There are presentations and reports available including

Stress Network Annual Conference 2012

Hard Times, Great Expectations and Victorian Values – combatting workplace stress in hostile times

Friday November 23rd to Sunday November 25th 2012 to be held at the
Hillscourt Conference Centre, Rednal, Nr Birmingham B45 8RS

To download a flyer and booking form in .pdf format please follow this link.

Come Tweet with us

The Stress Network now has a Twitter page @workstressuk where you can keep up to date and join in conversations

Tackle teacher stress or pay, says union

Taken from TUC Risks magazine number 538, 14 January 2012

Schools must tackle soaring teacher stress, Scottish teaching union EIS has said. The union says excessive workloads and poor management are causing physical and mental injuries to teaching staff. EIS was speaking out after revealing the union had settled a six figure out-of-court compensation claim for a member who suffered a stress-related psychiatric injury after the employer failed to act on a series of warnings about excessive workloads. EIS general secretary Ronnie Smith commented: 'The fact that this record compensation award arose from a workload related case, which was compounded by a lack of management support, is no coincidence. This clearly illustrates just how serious such injuries can be, and the heavy price that employers will have to pay if they fail in their obligations to protect their staff.' He added: 'Employers should be using the Health and Safety Executive's stress management standards and trying to reduce and control the levels of stress caused by work activities. Stress-related illnesses are extremely serious and can take a huge toll on the individual concerned. The long-term effects can be significant, and recovery can take a long period of time. While the EIS supports members in stress-related claims, our preference would always be for such cases to be avoided completely.'

ILO workplace stress prevention checkpoints

Taken from TUC Risks magazine number 538, 14 January 2012

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has produced a manual of 'easy-to-apply checkpoints for identifying stressors in working life and mitigating their harmful effects.' According to ILO: 'The negative impacts of stress are multiform and can include circulatory and gastrointestinal diseases as well as physical, psychosomatic and psycho-social problems. These in turn can lead to poor work performance, high accident and injury rates, and low productivity.' The global labour standards body says because of this it is 'vital' employers 'optimise work conditions and organisation.' It adds that its manual, which was produced with guidance from experts including TUC's head of safety Hugh Robertson, is 'especially useful for companies and organisations that wish to incorporate stress prevention into their overall occupational safety and health policy and management systems.' Robertson says the document does not provide detailed direction on the organisational change required to effectively deal with stress at work, 'but what it does propose is extremely practical and sensible' and could be useful to union reps. The Hazards Campaign's Hilda Palmer said the checklists are good on 'the key stress risk factors and integrate into health and safety well,' adding the ILO manual is 'good on involvement and consultation of workers and reps.'

For a copy of the manual please follow this link to the ILO website. For a copy of the ILO Developing a Workplace Stress Prevention programme, follow this link

Stress Network - Book review Need – 2 – Know series

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – the essential guide, by Glenys O’Connell

“.. you don’t have to have been on the battlefield to suffer from PTSD, in fact anyone who’s been in a very stressful situation can develop it. [Such] conditions can range from a terrorist attack to a serious car accident to sexual abuse, or even to bullying at school or at work.” The fairly typical picture is one of a serviceman [and more recently a servicewoman] who has been subject to significant battlefield trauma, reacting in a way that has largely in the past remained unrecognised. In WW1 the solution was often court martial and the death penalty. Sufferers were considered weak and cowardly, and became outcasts within their own families. The stiff upper lip reaction gave little credence to negative reactions to battlefield trauma.

Our Network convenor, Ian Draper has written a book review for this, the second in the Need - 2 - Know series. To read the full review please follow this link The Need - 2 - Know series of booklets covers a range of topics, and information about them is easily available via the Need - 2 - Know website

A Hidden Gem, Hazards Magazine

Hazards Magazine have made a plea for support. They produce an excellent magazine [very much on a shoestring working from their own houses] that is widely accepted as being amongst the best H&S publication especially for telling everyone how it is and how it should be.

Although free downloadable copies can be acquired via the website the preferred option is to become a regular subscriber to paper copies. You can subscribe using the online form.

