'The biggest workplace safety problem is stress'

The research by the TUC, released ahead of tomorrow's National Stress Awareness Day, highlighted excessive workloads, job cuts and rapid change as the most common triggers for rising stress among employees.

Six out of 10 union safety representatives questioned by the TUC earlier this year said stress was the top concern in the workplaces they represented.

The figure has risen 5% in four years, with 56% of those surveyed naming stress as the number one hazard in the TUC's 2002 survey, compared to 58% in 2004 and 61% this year.

London was the most stressed out region of the UK, where 67% said it was their biggest problem, closely followed by the North West where 65% agreed.

The problem also appeared to be more of an issue in larger workplaces. Stress was cited as the top concern by 58% of representatives in firms employing less than 50 staff, with that figure rising to 67% in organisations with more than 1,000 employees.

Doing enough?

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Stress is a preventable problem and UK employers simply aren't doing enough to minimise its impact.

"People who suffer from stress aren't wimps, and their symptoms can make them really ill. Stressed out employees are more likely to experience weight loss, high blood pressure, depression and even heart attacks."

The TUC also claimed that time taken off from work because of stress was costing UK business about £3.7 billion a year.

More than three-quarters of the representatives surveyed said excessive workload was most likely to lead to problems with stress while 57% also blamed staffing levels, 53% rapid change and 34% long hours. One third claimed bullying was a major cause.

'Smile away stress'

National Stress Awareness Day - an initiative developed by the International Stress Management Association (ISMA) - this year sees the launch of a new campaign encouraging people to stop allowing everyday stressful situations get on top of them.

The themes of the campaign are "smile away stress" and "stress - don't let it get to you", which ISMA said should help to present a more positive, proactive and manageable approach to stress management.

A spokesperson for the association said that while people often associated stress with "major life issues", a "huge amount of our anxiety comes from minor day to day annoyances."

"When these build up they undermine our natural ability to cope, leaving us tired, anxious, irritable and making stress more infectious."

Earlier this year ISMA helped produce guidance notes to assist businesses and other workplaces implement the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) stress management standards.

The guide - 'Making the Stress Management Standards Work' - can be downloaded from the HSE website - see link above/right.