HSEHealth & Safety

Executive

Organisational interventions for work stress

A risk management approach

Prepared by: Institute of Work, Health and Organisations

University of Nottingham Business Schoolfor the Health and Safety Executive

CONTRACT RESEARCH REPORT

286/2000

HSEHealth & Safety

Executive

Organisational interventions for work stress

A risk management approach

Tom Cox, Amanda Griffiths,Claire Barlowe, Ray Randall,

Louise Thomson and Eusebio Rial-Gonzalez Institute of Work, Health and Organisations

University of Nottingham Business SchoolJubilee Campus

NottinghamNG8 1BB

This report presents a risk management approach to the reduction of work stress, describing itsorigins, strategies, processes and procedures. It illustrates these through six organisational casestudies. It is based on a programme of research and development conducted for the Health andSafety Executive by the Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, University of NottinghamBusiness School. These case studies cover 11 different occupational groups drawn from 19 riskmanagement projects completed in collaboration with 10 major British companies.

The report is written for those competent in occupational health and safety and for informed policymakers, managers and trades unionists interested in that area. Some knowledge of the languageand concepts of health and safety has been assumed, although its application to the challenge ofwork stress is explained. The case studies are deliberately presented in a brief and somewhat more‘journalistic’ style to increase their accessibility.

Each of the collaborating companies received a technical report on their particular project(s), and thepapers of scientific interest are being published through the relevant scientific and professionaljournals.

This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive. Its contents,including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do notnecessarily reflect HSE policy.

HSE BOOKS

ii

© Crown copyright 2000Applications for reproduction should be made in writing to:Copyright Unit, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office,St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ

First published 2000

ISBN 0 7176 1838 2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmittedin any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the priorwritten permission of the copyright owner.