This document discusses managing psychosocial risks and work-related stress in European workplaces. It defines psychosocial risks as aspects of work design, organization, and management that can negatively impact workers' emotional, cognitive, and physical health. Common psychosocial risk factors include excessive demands, lack of control or support, poor relationships, and violence. Left unaddressed, these risks can lead to increased stress, anxiety, depression, and physical health problems for workers as well as higher costs and lost productivity for businesses. The document provides an overview of EU-OSHA's efforts to raise awareness of psychosocial risks and promote prevention strategies, such as conducting risk assessments, developing action plans, implementing organizational changes, and monitoring outcomes.

1. Safety and health at work is everyone’s concern. It’s good for you. It’s good for business.
Managing psychosocial risks at work – A
European Perspective
Tim Tregenza
Network Manager
23 October 2015

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www.healthy-workplaces.eu
EU-OSHA
The European Union body responsible for the
collection, analysis and dissemination of
relevant information to serve the needs of those
involved in safety and health at work

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Campaigning and raising Awareness
 Without awareness there
is no prevention
 EU-OSHA uses a range of
awareness-raising tools
to address a diverse
target audience
 EU-OSHA materials are
available for download
and use free of charge

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Psychosocial
risks
poor work design,
organisation and
management
unfavourable social
context of work
Negative outcomes
Emotional
Cognitive
Behavioural
Physical and mental
ill-health
Work-related
Stress
demands at work
are beyond
worker’s capacity
to cope with them
Non work-related factors
major life events, serious illness, bereavement, etc.
What is work-related stress?
Violence, harassment, bullying

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Stress risk factors at work (psychosocial risks)
 Excessive demands
 Lack of control (lack of consultation and influence)
 Inadequate support
 Poor relationships (poor cooperation, blame culture, harassment)
 Violence from third parties (verbal or physical aggression, threats,
unwanted sexual attention)
 Role conflict or role clarity
 Poor management of change (poor communication, job insecurity)
 Injustice (unfair distribution of work, rewards, promotions)
 Poor work-life balance

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Stress – consequences (personal)
 Emotional (irritability, anxiety, low mood, sleeping problems,
tiredness)
 Cognitive (difficulty in concentrating, learning new things,
making decisions, negative thinking)
 Behavioural (making errors, becoming withdrawn or
aggressive, substance abuse
 Physical and mental ill-health
(depression, anxiety, burnout,
musculoskeletal and cardiovascular
diseases, diabetes)

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Stress – consequences (business / societal)
 Poor overall business performance
 Increased absenteeism
o stress is one of the main causes of lost working days (Europe)
o stress-related sick leaves usually last much longer than sick leaves
caused by other issues
 Presenteeism
 Increased accident rates
 High turnover
 Health care costs
 Early retirement

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The scale of the problem
Eurobarometer (2014)
Exposure to stress considered to be the main workplace health and safety
risk (indicated by 53% of European workers)
27% of workers suffered from stress, depression or anxiety caused by or
worsened by work (during last 12 months)
EU-OSHA opinion poll (2013)
around 4 in 10 workers think that stress is
not handled well in their workplace.

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ESENER-2 – Risk factors present in the
establishment (% establishments, EU-28).
Base: all establishments in the EU-28.
Note: psychosocial risk factors shaded in orange.

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Managing psychosocial issues
 Just over half of all surveyed establishments in the EU-
28 report having sufficient information on how to include
psychosocial risks in risk assessments (Cyprus 50%)
 Psychosocial risk factors are perceived as more
challenging than others
 Almost one in five of the establishments that report
psychosocial risk factors say they lack information or
adequate tools to deal with the risk effectively
 There is reluctance to talk about psychosocial risks (30%
of establishments)
 Only 63% of establishments said that workers had a role
in design and set up of psychosocial risk prevention
measures (Cyprus 43%)

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Strategic dimensions of occupational safety and health
and psychosocial issues

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Framework Directive: The hierarchy of control
 Avoid risks
 Evaluate the risks that cannot be avoided
 Combat risks at source
 Adapt the work to the individual
 Adapt to technical progress
 Substitute the dangerous for the less dangerous
 Have an overall coherent prevention policy
 Collective measures over individual measures
 Give appropriate instructions

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Managing psychosocial risks
 Despite its sensitive nature, stress and psychosocial risks at
work can be successfully managed
 Holistic approach is the most effective:
 Providing necessary help, back to work programmes
 Improving the psychosocial work environment
 Workplace health promotion
 Leadership and worker participation is essential
 Middle managers have a crucial role to play

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 Managing stress and psychosocial risks involves the same
basic principles and processes as for other workplace hazards
1) Raising awareness
2) Assessing risks
3) Developing an action plan:
- can stress risk factors be eliminated?
- if not, decide what preventive/protective measures need to be put in place
- give priority to organisational measures (before individual solutions to deal with
stress)
4) Monitoring and evaluation
Managing psychosocial risks

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Implementing preventive measures
(examples)
 Ensuring enough time for workers to perform their tasks, deciding about priorities
 Adjusting workloads to the capabilities and resources of each worker, designing tasks to
be stimulating
 Giving workers control over the way they do their work, allowing them to take part in
decisions that affect them
 Providing support
 Resolving conflicts
 Providing clear job descriptions and rewarding good performance
 Transparency in terms of job security, clear promotion procedures
 Enabling workers to make complaints and have them taken seriously
 Minimise physical risks
 Providing opportunities for social interaction

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 Explains work-related stress and psychosocial risks, their causes and
consequences
 Gives practical examples of actions that fit small companies
 Addresses concerns and misconceptions
 Directs to national resources
E-guide for managing stress and psychosocial risks
Available in 30
national versions

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Thank You!
EU-OSHA: www.osha.europa.eu
Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress: www.healthy-workplaces.eu
ESENER: www.esener.eu