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STRESS MANAGEMENT – WHAT EVERY EMPLOYER SHOULD KNOW!

By admin on Thursday, January 7, 2010
Filed Under: Health & Beauty

Jersey News, 7 January 2010 – In Jersey, over 1000 work-related accidents and/or ill-health were reported in 2008, this amounted to the loss of over 8,000 working days, of which 4,600 were due to stress related ill-health.

Each year more days off work are being attributed to stress. A free breakfast seminar, to be held at the Town Hall on 26^th January 2010, will explore the issues surrounding stress in the workplace and how employers can manage the issue effectively.

Speaking at the event will be: Colin Myers, Director of Health and Safety, Social Security Department; Dr Gareth Hughes, General Practitioner; and Huw Thomas, Employment Advisor, Law At Work.

The speakers will explore how employers can manage stress, to what extent employee mental health is the employer’s responsibility, what is stress and how stress may manifest itself, the difficulties GPs face with diagnosis, what help is out there, the Health and Safety legal requirements and the effect of the proposed Amendment No 4 (“Amendment”) to the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989 (the “Law”) in relation to risk assessments.

The Amendment to the Law is intended to clarify the existing legal requirements placed on employees under Article 3 of the Law and, in particular:

Employers will be required to identify and assess the risks to their employee’s health and safety.
Employees with five or more employees will be required to record significant risks and the actions taken to address them in their written health and safety policy statement.
Employers with five or more employees will be required to provide a written health and safety policy statement in a language which is understood by each of their employees.

The Law does require employers to take proactive action to identify the risks to the health and safety of their employees. The statistics on work related stress indicated that this is an issue for many employers which they will need to address.

The Stress Management Breakfast Briefing will be held in the Assembly Room of the Town Hall. After the seminar, Law At Work will be running two more in-depth workshops. The first mid-morning workshop will be a health and safety training session on risk awareness and risk assessment, and the afternoon session will look at managing absence.

Delegates will also get the opportunity to arrange a free 20-minute consultation with a Law At Work HR and legal expert, or a Health and Safety Advisor.

Kelly Flageul, Senior Manager, Law At Work, says:

‘This event is a great opportunity for businesses to get highly specialist, free, impartial advice. Law At Work have organised the event to try and reach a wide spectrum of the business community and raise awareness of the issues surrounding Stress Management and Health and Safety. We are very grateful to the Town Hall for hosting this event and for Jersey Bowl in sponsoring the breakfast. We expect to have no shortage of delegates.’

Colin Myers, Director of Health and Safety, Health and Safety Inspectorate, says:

‘This will be a very important event offering the business community free access to a variety of experts. It is particularly topical considering the expected amendments to the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989. I will be discussing what this will mean to employers and where responsibility lies when it comes to stress management and mental health. I’d like to thank Law At Work for organising this seminar and I feel it will make a real difference in educating employers in a complex subject that is constantly evolving.’

Spaces for the breakfast briefing and workshops are limited and will be offered on a first come, first served basis. To register for your place please contact: Hayley Dewar, Law At Work, Tel: 01534 887088, email: hayley.dewar@lawatworkci.com

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