0702 Spring Newsletter

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Stress Network Conference

Saturday November 10th 2007, 10.00 a.m. till4.00 p.m.

Hillscourt Conference Centre, Rednal, Birmingham

Enforcing the Stress ManagementStandards

Early-bird Delegate fee:50.00[Full Delegate Fee:65.00 after September 30th 2007]

Unwaged Fee 17.00Overnight accommodation available

Les Roberts, Conference Secretary: [email protected]

Booking form and details see pages 6/7Book early to avoid disappointment!

UK National Work-Stress Network Newsletter

SSPRINGPRING NNEWSEWS 20072007

Britain is 'one of the most highlyBritain is 'one of the most highlystressed nations in Europe'stressed nations in Europe'

February 2007

Money worries, long hours at work and family pressures are driving up stress levels acrossthe country, a recently published report says. Half the population say they feel morestressed now than five years ago and more than 10 per cent say they have felt suicidal,twice the level in 2003.

The findings, from a survey commissioned by the Samaritans, confirm Britain as one of themost stressed nations in Europe. Research published last month showed one in five Britonsfelt their life was out of control, the highest proportion in the nine industrialised nationsstudied.

The Samaritans survey of 2,000 people, conducted over the internet last month, foundpressure had increased most on the young, with 70% of 16 to 24-year-olds saying they feltmore stressed than five years ago. Sixteen per cent had contemplated taking their own life,and almost a third said they had no one to turn to, the highest proportion for any age group.The survey, Stressed Out, was released to mark Stress Down Day at the beginning of themonth, organised by the charity to highlight stress in the workplace.

The director of Samaritans service support, Joe Ferns, said: "The results of the survey areworrying - not only because we're getting more stressed but because it seems we're gettingworse at dealing with that stress." Mr Ferns said people sometimes reacted to stress in

inappropriate ways, by drinking or going shopping, which added to the problem. "Feelingstressed can be a vicious circle. Sometimes, the more people feel stressed, the more they dothings which put them under greater pressure."

The survey also found:

half of Brits (50 per cent) say there are more stressed now than they were five years

ago;

almost one-in-five (17 per cent) say they are stressed out every single day;

more than one-in-four (27 per cent) say stress causes them to argue with their

partners while nearly a fifth (18 per cent) find their sex life suffers because of stress;

the 25 to 34-year-old age group (41 per cent) drink more often than others to relieve stress;

more men (35 per cent)

than women (29 per

cent) drink whenstressed;

16 to 24-year-olds feel

suicidal the most when

theyre stressed;

The same age group also

came top for being morestressed than they were

five years ago with 72per cent saying theywere more stressed

today;

Those aged 16 to 24 watch

TV or listen to music the

Ian Draper, Network Convener [email protected] Page 1 08/10/2013
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most to relieve stress, but more than half of them (54 per cent) said thats how they try to copealthough it can be a way of avoiding the cause of stress rather than looking for support or help. And 16

to 24-year-olds like to go shopping and spend some money to try and get over their stress, more thanany other age group. When asked which feelings do you have when you experience stress andpressure? 61 per cent said they felt depressed and down for some time while 41 per cent said they felt

isolated and alone. One-in-four (25 per cent) said there was no-one they could turn to while nearly one-in-eight (12 per cent) said they felt suicidal. In Japan, the word karoshi is used to describe sudden

death from overwork. At the moment there is no direct translation to English and lets hope that remains

the case.

Network Comment it is very concerning to note that despite the media coverage of specific

cases, the optimism of the HSE that things are improving, and employers lack of interest in the StressManagemetn Standards, many people are finding their lives and their health subject to damaging effectsof unrelenting pressures. Some of these problems may be self-inflicted and indeed of a pesonal nature,

but nevertheless they play a significant part in damaging the well-being of sufferers who realy shouldrread the signals and seek help and support.