Doctor Eva Michalak wins £4.5m over discrimination

A recent Leeds tribunal heard that Dr Michalak, now 53, suffered post-traumatic stress due to her colleagues' at Pontefract General Infirmary actions. A hospital trust has been ordered to pay nearly £4.5m in compensation to a doctor who was hounded out of her job after deciding to have a baby. It said colleagues mounted a "concerted campaign" to bring her employment to an end while she was on maternity leave. The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and three senior staff members have been ordered to pay Dr Michalak £4,452,206.60 for the sex and race discrimination The trust said it was considering the judgement. The figure is thought to be the largest award in a UK discrimination case.

The tribunal earlier this year heard that senior staff members began a plan to get rid of Dr Michalak, who worked as an obstetrician, at a secret meeting in March 2003, when she was seven months pregnant. She began to receive complaints and criticism against her, being accused of bullying junior doctors, until her suspension in January 2006. She was then subjected to "a lengthy and wholly unauthorised period of suspension" before disciplinary proceedings began in May 2007, concluding in her dismissal in July 2008.

In their judgment, the tribunal panel said the disciplinary procedure used by the trust in the case was "bogus" and Dr Michalak was dismissed "for no good or justifiable reason". It continued: "As a consequence of that dismissal the claimant has lost her role and status as a hospital consultant, as we will ultimately find, she is never going to return to work as a doctor, a profession which she, in common with both of her parents, cherished together with all the status that that brings with it..It is right that in this case we are positively outraged at the way this employer has behaved."

Julia Squire, chief executive at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We have only just received the judges' decision on the compensation and this is based on very complex and lengthy calculations.We will need time to carefully consider these. Once we have considered the outcome we will then make a statement."

First Edition of the EWHN Report Published

This new publication published by the EWHN covers a number of interesting topics. You can download a copy by following this link

The next EWHN conference to be held in Turin on 5 - 7 October 2012 is entitled "Fighting for safe and healthy work In a safe and healthy world". Further details can be obtained from the EWHN website.

Strathclyde University - Online Workplace Health course

Strathclyde University offers a Workplace Health course as a continuing professional development course that is taught online over six months. It is unique in that it brings together health and safety, occupational health and workplace health promotion and has as a major objective of promoting collaboration. It is open to TU H&S representatives, a number of whom have done it in the past.

If you would like more information or to ask about the course you will find a leaflet about the course by following this link, or get in touch with:- Kathy Jenkins, Secretary, Scottish Hazards Campaign 0131 477 0817

The next courses will begin in January 2012 and again in September 2012 (2 courses next year) and will cost approximately £675. The Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives is offering bursaries for the course – these bursaries are available ONLY to residents in Scotland, and details can be obtained via alisonnewman@nhs.net

The Health for Work Adviceline

The Health for Work Adviceline offers tailored, free advice on employee health issues with the aim of keeping staff healthy so they can effectively participate and contribute in their work. It helps businesses:

Users of the service include:

As well as free, one-to-one advice on 0800 0 77 88 44, on-line support is also available from the website, including:

Warning as deadly stress set to soar

Taken from TUC Risks 531, 12 November 2011

Unions and campaigners have warned of soaring stress levels among both the employed and unemployed as government-imposed cuts take hold. Thousands of workers are either worrying about losing their jobs or facing longer hours, increased workloads, wage reductions and reduced pensions while increasing bills and rocketing unemployment add to the misery, say occupational stress campaigners. Speaking before the UK National Work Stress Network's annual conference last month, network co-ordinator Ian Draper said: 'Survey after survey tells us what we've known all along - work is getting more and more stressful. It is no surprise our website is regularly visited by over 15,000 people every month. People at work are feeling the pain and an increase in work-related suicides is the awful evidence of how much pain. For those people whose job is on the line it is worse. For the unemployed it must be unbearable.' Unite's senior health officer Rachael Maskell stated: 'The recession has brought widespread job and financial insecurity with rising inflation, capped wages alongside increases in pension contributions and extension to working lives.' She added: 'There are continuous attacks on employment rights and insidious, pernicious assaults on the entire health and safety agenda. Overall workers are being exposed to greater and greater risks.' Hazards Campaign spokesperson Nick Green said: 'We see ourselves as central to the struggle against the austerity measures being thrust upon us by government who failed to stop the gamblers of the finance industry from robbing us all. We should not be paying for others' criminality or negligence.'

