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You need to establish if stress is a problem in your workplace by carrying out a risk assessment – either collectively or at individual level. Whilst systems should be in place to manage personal differences, you should give priority to collective protection measures over individual ones.

The HSE Management Standards, otherwise known as ‘hazards’, cover the six primary sources of stress at work: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. The standards incorporate a number of features to help reduce the causes of stress which, if not properly managed, would produce negative outcomes for staff.

Top Tips for Managing Stress in Your Workplace

1. Demands. Ensure there are sufficient resources available for employees to do their job. You can support your staff by helping them prioritise or renegotiate deadlines and adjust their work patterns to cope with peaks.
2. Control. Giving staff some flexibility or control over their own work significantly helps to reduce potential stress. Examples may include the sequence in which your staff carry out their work, their ability to use their own initiative or working creatively with people / tasks. Aim to reduce repetitive duties within workloads and give people the opportunity to participate in meetings.
3. Support. Give support and encouragement, even if things go wrong, and encourage staff to share their concerns about work-related stress at an early stage. Hold regular meetings and one-to-one talks to discuss pressures. Ask your employees how they would like to access your support, such as an ‘open door’ policy or an agreed time to discuss emerging pressures. Often, a combination of internal and external support works best. Charities such as MIND can offer staff free advice.
4. Relationships. Work in partnership with your staff to ensure that bullying and harassment don’t become an issue. Create a culture where members of the team trust each other and encourage them to recognise the individual contributions of other team members.
5. Role. Make sure your staff have a clearly defined role. If your company is going through change, check that everyone understands their new roles and individual tasks.
6. Change. Change itself is not a bad thing. However, it is essential to have a structure in place so employees are informed and consulted, particularly if redundancy is a possibility.

While stress isn’t necessarily an illness in itself, mental or physical illness can develop if stress is prolonged and / or excessive. Stress is a serious workplace matter which has profound legal consequences for employers. Take steps to manage it now to protect your staff and stay legally compliant.

Contact us for advice.

With new technological developments, high building rents, and a growing diversity in workers, increasingly businesses are finding new and innovative approaches to work. These include using your own device at work and flexible working processes such as homeworking.

Bring your own device to work

Bring your own device (BYOD) is a relatively new and increasingly popular workplace practice, where companies offer staff the opportunity to use their own devices at work. These devices include laptops, notebooks, tablets and smartphones.

Employees are often more familiar with their own devices and these are likely to be newer and more technologically advanced than those provided at work. For employers, the main advantage of BYOD is the potential to reduce their capital expenditure on IT equipment. In some of the firms where BYOD is common practice, employees use their own devices and the employer provides software enabling them to work securely from a virtual desktop.

The benefits of establishing a BYOD policy include:

• giving staff the flexibility of when and where they work (eg flexible working, working while commuting)
• motivating employees by giving them a choice over their work equipment
• empowering staff to take ownership of their work equipment (eg organising any warranty/repair agreements when they purchase their BYOD).

Modern devices, such as tablets and smartphones offer increased flexibility, with the ability to access emails and information outside of normal business hours and while away from the office. For employees who travel for work, the flexibility that BYOD offers can help them be more productive.

Like most good ideas, there are downsides to implementing a BYOD policy. The increased flexibility of being able to work outside of normal business hours brings additional health risks (ie increased stress due to not being able to “turn off” work), which senior staff will need to carefully manage.

For many employers, the primary concern is data security. If your organisation is considering BYOD, then you may need to look at where information is saved (eg on servers or devices), if anyone else apart from your employees access the BYOD devices (eg do family members share a tablet or home computer?) and what happens when devices are lost or stolen. Some organisations have implemented software that can remotely wipe records if a device is lost or stolen.

The introduction of new equipment can also present new risks, which employers need to assess and manage. Laptops, notebooks and tablets are all forms of display screen equipment (DSE) and as such, fall under Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992. Under this legislation employers must assess the risks and provide employees with information about any risks. This legal duty applies to any devices used for work; including employees’ own devices.

If your organisation has not yet used some of these new devices (eg tablets, smartphones), then there are a couple of points you may need to take into account.

• Employees who are unfamiliar with new technology may need training.
• Employees will need to be provided with information on the risks of a new way of working (eg “iPad neck”, repetitive actions, poor posture).
• The practicalities of whether BYOD is suitable for your organisation should be checked (eg are the devices easy to transport between meetings and are there enough plug sockets in the office for the new equipment?).
• The organisation’s DSE assessments must be reviewed.
• Procedures for testing electrical equipment (ie PAT testing) should incorporate any new devices that are introduced into the workplace.

