Living in the high pressure, fast moving twenty first century can take its tole on people’s mental and physical health.  What may seem emotionally stressful to one person, may be a welcome challenge to another. Where stress is involved, everyone is vulnerable including; employers, senior management, managers, workers, those who are furloughed due to the pandemic and those who are either unemployed or who are anxious that their jobs are under threat.  We can either bury our heads in the sand, do nothing about it and let it spiral out of control or we can address the subject of work-related stress.

Those in control of workplaces, large or small, can make a decision to learn about stress, how it affects individuals physically and mentally and what can be done at work to reduce the likelihood of harmful work-related stress occurring in the first place and reducing the consequence by early intervention for those who recognise the signs of chronic stress. There has never been a more crucial time to train your workforce, however many businesses in the public and private sector are not addressing their legal duty to continually train their employees, and this may have a detrimental effect on their future businesses.

What the law says:

The Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978 places a legal duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, (SFARP) the health, safety and welfare at work of all of his employees. The same legislation places a legal duty on employees to take reasonable care of their own health, safety and welfare. The Management of Health and Safety at Work (NI) Regulations 2000 place a legal duty on employers to carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments of reasonably foreseeable risks and to eliminate or reduce those risks SFARP. Employees have a legal duty to report any health and safety shortcomings, dangerous situations and to carry out their work in accordance with training and instruction.  This legislation is applicable to those working in the workplace or at home which is highly relevant at the moment. So, let me ask you this: Do you think it is reasonably foreseeable that your workforce could be at risk of the harmful effects of work-related stress?  And, what are you prepared to do about it to reduce the risk?

Training – ensure it is relevant to your attendees

The content of the training must be relevant to those attending; either face to face or on a virtual platform.  So, it is vital that someone booking training talks to a competent professional so that the training will be appropriate and relevant to the group attending.  The training should be delivered by a highly qualified, competent and experienced instructor. Don’t be afraid to ask about the qualifications of the tutor.  Don’t waste your training budget on courses that don’t meet your specific requirements. Here are a few tips:

• Before booking your training, carry out task analysis for the work each individual member of your team is carrying out. This includes location, i.e. at home or in the workplace; needs of the individual, i.e. are they working alone, at home with children or a carer; equipment required to carry out the role; and the workload of each individual, the time allocated to tasks and any training required. 
• When you have that information ask yourself; based on these findings, what is the likelihood of someone suffering from work related stress and what would be the consequence if that should happen. If you don’t know how to do this, then ensure that this is included in the training programme.
• Talk to your team – both managers and workers and let them guide you on what they need to know, e.g. have they had work related stress training before?  
• Check human resource records to see if there have been any stress related reports or instances for a given period of time, the findings of any investigations and what remedial actions were recommended to be taken, so that this can also be included in the training. 
• Have your organisation’s policy on work related stress included in the training programme. (it would be helpful if this would include your return-to-work policy so that the attendees are refreshed on this).
• Review or have the competent person review your current risk assessment and have it included in the training also.The prevalence of work-related stress in the UK and Worldwide

Now you have a comprehensive understanding of the type of training you require, choose the right training provider.  A reputable provider should fully understand your requirements and either be able to provide the training, or refer you to another organisation who provide this kind of training. Remember; this is not a box ticking exercise, you want the training to be totally relevant to your attendees and to have met your requirement to potentially to reduce the risk of your workforce suffering from the harmful effects of stress.  Finding the right training provider is crucial.  

Relevant course content:

• The legal duties of employers and employees regarding managing stress at work
• Understanding the stress response
• Understanding how stress can cause harm both mentally and physically
• The general causes of stress at work
• How we can reduce the risk of harmful stress occurring 
• Applying the HSE Management standards guidance
• Ways of reviewing performance on a continual basis 
• Adopting healthy life choices to reduce the harmful effects of stress

A good trainer will motivate the attendees to put into practice what they have learned in the training session. Candidates should feel empowered and refreshed after the course and have learned skills to recognise situations where harmful work-related stress could occur and to put in place controls to reduce the risk. 

The attendees should leave the course with an understanding and motivation to apply what they have learned in the workplace.  To the trainer; this is a job well done and to the person who organised the training session, it is training accomplished. We at NPTNI pride ourselves for being associated with the best health and safety training professionals in Northern Ireland so please feel free to ask for advice.