We are increasingly aware of the need to reduce work stress for the good of workers and organisations. But it isn't always easy to know how to assess workplaces for stress hazards.

A recent report offers five clear steps to assessing work stress. Based on research conducted by Britain's Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the 192-page publication presents case studies from 11 occupational groups in 10 major companies.

Organisational interventions for work stress: a risk management approach*, was prepared by the Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, University of Nottingham Business School, for the HSE.

The five steps it proposes are: familiarisation; work analysis interviews; assessment survey; audit of existing management control and employee support systems; and analysis and interpretation of assessment data.

Step 1: familiarisation: In this vital step, a steering group is set up to establish the frameworks, organisation and any other arrangements needed to do the risk assessment.

All key stakeholders should be involved in the steering group so that it has "authority and credibility". It should include representatives from senior and line management, trades unions or employee representatives, and occupational health or health and safety management. However, the steering group should be kept to a small and manageable working group.

Among other tasks, the steering group must represent all interests; select work groups to be assessed; approve assessment strategy; monitor the assessment process; approve the contents of a survey; and comment on the assessment report.

The process must not be perceived as individually focused because this would erode workers' trust and participation, says the report.

Objective data should be gathered at this stage, such as mission statements, company reports, data on employee absence and punctuality, staff turnover, accidents and industrial relations problems.

This enables an overall picture of the organisation to be built up and comparisons to be made between different departments, sites or grades of employment.

Step 2: work analysis interviews: Interviews explore work-related stressors and any related effects on the health of workers or the organisation. The interviews build a picture of the interviewees' work, identifying good and bad things about it. They also seek to discover how work-related stressors can be relieved.

Interviewees are asked to make judgments on behalf of their colleagues, in a 30-minute interview. For instance, they could say "this aspect of work is problematic because . . .", rather than "I feel unhappy with this aspect of work".

Step 3: assessment survey: This involves designing and using a survey to check exposure to work-related stressors and to measure the health of participants. Designed using the information gleaned from steps 1 and 2, it should seek job and biographical information, exposure to major work-related stressors, a health profile and offer an opportunity for comment.

Step 4: audit of existing management control and employee support systems: This can explore issues like organisational culture, policies, supporting policy, occupational health provision, referral systems, training and management competence.

The audit can be conducted by visiting the relevant parts of the organisation, interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders.

Step 5: analysis and interpretation of assessment data: The first stage of analysis is the identification of stressors. The report suggests that identification of major stressors and group exposure be based on the proportion of workers reporting the problem. In the case studies, only stressors agreed by the majority of employees were considered. In some cases, stressors were only considered if reported by at least three-quarters of the assessment group.

Next, the health profile is assessed, based on the question "How healthy is the group?" compared to normative data. The health profile of the assessment includes a general statement about health in the group and identification of any at-risk group within it.

Then likely risk factors are assessed, based on the identification of stressors and the health profile. Finally, recommendations are made based on existing management controls, employee support systems and positive aspects of work.

* Available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2WA, England. Telephone: 0044 1787 881165. Price: £25 sterling.

jmarms@irish-times.ie