Working from home

Home workers are covered by health and safety legislation in the same way as employees in offices. While working from home offers employees and employers many benefits, organisations have a duty of care to look after their staff, even if they are working from the comfort of their own home. These duties include:

• ensuring they have a suitable place to work (eg suitable lighting and furniture)
• ensuring that all work equipment is maintained in a safe condition
• undertaking DSE assessments

DSE assessments can be used to check the suitability of an employee’s home workspace and identify any actions. Where employees only have a sofa or dining room table to work from, a suitable desk and office chair (eg with five caster wheels and adjustable back support) may be required before they can safely work from home. If additional furniture or equipment is required before an employee can safely work from home, then it is important to discuss any actions with the employee to check whether they are practical and suitable.

When discussing home working it is important to consider how any equipment will be provided and maintained. Any electrical equipment (eg laptops, printers) will need to be regularly inspected.

If working from home is feasible, then there are many benefits for both employers and employees. These include:

• saving time and money spent commuting
• giving employees flexibility over their work
• reducing the headcount in the office saving on office overheads

Conclusion

In the modern office it is easy to see how BYOD and working from home could complement each other and offer a range of benefits to employers and employees. However, not all organisations are the same, so the pros and cons of any new approach need to be weighed up. If your organisation is considering any of these modern approaches, then it is important to talk to employees, plan ahead and carefully manage any changes in the workplace. There should also be time allocated to review the impact of these changes to see if lessons can be learned and whether further adjustments need to be made.

Vehicles have become work places for some employees. In order to avoid repetitive driver injury, drivers should be trained to adjust their car seats properly. A suggested sequence of adjustments is as follows. (Some areas may not be applicable depending on the vehicle)

• Raise the seat as high as is comfortable to improve vision of the road.
• Check there is adequate clearance from the roof.
• Ensure there is maximum vision of the road.
• Move the seat forwards until it is possible to easily fully depress the clutch pedal and accelerator pedal.
• Adjust seat height as necessary to give good pedal control.
• Adjust the cushion tilt angle so that thighs are supported along the length of the cushion.
• Avoid pressure behind the knee.
• Adjust the back rest so it provides continuous support along the length of the back and is in contact up to shoulder height — approximately 30° reclined from vertical.
• Avoid reclining the seat too far as this can cause excessive forward bending of the head and neck, and may result in sliding forwards on the cushion.
• Adjust the lumbar support to give even pressure along the length of the back rest.
• Ensure lumbar support “fits” the back and is comfortable, with no pressure points or gaps.
• Adjust the steering wheel rearwards and downwards for easy reach.
• Check for clearance for thighs/knees when using pedals.
• Ensure display panel is in full view and not obstructed.
• Adjust the head restraint to ensure the risk of injury is reduced in the event of a car accident.

If employees have a problem with the seating in their vehicles ask them to discuss it with their manager.

If you require assistance, please contact us.

Are Electronic Cigarettes Legal at work?

An Electronic cigarette or e cigarette does not contain tobacco or produce passive smoke. Passive smoke generated from tobacco cigarettes and cigars is the prime concern of the smoking ban because non-smokers are forced to inhale tobacco smoke without choice.

The electronic cigarette is not governed by the smoking ban or restricted by tobacco laws due to the cigarette construction and contents.

In terms of the law, it is perfectly legal to ‘smoke’ or vape electronic cigarettes in nightclubs, restaurants, cinemas, bingo halls, bowling alleys, buses and just about anywhere.

Smoking at Work

Tobacco smoking in the workplace is restricted and the law enforced by the Health Act which bans customers, members of staff, consultants and visitors from smoking in public places and on their premises.

The Health Act does not affect the use of electronic cigarettes. Using an e cigarette is not classified as ‘Smoking’ as nothing is burned, but is termed ‘vaping’ just like a regular nicotine inhaler with the added benefit of the ability to inhale a realistic cigarette tasting, visible vapour. Legally, people are permitted to use an electronic cigarette in the workplace including work vehicles and offices.

However, if consuming food or drink in the work area is not allowed and depending on the type of occupation, an employer may not approve the use of electronic cigarettes while working or carrying out certain tasks.

It will be up to employers to determine when and where this device is used, there may be some opposition from members of staff, particularly in relation to the potential health effects as a mist is produced when used, although there is no evidence to suggest that the mist is likely to affect anyone.

Consider discussing this topic with members of staff as some may be uncomfortable with the device, such as pregnant women.

If you need further advice please contact us.

Every year I take place in the race for life. I have done so for 9 years. At first I began doing it to help support people who live with cancer by raising money.

Over time people close to me started getting cancer, some have even passed away. So now I feel obligated to continue doing the events and raising money for loved ones still here in the hope that they find a cure.

I apologise in advance for my shameless self promotion on the health and safety blogging page.

Please follow this link and sponsor me online – it’s quick, easy and totally secure.

http://www.justgiving.com/Emsiewoo?utm_source=emailvision&utm_medium=email%2B&utm_campaign=firstdonation_auto_email

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