Convenors ReportI was pleased to be able to attend the NW Region TUC SafetyRepresentatives Conference in Manchester at Old Trafford in early

February. Over 200 delegates were signed up and there was a waiting listtoo! An excellent day as enjoyed by everyone I am sure. Only the threat oftotal white-out predicted by the Met Office and hyped up by the mediacreated an atmosphere of uncertainty. I was able to publicise the work ofthe Network and to advertise our November Conference. I hope to see some of thedelegates attending our event too!

HSE Recognition of our work it was doubly pleasing to speak with David Ashton ofthe NW HSE offices. He was very complimentary of our handbook publication, andcommended its content to the Conference delegates.

Web Activity still growing after a relatively quiet summer period we achieved over27,000 hits in October which has continued to be out weighed monthly and we have nowrecorded 44,500 hits in January 2007. Over 2,000 documents have been downloaded forfurther use in that month.

Our revised Information Pack was reprinted in the early summer following verygenerous support from AMICUS, NASUWT and UNISON and we are indebted to them fortheir generous assistance and support. It is now available in glossy printed bookletformat as before.

Bulk copies of the booklet can be ordered by email from the Convener please [email protected] for details. A payment equivalent to at least 1.00 per copy isrequested.

We are very pleased to provide more details of our November 2007 Conferencetackling the subject ofEnforcing the Stress Management Standards. Speakersfrom HSE, the world of research and trades unions will set the scene for workshops anddiscussion groups.

Details are available via Risks E-Zine, Hazards and through Trades Unions, also on ourwebsitehttp://www.workstress.net/downloads.htm

Reserve the date dont miss the opportunity of the year to hear about the HSE Stress

Management Standards Saturday November 10th, 10.30 a.m. till 4.00 p.m. Get your UnionBranch to sponsor your attendance.

Ian Draper,February 2007

Diary DatesStress Network Steering Group Meetings 2007, Hillscourt Conference Centre, nrBirmingham:-

Saturdays, 9th June & 8th September 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

Hazards Conference July 27th to 29th 2007 Manchester University

mailto:[email protected]://www.workstress.net/downloads.htmhttp://www.workstress.net/downloads.htmmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.workstress.net/downloads.htmmailto:[email protected]


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Stress Snippets

HSE warns Authorities to takeaction over health risks to

staffJanuary 2007

The Health and Safety Executive haswarned Scottish councils to make surethey act to minimise safety risks to staffafter Dundee City Council was rapped fornot having an occupational healthmanagement structure. An improvementnotice was issued following a routineappraisal, which highlighted inadequaciesin the provisions to deal with occupationalhealth risks.

HSE officials found the council did not havea co-ordinated structure for managingoccupational health and left riskmanagement to local team leaders.

The tribunal upheld the HSE's action,saying it was the inspector's duty to issuenotices where safety regulations werebreached. The HSE has said that while it issatisfied the council now has anappropriate action plan in place to dealwith its concerns, the tribunal rulingshould highlight to other local authoritiesthe importance of identifying and

addressing health and safety concerns inthe workplace.

All employers are required by law to carryout risk assessments, make arrangementsto manage risks and ensure staff haveaccess to health and safety advice.

HSE inspector David Steven said:"Following the Dundee City Councildecision, other local authorities in Scotlandcan be in no doubt about their duty toprovide health monitoring and provisionfor their staff on an ongoing basis.

"The appropriate use of occupationalhealth expertise and resources isnecessary to comply with statutory dutiesbut will also help employers meet non-statutory principles such as reducing work-related sickness absence."

HSE has pledged to work closely with localauthorities in Scotland helping them tobecome more active in addressing healthand safety issues. South LanarkshireCouncil, which aims to cut sicknessabsences by providing staff with free

access to a physiotherapist andoccupational health team is shown as anexample of good practice.

Network Comment Any employer ormanager who fails to apply his duty of carein this respect is asking for trouble!

Irrespective of costs, employers have aduty to ensure the workforces health.

Employers braced for NationalSickie Day

February 2007

Forget bird flu - an outbreak of the winterblues is forecast to strike Britain leading tohundreds of thousands of people taking"sickies" from work. Surveys havesuggested that early February is the worstperiod of the year for absenteeism, leading

to February 5

th

being labelled NationalSickie Day.

