Another New Course from C&D...

The British Safety Council has recently published their guidance booklet on ‘Managing Stress at Work’ (Dec 2011-2013) and defined stress as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other type of demand placed on them at work.”

This booklet outlines the serious nature of stress related illness, both for the individual affected and the companies they work for. Long absences, ill health, poor productivity, high staff turnover and increase in accidents, are all consequences of the poor management of work place stress.

And although stress-related illness is not reportable, employers still have an implicit legal duty to assess and control the risk of stress-related ill health due to work activities. These duties are set out in the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.

To help employers meet their legal duty to control the risk of ill health arising from work related stress, the Health and Safety Executive have developed a set of ‘Management Standards’ which clearly set out a ‘Five Step Risk Assessment’ to help employers manage the situation more effectively.

Having just launched the ‘Managing Stress in the Workplace’ course which is aimed at Managers and Supervisors in Demolition, C&D Training Division have decided to compliment this course with a half day course entitled ‘Work Place Stress – Assessing the Risks’. The primary focus will be on:

• Understanding the Management Standards
• Using the standards to assess workplace stress levels
• Implementing an appropriate plan to ensure that stress factors are managed effectively

As the British Safety Council point out, the ’Management Standards’ are not a legal requirement, but, given that stress related illness costs the UK economy 700 million pounds per year, with 11 million lost working days in 2010-2011 alone, clearly it is an issue to be taken seriously. Moreover, it can be extremely costly to employers in safety critical industries, such as demolition, with very serious consequences.

The course will commence in 2012, at a cost of £50.00 per person.

For further information, please contact jill@demolishdismantle.co.uk