Pages in this chapter (10 of 11)
Stress
Stress is a person's reaction to excessive pressure and other demands. Pressure can motivate, but too much causes stress. Factors outside work, such as family life, money worries, divorce, the birth of a child or a bereavement, reduce a person's ability to bounce back and make them more open to work-related stress. Work factors include excessive demands, too little work, fear of failure, bullying and poor job design.
The effects can be:
- physical: raised blood pressure, tiredness, ulcers, digestive disorders, weight change, headaches, skin rashes, sweating, aching neck and shoulders, blurred vision, dizziness and lower resistance to infection
- emotional: tension, anxiety, depression, frustration and loss of self-esteem
- behavioural: eating disorders, misuse of alcohol or drugs, difficulty with others, insomnia, aggressive or passive behaviour, conflict at work and absence
To manage stress, look at six areas of work design:
| Area | Question |
|---|---|
| Demands | What are the workload, work patterns and environment? |
| Control | How much say does the person have in how they work? |
| Support | Do the organisation, line managers and colleagues give encouragement and resources? |
| Relationships | Are there positive ways to avoid conflict and deal with unacceptable behaviour? |
| Role | Do people understand their role, and is it free of conflict? |
| Change | How is change, large or small, managed and communicated? |
Find out how your organisation performs in each area and compare it with good practice. In Britain, self-reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety accounts for an estimated 11.3 million lost working days a year.
Temperature
Workrooms should be comfortable without special clothing. Where hot or cold processes make this impossible, take all reasonable steps to keep the temperature as near comfortable as you can. In UK guidance the temperature in a workroom should generally be at least 16 °C, or at least 13 °C if the work is physical. This is only a guide, and local law or good practice may differ where you work. Encourage your team to tell you about concerns, and take temperature into account when you allocate work and assess risks.
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