Posted By craig davies We are currently undertaking a stress project and have found the guidelines on the HSE site very useful. Also enables us to be legally compliant to. best of luck. Craigy D

Posted By Kieran J Duignan 'What sort of knowledge, skills or experience do you consider a person needs to have to undertake a stress risk assessment?' is a far-reaching question. A professionally adequate answer depends of the intensity, complexity of the stress experienced. So, the range of people competent might include: your parent or spouse(or child); a line manager; a H R manager; an occupational health nurse; a safety manager; a chartered occupational psychologist; a chartered counselling psychologist; a chartered clinical psychologist; a psychiatrist; or someone in more than one of these roles.

Posted By Raymond Rapp Chris The answer is YES. Will they be any good and stand up if there is litigation? Probably NOT. Following HSE guidance will be a good start, but some knowledge and experience in the field of stress management would be ideal. Regards Ray

Posted By Rob T Hi Christopher, In the main I agree with most of the above however, it's not the actual fact of doing the initial risk assessment that causes the problems - it's knowing what to do to alleviate those problems. If you're doing it for an individual rather than for a company, there may be circumstances where you are not qualified to address the actions thrown up. In those circumstances it would probably be necessary to use professional medically trained people.

Posted By H Klinkenberg By following the HSE Stress Management Standards almost anybody should be able to undertake a competent HSE compliant stress risk assessment. Most stress managers who have not been trained in corporate stress management have problems with the next stage of the process. As a professional corporate stress manager I would recommend you increase the scope of the HSE Employee Consulation Tool to full stress audit standards including identification of potential stress risk minimisation solutions - this might require some professional help. The HSE tool provides a basic analysis and risk assessment, again you might need professional help to undertake a full analysis plus devise and plan appropriate stress risk minimisation initiatives with clear feedback on effectiveness. Many employers have found that 'standard' stress reduction initiatives do not perform as expected and sometimes even increase stress. Careful planning and accurate monitoring of initiatives is essential. There are a number of free professionally created stress management tools which expand on the HSE tools available on the Internet. You can also arrange a free HSE style stress risk assessment, this is available to employers who also intend to undertake some pressure management training. I am happy to provide you (or anybody else) with details of where to find details of the free tools and training - send an email to my personal email address. I hope this has helped.