When Work Relationships Break Down, Facing the Challenges, Transforming the Culture

1st March 2012, Holiday Inn Bloomsbury, London

Up and down the country, employment advisors working in mental health job retention, report that over 50% of cases involve workplace conflict. As the human reaction to excessive workplace stress is either ‘flight or flight’ this is not surprising.

The human and financial costs arising from this issue are immense, leading as it does to lost production, increased sickness absence, accidents, disciplinary hearings, grievances, litigation and damage to staff morale.

The resolution of these problems is probably what employers, trade union reps and job retention workers find most challenging. This conference will address these issues, bringing together examples of best practice in not only resolving conflict, but also taking measures which prevent them occurring in the first place.

For more information and a booking form please visit the centrevents website

Our Autumn newsletter is now available

Our Autumn Stress Network newsletter is now available to download in both PDF format and Word® formats. To see back issues of the newsletter please go to our newsletters page

In the Autumn issue we have articles on;

and maby more interesting articles

UCU survey find stress is getting worse

Taken from TUC Risks 531, 12 November 2011

Stress levels in further and higher education are on the rise, according to a new report published by the union UCU. A survey of UCU members found four-fifths (81 per cent) of those working in universities reported their job was job stressful in 2010 compared to threequarters (74 per cent) in 2008. For college staff, 84 per cent found their job stressful in 2010 compared to 80 per cent in 2008. In universities, staff said a lack of time to undertake research and excessive workloads were the main reasons behind the increase in anxiety. College staff said excessive workloads was the top problem, with two-fifths (39 per cent) reporting they were often or always set unachievable deadlines. UCU's report, 'The growing epidemic: Work-related stress in post-16 education', found that the well-being of staff was considerably lower than recommendations from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a number of key areas, including support from managers. UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said it was 'not acceptable' that at least four-fifths of university and college staff found their jobs stressful. Universities and colleges 'are getting a reputation as stressful places to work and this report reveals that the problem is getting worse,' she said.

Work stress soars with job insecurity

Taken from TUC Risks 526, 08 October 2011

Stress is now the number one cause of long-term absence across a workforce increasingly affected by job insecurity, a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) survey has found. The CIPD/Simplyhealth Absence Management survey concludes that for the first time stress is the most common cause of long-term sickness absence for both manual and non-manual employees. A link between job security and mental health problems is also revealed in the survey. Employers planning to make redundancies in the next six months are significantly more likely to report an increase in mental health problems among their staff, it found, with 51 per cent reporting problems compared to 32 per cent who are not planning redundancies. For manual workers, stress is now level with acute medical conditions and has overtaken musculoskeletal problems to become the top cause of long-term absence. Among non-manual staff, stress has moved ahead of acute medical conditions. Job insecurity is also reported as a more common cause of work-related stress in the public sector this year, where the 24 per cent stress reporting rate is about double that for the private sector, mirroring the relative redundancy risk identified in the survey. Commenting on the CIPD findings, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'These figures show that the cuts, job losses, restructurings and pay inequalities are having more than just an economic effect. They are having a serious impact on people's health.' He added: 'Unfortunately there is still a tendency amongst many employers to think of it as 'just stress' but this is a real issue which can devastate people's lives and tear apart families. Stress is also avoidable and the TUC endorses the view of the CIPD that more needs to be done at both senior and line manager level to prevent it.'

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All Together for the NHS - Help stop the Health and Social Care Bill

The government is imposing huge changes on the NHS. These plans – set out in the Health and Social Care Bill currently going through Parliament – will change our National Health Service beyond recognition. The speed and scale of these changes is massive. Patients and staff will be the losers. The legislation is moving quickly through Parliament with the report and third reading the next step in its progress, after which it would go to the Lords.

