Stress information & websites

Some of the following resources are websites - from which you can download documents - others are documents or guidelines.

Websites:

• WorkSafe Victoria: Health and Safety Topic webpage on Work related Stress.
  
  
• Comcare Australia: Work-related Mental Stress and Psychosocial Hazards pages.
  
  
• Work Cover Queensland has a topic page on Work-related Stress. The regulator has also produced some valuable resources, including a toolkit for mentally healthy workplaces which addresses stress factors and a series of Stress Tipsheets [pdf] (these are the same as the NSW ones, below). 
• European Agency for Safety and Health at Work Topic information page on Psychosocial risks and stress at work.
  
  
• US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) topic Stress at Work  with links to publications and related pages.
  
  
• The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) webpage: Work related Stress  has a wealth of information. The HSE has also produced Management Standards for work-related stress,  with practical advice aimed at anyone with responsibility for tackling work-related stress in an organisation. 
  
  UK's TUC, the equivalent of the VTHC, says the standards are an effective tool to assist organizations to identify the causes of workplace stress and implement practical solutions to manage the risks, and has produced guidance for union safety reps on work-related stress - Responding to harmful work-related stress, to help them encourage their employer to implement them.  The guidelines give a background on the problem of stress, outline the standards and what employers must do, explain the process and tells reps where they can get further information.  The TUC also has a Stress webpage which has more resources that are useful for HSRs.
  
  
• The Work Stress Network -  another UK site which provides information about and related to Job Strain and Work Stress

Guides and materials:

• Stop Stress at Work - a union guide for workers - an ACTU guide which provides workers and their reps with information to help them deal with work-related stress. With information about the day-to-day working conditions which cause stress and ideas and strategies to help prevent or reduce it, it is available for purchase from the OHS Unit at the ACTU  (email [email protected] or phone 03 9664 7302).
  
  
• Enough workplace stress: organizing for change [pdf] a guide from Canadian public sector union CUPE. It provides all the usual information on the causes and effects of workplace stress, but is also 'a tool for action' for health and safety reps.
  
  

• From WorkSafe Victoria:

  • Preventing and managing work-related stress: A guide for employers (Feb 2021) 

  • Work-related stress prevention: Risk management worksheet (mAY 2017)  provides a step-by-step worksheet for employers to identify, assess and control work-related stress risks.

  • Stresswise: Preventing work-related stress - Information for Employees in the public sector  [PDF] This is WorkSafe's guide for employers in the public sector.  
    
    

• From WorkCover NSW a new Code of Practice Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work (May 2021)

 and, (also used in Queensland) a series of 12 Work-related Stress Tip Sheets (these are all PDF files):

1. Overview of work related stress (File size: 75 KB)
2. A risk management approach to work related stress (File size: 93 KB)
3. Implementing a work related stress management program (File size: 74 KB)
4. Risk factors for work related stress  (File size: 62 KB)
5. Work demands  (File size: 84 KB)
6. Levels of control (File size: 59 KB)
7. Support from supervisors and/or co-workers  (File size: 62 KB)
8. Role clarity and role conflict  (File size: 59 KB)
9. Managing relationships (File size: 78 KB)
10. Recognition and reward (File size: 63 KB)
11. Managing change  (File size: 60 KB)
12. Organisational justice  (File size: 63 KB) 

 
• From Safe Work Australia, a guide issued in June 2018: Work-related psychological health and safety - A systematic approach to meeting your duties The Guide is for employers and workers, and provides advice on how to build a psychologically healthy and safe workplace by identifying, assessing and controlling risks to workers' mental health. It takes a preventative approach. 
  
