Symptoms of stress Assessment of Stress
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20 WORK-RELATED STRESS
Psychosocial aspects of the work environment have been increasingly recognised in recent years. Prob
lems associated with “work-related stress” are now considered a central issue in the management of health and safety.
In many developed countries cases of “mental ill health” represent the single most common cause of work-related illness.
Well-designed, organised and managed work helps to maintain and promote individual health and well-being. But where there has been insufficient
attention to job design, work organisation and management the benefits and benefits associated with work can be lost. One common result is work-related
stress. By the term work-related stress we mean the effects arising where work
demands of various types and combinations exceed the person‟s capacity and capability to cope. It is a significant cause of illness and disease and is known
to be linked with high levels of sickness absence, staff turnover and other indicators of organisational underperformance - including human error.
The design and management of work is important in anticipating, recognising and preventing stressful situations. Of course, many of the greatest stressors
in life occur outside the workplace and it is often not possible to avert stress simply by focussing on workplace issues. Many large organisations now offer
resilience training to their employees to help them manage work-life balance and avoid stress for themselves. For people experiencing stress, though, it
needs to be diagnosed and treated in a timely fashion so that the worker can be rehabilitated.