Health
and safety (H&S) managers – the people charged with measuring and managing
workplace stress – experience more stress and related issues at work than other
staff.
Almost
half (40 per cent) of H&S managers are unable to cope with the demands of
their work, according to a new survey by research group ORC International.
The
poll of 500 H&S managers also found that only a third felt they could meet
the requirements of their job without regularly working excessive hours. This
is 22 per cent lower than the national average of 55 per cent.
Less
than a third said their organisations were committed to tackling the issue of
work-related stress.
While
two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondents have a clear idea of what is expected
of them in their job, less than half feel that the people they work with
co-operate to get the work done. Again, this is much lower than the national
average of 80 per cent, according to ORC.
A
recent report by the Work and Pensions select committee recommended that the
number of safety inspectors should be doubled to cut deaths, injuries and
illness at work.
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The
committee of MPs backed calls for a £48m expansion plan for the Health and
Safety Executive, which would increase the number of inspectors from 540 to
more than 1,000.
