In 2004 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revised its management standards on workplace stress. The standards clearly spelt out key areas that should be addressed by employers to ensure employees are not exposed to undue stress as a result of their work or work environment. Workplaces are expected to comply with these standards since they link with the obligations of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Thus, the HSE places a duty of care on employers to protect the health and safety of their employees and to carry out risk assessments involving the health, safety and welfare of their staff. In addition, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess risks to health and safety from the hazards of work. This includes the risk of employees developing stress-related illness.
Synergy’s unique programme aims to encourage organisations to complete suitable risk assessment procedures in work-related stress, and take the necessary measures identified by the assessment. This will help to prevent any formal enforcement action (i.e. an Improvement Notice) being served by the HSE.
The synergy programme supports employees so they can perform optimally and consistently, by providing a health profile of your organisation, depicting a detailed understanding of your employee’s attitude to work and their workplace. Such a unique profiling will enable your organisation to take preventative action early and efficiently by capturing quality information that forms the basis of an Action Plan that can be effectively implemented. This also provides a proactive approach to managing employees health, work pressures and well-being, by addressing underlying causes, and not just the monitoring and recording of data.
The HSE Management Standards and Synergy’s own extensive research into workplace resilience, helps organisations work with their employees to take simple steps to tackle work-related stress.
The Synergy programme provides a proactive approach to managing employee health and work pressures. |