  
• PRIMA - a consortium of the ILO, the WHO and ohs organisations, has released the Psychosocial Risk Management Excellence Framework This new resource is a collation of best practice programs in management of psychosocial hazards. The database can be searched according to the type of intervention (primary, secondary or tertiary) and also the country where the intervention was developed/is in place. The PRIMA Inventory of Best Practice covers:
  • Work Related Stress
  • Violence and
  • Bullying and Harassment
    
    
• The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has a great deal of material on stress:
  • Psychosocial risks and stress at work -  entry page
  • a 2014 practical  E-guide to Managing Stress and Psychological Risks. It provides information about work-related stress and psychosocial risks to foster awareness, understanding and management of these issues in the workplace. The e-guide is designed to respond to the needs of employers and people working in small enterprises, who are starting to approach psychosocial risks in the workplace. The guide is available in a number of 'national versions which refer to any relevant legislation in that particular country.
  • On OSH-WIKI  Work-related stress, its nature and management.
  • A 2014 report: 'Calculating the cost of work-related stress and psychosocial risks', summarises the studies focusing on this area. The report finds the main costs for individuals relate to health impairment, lower income and reduced quality of life. Organisations are affected by costs related to absenteeism, presenteeism, reduced productivity or high staff turnover. Health care costs and poorer business outcomes ultimately affect national economies and society.  The report can be downloaded free from this page of the Agency's website.
  • Fact sheets on Stress:  How to Tackle Psychosocial Issues and Reduce Work-related Stress  [available in a number of languages]
  • A report Prevention of psychosocial risks and stress at work in practice [pdf]. The report presents 20 examples of good practice in preventing psychosocial risks and stress. The examples are all award winners or commended entries in a European competition, run as part of the European Week for Safety and Health at Work 2002.
  • A Framework Agreement on Work-Related Stress (October 2004 - updated 2006) signed by Europe's social partners (UNICE, ETUC, UEAPME, CEEP) to provide a framework for employers and workers to identify and prevent or manage problems of work-related stress. At the same time the social partners have announced their intention to explore the possibilities of reaching a specific agreement on issues of harassment and violence at work.
  • Another report - Expert forecast on emerging psychosocial risks related to occupational safety and health.
    
    
• From the International Labour Organisation (ILO): Stress Prevention at Work Checkpoints. Practical improvements for stress prevention in the workplace, ILO, January 2012. The manual, which can be ordered or downloaded free, includes easy-to-apply checkpoints for identifying stressors in working life and mitigating their harmful effects. The manual also provides guidance on linking workplace risk assessment with the process of stress prevention. The checkpoints are good practice for enterprises and organizations in general, and they are especially useful for companies and organizations that wish to incorporate stress prevention into their overall occupational safety and health policy and management systems. Each of the checkpoints – illustrated in full colour – describes an action, indicates why it is necessary and how to carry it out, and provides further hints and points to remember. Also:  Developing a workplace stress prevention programme
  
  
• High intensity work linked to stress
  A 2014 study examining psychosocial risks which finds that a quarter of European workers suffer work stress that negatively impacts their health. Psychosocial risks in Europe: Prevalence and strategies for prevention, jointly published by EU-OSHA and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Working and Living Conditions. Psychosocial risks, such as monotonous tasks, high work intensity, low autonomy, tight deadlines, work-life imbalance, violence and harassment from the public or from colleagues, contributed to work-related stress. While fewer people reported working long hours, job insecurity and work intensity increased due to the economic situation in Europe. The report states higher job control, more learning and development opportunities, greater job clarity and stronger social support from work colleagues improved psychosocial work environments. 
  
  
• Nurse Stress Management Booklet, from the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association with NSW Health.The 2006 booklet is an acknowledgement that despite the union's work towards achieving improvements in nurses' employment conditions, 'it remains a fact of life for nurses that we will frequently encounter at situations at work that are physically and emotionally demanding.'
  
  
• From the World Health Organisation: Protecting Workers' Health Series No. 6 - Raising awareness of stress at work in developing countries: A modern hazard in a traditional working environment. Advice to employer and worker representatives or full-text, 48 pages [pdf]
  
  
• From UK Unions representing workers in education: guidance designed to remedy work-related mental health problems in the sector. The union's guide aims to provide head teachers with valuable information, both on how to prevent the development of mental health conditions and on how to support staff who do fall ill. It outlines the nature of the problem, the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) stress management standards as a tool for stress reduction and what to do when a member of staff develops a mental health condition. NUT union guide, Preventing work-related mental health conditions by tackling stress: Guidance for head teachers  There are a number of other leaflets on teacher stress which can be download from the site - do a search.

Last updated July 2021