The year began with what appeared to bea nationwide week off work, as manybusinesses failed to resume normal serviceuntil January 8. And around 310,000workers were predicted to call in sick onthe 5th. Post-Christmas blues, poorweather, credit card bills and a long waitfor the next holiday have all been blamedfor this lack of motivation. TheEmployment Law Advisory Servicesestimated that absence through sickness

could cost British industry 27m today.Spokesman, Peter Mooney, said: "Poorweather, long dark nights and a generaldissatisfaction with official holidays allmean that early February is a very populartime for workers to give themselves anextra 'duvet day'."

TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber,said: "February is slap bang in the middleof the cold and flu season and to suggestthat the thousands of employees who aregenuinely off ill today are throwing a

'sickie' is hugely insulting. "Mostemployers are clearly going to preferthattheir sick staff stay at home until they arebetter, rather than become 'mucustroopers' and struggle in, spreading theirgerms around the office."

Network Comment it is not helpful tochastise alleged timewasters when little isreally known about the causes of sicknessabsence. Whilst it is recognised that someworkers are not always honest, the vastmajority do their best, and feel rightly andunjustly wronged by such claims. It doeslittle to foster good working relationships ifemployers feel they are being short-changed.

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Drivers fined for not taking restFour bus drivers in Gloucestershire havebeen fined 130 each for working toomany hours and not having enough rest.

Gloucester Magistrates heard theStagecoach drivers all worked shifts

driving the Cheltenham to LondonMegabus route. They were found to haveacted illegally by not taking the requiredamount of rest after a six-day week. Theypleaded guilty to a total of 12 charges ofnot taking the full 36-hours rest betweenshifts.

This lack of rest period went against EUregulations. It is a drivers responsibility toknow the law. Tired drivers are unsafedrivers.

It was shown that they were all of limited

means and had not known about the rules.They had asked for training on how therostered hours worked. After consideringsentence, chair of the bench, DavidDawson told them: "In doing that job thereis always a potential danger that you putthe public at risk and that is of concern toall of us. "It is your responsibility to knowthe law. It is something you should havetaken steps to deal with earlier."

Network Comment Employers mustalways ensure that their employees areproperly trained. If there is doubt then

simple risk assessments should take placeto ensure that every employee is properlyupdated. Working practices should betightened up to ensure that such breachesof the law cannot happen.

When is work-related stressreasonably foreseeable?

February 2007

AMICUS the third largest trade union inthe NHS is investigating the level ofexcessive working nationally, following the

case of a health visitor awarded 64,000after suffering a breakdown because ofoverwork.

Tina Hiles was awarded 64,000 incompensation by the High Court after theworkload imposed on her by her trust -South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust(PCT) - caused a breakdown.

Judge Robert Moxon-Browne ruled thatSouth Gloucestershire PCT had been inbreach of its duty to Hiles, and that thestress she had suffered at work had been

the cause of her breakdown. Hecommented that he believed thisparticular injury was foreseen and could

have been prevented by the exercise ofreasonable care.

The fact that Hiles injury was foreseeablemeant the Trust was liable for her stress.Whether an injury is foreseeable rests onconsiderations such as:-

what the employer knows (or oughtreasonably to know) about theindividual employees;

the nature and extent of the work

done; and

signs from the employee of

impending harm to health.

The Trust failed to act on some of theseindications. For example, at one pointHiles burst into tears at a work review. TheCourt decided that this should have beenviewed as not being the normal behaviour

of an ordinary employee when discussingworkload and as such should have beenseen as a sign that the claimant was beingaffected by stress.