If you are concerned about these changes, please send a letter to your MP asking them to vote against this damaging piece of legislation that could break up our NHS for good. Please follow this link to the 'going to Work; website where you can take action

Stress can cost you your job

Even mild stress has been proven to lead to people being unable to work, health experts said today. The research carried out by the University of Bristol and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden revealed that mild stress increases the chance of someone being on disability payments for physical problems by 70 per cent and more than doubles the likelihood they will have a psychiatric condition. It also found a strong relationship between increasing levels of psychological distress and the likelihood of being awarded a new disability pension within five years. One in four benefits for physical illness, such as high blood pressure, angina and stroke, and almost two-thirds for mental illness, were attributable to stress.

The authors said the link between stress and a diagnosis of a physical problem may be down to the way stress affects the body. But they added it could also be that stigma surrounding mental health issues leads some doctors and patients to prefer a physical "label" for the problem. "Mild psychological distress may be associated with more long-term disability than previously acknowledged and its public health importance may be underestimated," the authors concluded.

The TUC has said that jobs are the single biggest cause of stress that includes overwork, bullying, low job satisfaction, job insecurity, new ways of working, poor management and pace of work. Mental symptoms of stress range from sleeplessness and listlessness through to clinical depression and suicide. The physical effects range from appetite loss and nausea through to heart damage and stroke, the TUC added.

For more information visit the Morning Star website

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Helpful advice for those with Mental Health issues who have a debt problem

Martin Lewis, the Financial Journalist and campaigner, has just publicised a new guide to help those with Mental Health problems tackle financial problems and debt. It's a PDF document and is available from his website: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/mental-health-guide

TUC launches newsletter to raise awareness of basic employment rights

The TUC has published the first in a series of newsletters to help vulnerable workers, and the union members who protect them in the workplace, find out more about their basic employment rights at work.

Vulnerable workers include temporary, low-paid and part-time workers. They can suffer because they do not know their rights at work, and it can be difficult to move from insecure work into better paid permanent jobs. They can struggle to get their rights enforced and often fall through gaps in employment law, which means they do not enjoy decent minimum standards at work.

Enforcing Minimum Workplace Rights and Bargaining for More is published by the TUC's Union Modernisation Fund (UMF) Vulnerable Workers Project (VWP) and contains information for vulnerable workers and union reps about how to secure the national minimum wage (NMW), and an update on new equal treatment rights for agency workers which will apply from October 2011.

There are also some practical tips for union reps looking to engage with workers on temporary contracts.

In February, the VWP will launch a new website outlining the basic employment rights for different categories of vulnerable workers. Further information will be available about rights at work, and how union reps can use enforcement bodies to protect these rights.

TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'Vulnerable workers often find themselves working excessively long hours, sometimes with no contract of employment. Their work can be insecure and they are regularly paid below the minimum wage. Unions have a successful track record in stopping rogue employers from exploiting vulnerable workers. This newsletter gives union reps some practical tips to deliver support for vulnerable workers and help them secure a fair deal at work.'

The VWP newsletter is available by following this link

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European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks

Background

Through the Framework Directive 89/391/EEC and its individual directives, European Union legislation provides the framework for workers in Europe to enjoy high levels of health and safety at the workplace. Implementation of these provisions differs from one country to another and their practical application varies according to sector, category of worker and size of enterprise. The increasing importance of ‘emerging’ risks, such as stress, violence and harassment, poses a challenge for policy makers in their development of effective prevention measures.

In this context, EU-OSHA European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) asks both managers and workers’ health and safety representatives about the way health and safety risks are managed at their workplace, with a particular focus on psychosocial risks, i.e. work related stress, violence and harassment. In spring 2009 a total of 28,649 managers and 7,226 health and safety representatives were interviewed in the 31 countries covered: the EU-27 as well as Croatia, Turkey, Switzerland and Norway.

