Safety briefing - stress

This briefing describes some of the common causes and effects of excess work pressure, along with tips on reducing personal stress.

What’s covered?

The aim of this Safety Briefing - Stress is to help managers to start a dialogue with their teams about stress in the workplace and any action which needs to be taken to alleviate pressures in the team.

Hazards

Hazards which cause work-related stress are known as “stressors”. Our briefing lists the types of stressors which may exist in a workplace under three headings: (1) the physical environment; (2) how the job is organised; and (3) the organisation.

Reasons for concern

The briefing explains some of the consequences of stress to health and relationships.

Control measures

The document contains some ideas on how to manage personal stress. The first control measure looks at the need for open communications within a team and mutual support. This is followed by tips on reducing stress such as planning ahead to avoid deadline pressures and trying to maintain healthy habits.

Key points

The key points remind attendees of coping strategies which they can use such as focusing on one job at a time and breaking up larger projects into manageable sections.