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Stress risk assessment


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Employers have a legal duty to protect employees from stress at work by doing, and acting on, a risk assessment. This is an easy-to-use template you can use, along with examples from three small to medium-sized businesses.


If you have fewer than five employees, you don’t have to write anything down to show you’ve assessed the risk of work-related stress. But it can still be a useful idea to do this, not just to demonstrate fulfilling your duty to consider stress risks but also so that you can review it later if anything changes. If you have five or more employees, you are required by law to write the risk assessment down. It will also help you to meet some of the requirements of the Thriving at Work​Thriving at work: the Stevenson / Farmer review of mental health and employers PDF An independent review into how employers can better support all employees' mental health, including recommended core standards.Free By: Department for Work and Pensions / Department of Health and Social Care View resource core standards.

But written risk assessments don’t have to be big or complicated; just the main points about the significant risks you found, and what you decided. The paperwork should really be about helping you to communicate and manage the risks. This sample policy and template, in Microsoft Word document format, is an easy way to get going. The page also has example risk assessments from:

  • a baker employing nine people
  • a financial services company employing 40 people
  • a college with 150 employees on multiple sites.
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Health & Safety Executive
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