Posted By Kieran J Duignan read the decision of the court of appeal on 7 February at http://www.bailii.org/ew...es/EWCA/Civ/2007/70.html In a nutshell, the Lord Justices rejected the defence of the employer that they had provided their employee with access to counselling as a sufficient method of preventing psychiatric illness from stress at work. The implications include a big caveat about the opinion in the often-quoted 'Sunderland v. Hatton' 2002 case - that if an employer provides access to counselling, they're unlikely to be found in breach of their duty of care. Well, now one has. Safety professionals, take note! Do thorough job analyses whenever an employee complains of stress. Or, safe yourself a lot of stress - ask a registered ergonomist who's also a chartered safety and health practitioner to help you out.

Posted By Kieran J Duignan Yes, Simon, you learn if you check your sources accurately. Accordingly to the membership lists of the relevant ergonomics societies, nobody is listed as a practising psychistrist. What they do competently is analyse work tasks, read carefully and think before they write.

Posted By Dave Wilson Kieran don't suppose thet you are one of these beasts are you by any chance?

Posted By Peter Leese .... or both.

Posted By Kieran J Duignan A brief note to move the dialogue on from the mucky ground of occupational stress to occupational fitness. The relevance of an ergonomist in this issue concerns employer liability: reading the judgment, there was actually a difference of opinion amongst the psychiatrists for each side. The facts of the case in this instance make no mention of health/safety professionals but the HR folk take a battering. I imagine many IOSH members will appreciate how difficult it was for the line managers involved, as he appears to have been sympathetic to the employee, who eventually made a suicide attempt in her desperation. For those who haven't (yet) had time to study the court judgment, the silver lining for the former employee is that the court of appeal stood by her personal injury award in the order of £135,000. In truth, the one time I've been personally faced the legal issues about occupational stress - that is, cross-examined as an expert witness - I was fortunate enough for the court to write 'his expertise was self-evident', when I had simply explained how the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regs 92 and 99 applied to the issues involved. P.S. Thanks for your care for my cardiovascular health, Brett: I eventually discovered that the chronic pain in knees was a torn ligament. So, I started swimming regularly, which is where I'm heading right now to cool off.