Developed with the support of governments and social partners at European level, ESENER aims to assist workplaces across Europe to deal more effectively with health and safety and to provide policy makers with cross-nationally comparable information relevant for the design and implementation of new policies. As well as looking at management practices, ESENER explores in detail how workers are involved in the management of safety and health at work, which is an important factor in the successful implementation of preventive measures at workplace level.

To read the report please follow this link to the European website or download it directly from this site There will also be a conference on this subject for which we will post more information.

Watch dodge HSE butchered, safety laws under attack

We have a safety minister who is determined to see the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) axed. A government that lops “at least” 35 per cent off HSE’s funding. We are living and working in dangerous times. Hazards warns that if unions, sick and injured workers and bereaved relatives don’t stand up for safety, no-one else will.

To read more on this please visit the Hazards magazine website and the We didn’t vote to die campaign

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Stress tops workers' safety concerns and spending cuts will make it worse

Stress, bulling and harassment, back strains, slips, trips and falls, and overwork top the list of workers' safety concerns, according to the TUC biennial survey of safety reps published on Thursday 28 October 2010.

The 2010 survey finds that stress is by far the most common health and safety problem at work. Nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of reps say that stress is in the top five of problems faced by the workforces they represent. More than a quarter of reps (27 per cent) pick out stress as the hazard at work that most concerns them. The TUC survey reveals that stress is most often found in the public than in the private sector - 68 per cent of public sector union reps say it is a problem compared to 54 per cent in the private sector. Stress is more prevalent in larger workplaces and is most common in London - 70 per cent of reps in the capital cite it as an issue - than in any other part of the UK.

The survey's findings on stress are revealed as TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber prepares to address the launch of the British Academy's Stress at Work report in London on Friday 29 October 2010. Stress at Work explores the impact of the recession on stress, and the potential of the impending cuts and restructuring of the public sector for increasing workplace anxieties.

Brendan Barber said: 'Stress can be caused by heavy workloads, cuts in staffing, long hours and bullying. 'The economic crisis and redundancies have created more anxiety about job security, and as the spending cuts begin to bite and even more jobs start to go, stress at work is bound to increase. Unions and employers must work together to combat stress at work as it can have a devastating impact on workers and a damaging cost on businesses.'

Other findings from the survey include:

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Are you still interested in Managing Stress in the Workplace?

I thought you might like early notification about an incredible offer announced by the HSE about their fully funded 'Do Your Bit'programme. This fully funded training is designed for Line Managers and H&S Representatives to attend together to help improve existing arrangements, and the offering has been opened up to any organisation with an H&S Committee and systems in place (and of course issues to address).

Key subjects of interest are now available on a one-day workshop format at locations throughout the UK mainland, examples attached. Alternatively we can run the event in-house or at a venue convenient to you; the criteria are a minimum of 10 delegates which may include other organisations in your supply chain to attend.

  1. Sector-specific workshops - [including construction, manufacturing, motor vehicle repair, retail, healthcare,…]
  2. Regional-specific workshops [sharing best practice and understanding regional influences]
  3. Topic-specific workshops [Covering seven key topic areas, e.g. Hand Arm Vibration (HAV), Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD), Stress Management, Conflict Resolution, Health & Wellbeing, Working at Height, Management Behaviour, Combined Risk Assessment and more…….]

For the announcement providing further background, plus info regarding where and when, Follow this link to the Premier Partnership Website>

For further information and to register delegates for training at a particular workshop please contact the training team directly on
Telephone (01302) 349629 or
e-mail paul.sheridan@premier-partnership.co.uk (this is not an active link)

Stressbusters target not-for-profits

Unite reps in the not-for-profit sector have embarked on a 'Stressbusters' campaign. All the union's reps in the sector are being asked to participate in a national stress survey. To sort out stress problems, the union said it 'is calling on activists to use the tools provided to bring change in your workplace. Suggestions include forming a working party with management, but even before that, once the survey has been conducted and analysed, the next step is to call a meeting with the management.' It adds: 'Even if there are policies and processes in place, it is important to review their effectiveness and upgrade action plans where necessary. A working party may be part of a negotiations and consultations committee, health and safety committee, or a new sub-group.' In September, Unite is to issue reps a new guide on work-related stress, 'which will provide the information needed to put good policies and practices in place. Unite will also run training for representatives to ensure they are equipped to lead the campaign in the workplace.'