In a similar case last year, an employeewas awarded 140,000 compensationafter her excessive workload, resultingfrom the need to cover for absentcolleagues, made her ill. The High Courtheard that Melanie Garrod suffered twobreakdowns when, she claimed, NorthDevon Primary Care Trust failed to bring intemporary staff to cover for colleagues onsickness or maternity leave. She wassupposed to do a 30-hour week but oftenhad to work many more hours unpaid tocope with the workload. Garrod claimedthat depressive illness on two occasionswas due to pressure of work. Followingher second period of illness she returnedto work with assurances from the Trustthat she would not be required to take onany more extra caseload.

However, when another colleague went onmaternity leave and was not replaced

Garrod had to cope with two workloadsagain. She went off sick and did not returnto work; her employment was terminatedon grounds of ill health. The court ruledthat psychiatric harm she suffered wasreasonably foreseeable and that areasonable employer should have foreseenthat deciding which appointments toprioritise, which to cancel, attempts to findalternative staff, and the demands ofGarrods own duties created a significantrisk of psychiatric harm. It also ruled thatthe Trust had failed to take steps to

replace absent staff, something that it wasreasonable to expect it to do.



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Network Comment many peoplebelieve that they have PI claims againsttheir employer but fall short of therequired legal criteria and fail to show thatthey have incontrovertible proof of theircase. Although it may be a worry to do so,it is important to demonstrate at all stages

that health is being affected by workingdemands. Employers must also recognisetheir responsibilities to ensure that anyforeseeable health problems must behandled at source and as soon aspracticably possible. Failure to do so is abreach of duty of care.

Teachers victims of cyber-bullies

Increasing numbers of teachers arebecoming victims of cyber-bullying from

both pupils and parents, a teachers'organisation has said. Incidents rangefrom abusive emails to the malicious useof websites and chat rooms, it said.

Silent phone calls and unwelcome textmessages were also reported by some ofthose teachers surveyed. The TeacherSupport Network and the Association ofTeachers and Lecturers carried out theresearch. Its director Mark Langhammersaid anti-bullying policies needed to beintroduced.

"Certainly in Northern Ireland, theDepartment of Education have not issueda general guidance to schools," he said."Some schools have very good policies,some have none at all. Teachers veryoften are working in a vacuum."

Fern Turner from the National Associationof Head Teachers' said it was a hardproblem to tackle. She said: "There areteachers whose whole professionalreputation is being challenged on thesesites. What we are told is that the networkproviders monitor the sites and take off

material which they feel is inappropriate.While people can say anything and writeanything, the victims can't actuallyaddress or challenge it."

Network Comment regrettablyteachers continue to be vulnerable tomalicious behaviour on the part of theirstudents. This type of behaviour will addadditional unwanted burdens to classroomteachers. Those who have suffered in theways described have their whole livesturned up side down. Akin to burglary it is

as damaging as rape.

Flexible hours should beavailable to every worker

February 2007

The Children's minister will call today forall workers, including non-parents, to begiven the right to demand flexible workinghours. Beverley Hughes hopes the movewill help staff to tailor their workingpatterns to the demands of home life. Hercall has won support from trade unionsand groups representing women andchildren. Only about one in eightmembers of the workforce - 3.6 millionparents with children under six or disabledchildren under 18 - have the right to askfor flexible working. Companies that refusea request must explain the reason inwriting and employees can appeal to a

tribunal.The right will be extended in April toanother 2.8 million people who areresponsible for caring for relatives orpartners. But Ms Hughes calls for adramatic widening of the entitlement to all29 million employees in Britain, whatevertheir personal circumstances. She arguesthe step would particularly help parents tobalance work around their children, ratherthan children around work, and make iteasier for mothers and fathers to sharetheir responsibilities.

"Many working people feel time-squeezed," she said. "With more women atwork, an ageing population and manypeople aspiring to volunteer or to furtherdevelop their skills, government andemployers need to recognise thatbalancing work and life is an issue that'snot going away. We need a step change.

"The growing number of women at workhas, in practice, often resulted in womenhaving two jobs - a new professional oneplus the old domestic one. We need to

help families negotiate the balancing actbetween care work and paid work,avoiding negative trade offs between timeand money."

