Hi

I am currently in the process of reviewing my company's health and safety policy. Being a small company it is somewhat basic and I was wondering whether anybody has advice for me, particularly regarding the issue of stress.

Thanks

Andy

Hi Andy,

Humphrey given you some good tips here. What you do need to remember is that you need to follow the basic risk assessment procedures when formulationg a plan to combat or, better still, prevent stress. This is actually a legal requirement for any hazard in the workplace.

First off you need to identify the hazard and the risks associated with it, whether they be mechanical or personnel. This is best done in consultation with the workforce as they will know more about the shop floor, office or other working environment than most people with strictly adminstrative roles.

Then you will have to identify those at risk. If there are targets to be achieved then stress may become a factor if the objectives are difficult to achieve.

You then need to decide whether sufficient is being done already or whether more needs to be done to prevent stress from arising. Many companies now employ consultants for employees to contact anonymously if they have problems and it is looked upon as a means of displaying concern for the welfare of staff and possibly being sufficient to satisfy a tribunal should a case go that far. Some look upon this as a cheap get out jail card.

Of, course all this has to be recorded, signed off by staff representatives and filed with other risk assessments.

Finally, you will need to review the assessment periodically. The times that would lead to automatic review would be if someone actually went off with work related stress, or workloads changed dramatically or even during prolonged periods of uncertainty.

Hope this helps.

John 

I am assuming that you actually want to carry out risk assessments rather than write a safety policy. Stress is a big issue in call centres and these have been used as examples in many cases for training and awareness programmes, but they are not the only issues you will need to cover.

A starting publication that will help you understand the issues is the HSE publication Essentials of Health and safety at Work. 4th edition.

As an example of things covered I will go through the basics of DSE assessment.

I expect each of your operators uses a PC and has their own workstation. By law this needs to be assesed preferably in line with the relevent guidance for the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992. The law states that employers must:

 identify what display screen equipment and users are covered in your workplace,

assess workstations and ensure that they meet the minimum requirements for them,

plan the work so that there are breaks or changes of activity,

on request provided eye and eyesight tests, and spectacles if special ones are required,

provide training and information.

What this means in practice is that you should ensure that:

risks are assessed and reduced,

all workstations meet the minimum requirements for - equipment such as screens and keyboards; desks;chairs; working environment: software,

work is planned to ensure that there are breaks from certain activities that may lead to injury or ill health,

users are given the appropriate training and information about their work and the risks attached,

eyetests are provided on request. (m0st companies wait for the employee to request this, but some do keep a register and monitor it as part of their health and safety policy).

All of this is given in greater detail in the publication I mentioned earlier. The full title is Work with display screen equipment. Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992. Guidance Regulations L26. This publication actually gives definitions of those in various categories such as 'users', 'may be users' and 'not users'. Under the Guidance your staff would qualify as users.

Other things that should be risk assessed are slips, trips and falls. These are the most common injuries in an office environment. Cables, ill fitting carpetting, chair legs all occur in office style workplaces.

Fire risk assessments are also a legal requirement.

The current version of Essentials of health and safety at work is just that for someone who has been given the task of looking after these issues without the appropriate training.

If you would like more advice I can be contacted on john@johnstuartdavison.wanadoo.co.uk. I should have plenty of time over the next couple of weeks as I have been made redundant for making too many noises about health and safety.

Good luck,

John