For more information please follow this link

Subsidised Health & Safety Training

HSE in association with a third party training provider, Premier Partnership, are offering two new heavily subsidised or free health and safety training courses to help organisations achieve the potential benefits associated with a collaborative approach to health and safety at work (lower accident rates, increased productivity, efficiency and quality). The following courses are available:

For more infomrmation please follow this link

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Information from the HSE

Prove to your senior management that tackling stress is important. Read more about the business, moral and legal case.

A new case study to learn from The Blackpool Way, an initiative that helped one NHS Trust reduce work related stress by 40%

What is the legal position for work related stress? Find out in the new Frequently Asked Questions Section

Health for Work Adviceline for Small Business

There is a nerw service that has been launched, the free Health for Work Adviceline for Small Business which helps you to quickly and effectively address the issue of employee health, minimise the impact of staff illness, and provide essential support to staff with physical or mental health issues.

The case for Directors Duties

This briefing outlines the TUC's case for a legal duty on directors and calls on the government to change the law to ensure that all directors are legally responsible for health and safety failings.

In 2000 the Government published its strategy on health and Safety 'Revitalising Health and Safety. One of the planks of the strategy was the need for greater corporate responsibility and a review of the role of directors. The strategy called for two things. Firstly that the HSE develop a code of practice on Director's responsibilities and secondly that 'The Health and Safety Commission will also advise ministers on how the law would need to be changed to make these responsibilities statutory so that Directors and responsible persons of similar status are clear about what is expected of them in their management of health and safety. It is the intention of ministers, when parliamentary time allows, to introduce legislation on these responsibilities.'

Since then we have had the voluntary guidance (twice in fact) but, almost ten years after the strategy was launched, we are still awaiting the promised legislation. The Health and Safety Commission did in fact discuss the issue but were unable to reach a consensus on how to change the law. While the other plank of corporate responsibility finally because law last year nothing has happened in respect of a legal duties on directors.

The issue has not however gone away. In addition to calls for action from trade unions and victim support groups, many safety professionals and safety journals have backed the call for legislation. In July 2009 the independent inquiry into construction, chaired by Rita Donaghy, recommended 'that there should be positive duties on directors to ensure good health and safety management through a framework of planning, delivering, monitoring and reviewing'. Four days later the Work and Pensions Select Committee also called for a legal duty on directors to be introduced as soon as possible

Lone Working, a Guide for Safety Representatives

The TUC have published A guide for safety representatives to lone working. This useful document covers such subjcts as

and gives examples to help illustrate the topics.

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Trauma Risk Management

The police service is a very tense, high impact service, which constantly exposes officers to high pressure situations that require spontaneous responses. The outcome from these pressures is not always obvious to the forces or the individual and can come to the fore at any time. With the ever increasing financial demands on the service, there is a need to consider and continue investment in people's health, safety and wellbeing.

The information contained in this newly published booklet is not meant as a medical diagnostic tool, but a starting point for guidance only, for those who have been exposed to stressful or traumatic situations. It has been compiled by the Police Federation of England and Wales with the assistance of various professional organisations.

NHS LifeCheck Website

The national NHS LifeCheck stakeholder website is now live at www.lifecheckers.co.uk. The new website is a one-stop shop for stakeholders, providing news, resources and information to use in communications activities for all NHS LifeCheck products. www.lifecheckers.co.uk. contains a wide range of information, covering everything from the latest news and events through to press materials and case studies. The site also features a support section and a list of useful contacts to guide stakeholders to further help.

Updated regularly, www.lifecheckers.co.uk. gives stakeholders the most recent and accurate information on NHS LifeCheck products and the progress the Department of Health and its partners are making in promoting their use. So if you want to find out more information about NHS LifeCheck; access marketing materials or toolkits; find out answers to your questions or want to showcase and share the work your team has achieved, visit www.lifecheckers.co.uk..

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