United Kingdom National Work-Stress Network

UK National Stress Network

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What's New 19.12.08

We wish you a Happy Christmas
and a Peaceful New Year

'Creating the Healthy Workplace' - One Day Seminar

Tuesday 27 January 2009 (9.45am - 4.00pm)
Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre
Timbold Drive, Milton Keynes MK7 6TT

The Social Dialogue Forum (SDF) of SEEDA, which brings together employers, employer organisations, trade unions covering all sectors of the economy and government agencies to help improve the sustainability and economic performance of the South East. As part of the Regional Economic Strategy for better economic performance the healthy workplace and well being is one of the key objectives.

For more information please visit the TUC website at http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-15757-f0.cfm

Centre for Corporate Accountability Conference

Health & Safety Regulation and enforcement are central to a safe and healthy working environment. Nevertheless we in the UK, despite having what is reckoned to be one of the better safety regimes in the world, still lost 240 lives last year to workplace deaths, and many thousands more were seriously injured.

At the Centre for Corporate Accountability Conference on 24th November 2008, Louise Adamson of the Families Against Corporate Killing (FACK), whose brother was tragically killed at his work, gave this very emotional, impassioned and powerful speech calling on Government to listen to the serious safety agenda and disregard those who believe that cost is the most important deciding factor in how high up the agenda Health & Safety is placed in Directors and Managers minds.

Even as the world and the UK Economy struggles under the current economic crisis, the health safety and welfare or every single worker is just as important if not more so.

What is also not taken into account is the high levels of stress and associated problems for the families of the bereaved - they can never forget what has happened to their loved one or themselves.

Stress: still a workplace killer

Our convener, Ian Draper, will be speaking at this seminar being held on Wednesday 14th January 2009 from 1:30pm to 4:00pm at the NUT Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD. This has been organised by The Institute of Employment Rights.

The speakers are:

For more information please follow this link

Steering Group update

There have been a few changes to our steering group and we would like to welcome John Hall and Vaughan Skirrey. To see who is on the committee please visit the Whos Who? page

Stockport Area Mental Health Project

A new project has been launched in the Stockport area with dedicated funding to promote awareness raising, training and the recruitment and establishment of a network of buddies in the field of Mental Health and Work.

A Steering Group is being established covering employers, trade unions, the voluntary sector and the NHS. Training courses and materials are being developed for some 80 Representatives.

For more details contact Dianne Jones, at Stockport College Trades Union Education Department on 0161-958-3685 or dianne.jones@stockport.ac.uk (this is not a live address to prevent spamming) Dianne is a member of the UK National Work-Stress Network Steering Group.

IT security that everyone needs to know

Computers. Love them or hate them, they're an indispensable part of work. They come loaded with dozens of useful ways to help you do your job, and if you're not careful dozens of ways to get you the sack. Technical nasties, fraudster attacks, or just things you didn't know you weren't supposed to do - We reckon most people need to do more to keep themselves up to date with the threats to their safety online.

For more information on IT security please visit the website www.worksmart.org.uk

Thank You

To all those who made the Conference weekend a great success, and especially to NASUWT for their sponsorship of the weekend.

We will be publishing papers from the Conference and a report in due course.

The next Conference will be held also at Hillscourt Conference centre during the weekend of November 21st/22nd 2009 and details will be announced in the new year.

Another apology

We regret that we have had to suspend posting on the forum because of the extremely immature behaviour of a Dutch spammer whose IP number is 94.102.60.49. Let us hope that they grow up and get a life some day soon!

Apology

An error has been pointed out in the wording of bullet point 6 in the Stress Policy, it should read "The policy should begin with the acceptance of employer responsibility for the stressors and for the illnesses that follow". We apologise for any mis-understanding this may have caused.

Walking Works

We have been notified about the launch of a brand new website, www.walkingworks.org.uk. The campaign is run by the national charity Living Streets and is funded by TFL, and the National Lottery. This organisation's aims are so close to ours;walking to decrease stress levels is an important benefit of walking to work.

Walking Works provides advice and encouragement to people wanting to walk for all or part of their commute. The website also provides information to employers who want to encourage more walking in the workplace. They aim to attract over 13,000 visitors to their site as well as ensuring over 4000 pledges.

Please Support Workplace Justice

The Government's Employment Bill is currently progressing through Parliament. The Employment Bill can be amended to include the following clauses taken from the TUC backed Trade Union Rights and Freedoms Bill:

United Campaign
39 Chalton Street
London
NN1 1JD

Please support the campaign for justice in the workplace and improvements to trade union and workers' rights by sending the downloadable letter to your MP. you can find the letter on their website www.unitedcampaign.org.uk

New Link

We have a new link, this one is to the European Work Hazards Network

Stress Management Standards Analysis tool

On National Stress Awareness day, Wednesday 5th November 2008, HSE will launch an updated version of the HSE Management Standards Analysis Tool and User Manual. The main improvement in the new version is the option to benchmark against either data drawn from organisations in both the private and public sector, or the current data drawn from the Psychosocial Working Conditions (PWC) survey 2004. The revised Analysis Tool User Manual includes a full description of the two data sets. For a full appreciation of the functions and limitations please read the User Manual before using the Analysis Tool.

National Stress Awareness day is organised by the International Stress Management Association. For more information please follow this link

Hazards Conference Newsletter

You can download a copy of the 2008 Hazards Conference Newsletter by following this link

DID YOU WATCH YOUR OWN HEART ATTACK?

If you missed it: visit www.2minutes.org.uk press the red button on ITV1 and click on "2mins" (from 9pm)

If you watched it: send the link to everyone you care about. It could be the most important two minutes of TV people will ever see.

The British Heart Foundation has created a set of resources to help you with the health of employees in the workplace.

Our Think Fit! resources cover physical activity, healthy eating and mental wellbeing and include a range of ideas, challenges and signposts, as well as an employee booklet, great giveaway item and fun packaging. Employers who offer workplace health programmes really will see the benefits.

To order your free pack or find out more, visit bhf.org.uk/thinkfit

Website changes

WORKSAFE GB LTD

Helping Employers and Managers to tackle the No 1 cause of Sickness Absence and Manage the Legal Risks of Stress

WORKSAFE GB LTD supports the UK National Workstress network

In this issue you can read articles on:

Ideal reading for those long hot summer days.

Guidance to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007

The Centre for Corporate Accountability has published comprehensive Guidance on the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act which begins to apply after 6 April 2008. It is intended to help a range of interested groups and individuals - whether they be lawyers, other advisors, bereaved families, trade unions, managers, employers or others - to understand the nature of the new offence, the type of organisations to which it applies, the circumstances that will lead to prosecution, areas in which the Act remains open to legal interpretation, and so on.

Whilst detailed and comprehensive, the guidance tries to explain the new law in as accessible a manner as possible.

To obtain the guidance, follow this link

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