Ms Hughes argues: "Everyone has a lifeoutside work, not just parents. We mustredefine the 'ideal worker' and accept it isa fantasy to expect people to have noneother than work commitments. Manypeople make valuable contributions totheir communities in their non-work time.

"It is unacceptable for family-friendly

employment to be an option only for thoseparents - often women - who downshift inpay and status. Work-life balance is still



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unobtainable for many low-incomefamilies."

A move to universal flexi-hours is likely tobe resisted by some employers, who couldbe hit by the cost of contesting tribunalappeals brought by their staff. But AnneLongfield, the chief executive of thecharity 4Children, said "The need tobalance work and family responsibilitiesdoesn't stop when children start school,with most parents saying they wouldbenefit by being able to continue to workmore flexibly." Gaynor Anderson, research

manager, 30: 'I didn't want to give upwork, it's part of who I am'.

Network Comment Much of the currentprovision for flexible working relates tofamily caring needs, for the young.However many workers also have other

caring duties which should be recognised.IN addition, the opportunity to seek a moreflexible approach to our work will enhancewell-being, create an improved work-lifebalance and reduce stress levels.

UK National Work-Stress Network

7th Annual Conference

Saturday, November 10th

, 2007 10.00 a.m. till 4.00 p.m.

Enforcing the HSE Stress Management Standards

How Employers should apply their Duty of Care

This conference is aimed at Trades Union Shop Stewards, Health & SafetyRepresentatives, Health & Safety and Human Resources Specialists, Stress

Management Consultants

Early-bird Booking Full Delegate Fee:- 50.00

(65.00 after September 30th)

Unwaged Delegate Fee:- 17.00

Special rate B&B available at 32.50 (Single Room) 50.00 (Double Room)Final closing date, October 13th 2007

Outline Programme

Speakers:-

David Snowball, HSE Director of Operations Yorks & NE

Jane Ferrie, Senior Research Fellow, Dept of Epidemiology & Public health UCL Whitehall II Research Project

Employer the adoption of the standards at a workplace TBA

Ian Draper UK National Work Stress Network, the case for enforcement

Question & Answer session

2 Course Buffet Lunch

Workshops

1. Whitehall II Research Project development

2. TBA

3. Enforcement of Stress Management Standards

4. TBA

Closing Plenary Session

Details to be finalised

NASUWT Hillscourt Conference Centre, Rose Hill



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REDNAL, Birmingham B45 8RS

Set in the Lickey Hills to the SW of Birmingham close to M5 (J4) and M42 (J1 and J2), thisattractive parkland setting provides high quality conference facilities, good overnightaccommodation and is acknowledged for its food. The Centre is some 45 mins by taxi fromBirmingham New Street Station (c15.00) and Birmingham Airport and BirminghamInternational Station (c20.00).

Disabled Access and induction loop facilities ensure that all events can be fullyinclusive.



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BOOKING FORM

PLEASERESERVEPLACESFORMEATTHE UK NATIONAL WORK-STRESSNETWORK CONFERENCE,

HILLSCOURT CONFERENCE CENTRE, NR BIRMINGHAMSATURDAY NOVEMBER 10TH, 2007

PLEASE PRINT DETAILS CLEARLY

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YES/NO YES/NODELEGATE FEES:- PLEASEENTERSUMEARLY BIRD FULL DELEGATEFEE 50.00

UNWAGED DELEGATE FEE 17.00

LATE ENTRY FULL DELEGATEFEE 65.00

B&B SINGLE ROOM 32.50

B&B DOUBLE ROOM 50.00

DONATIONTO STRESS NETWORK

TOTAL FEE PAYMENTENCLOSED

COMPLETED APPLICATIONFORMTOBESENTTOGETHERWITHCHEQUE(S) PAYABLETO UK

NATIONAL STRESS NETWORKTOBESENTTO:- LES ROBERTS, STRESS NETWORK CONFERENCE SECRETARY, 33 OLD

STREET. UPTON UPON SEVERN, WR8 0HN WORCS

EMAIL Address: [email protected]

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Documents

0702 Spring Newsletter