Stress Awareness Week 2025: From 'Awareness' to Action on Your Legal Duty
This week marks Stress Awareness Week, and the latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are a stark reminder of why this is a critical issue for every business.
According to new HSE statistics, 776,000 workers reported suffering from work-related stress, depression, or anxiety in 2023/24. This isn't a minor problem—it's one of the single largest causes of ill health at work, accounting for nearly half of all self-reported cases and leading to an estimated 16.4 million lost working days.
Here at Temple Quality Management Systems, we view this through the lens of process, risk, and compliance. Failing to manage workplace stress isn't just a failure of culture; it's a failure of your core management system, and it has serious legal and financial consequences.
The Legal Imperative: Stress is a Health & Safety Hazard
Many businesses treat stress as an HR or 'wellbeing' issue, separate from traditional health and safety. This is a fundamental mistake.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers have a clear legal duty to protect employees from harm. This duty extends to psychological harm just as it does to physical harm.
Simply put:
You must assess the risks of work-related stress.
You must take reasonably practicable steps to prevent that harm.
A stress risk assessment is not optional. It is a legal requirement, just like assessing the risk of slips and trips or manual handling. Failing to do so isn't just bad for your people; it's a compliance breach.
The Business Case: A Stressed System is a Broken System
Beyond the legal duty, the business case is overwhelming. The HSE highlights that unmanaged stress leads directly to:
Reduced Productivity: Teams under duress cannot perform at their peak.
Increased Sickness Absence: As the 16.4 million lost days show, the cost of absence is huge.
Higher Staff Turnover: Skilled, experienced employees will leave a toxic or high-pressure environment, taking their knowledge with them and driving up recruitment costs.
From a quality management perspective, a stressed workforce cannot maintain a culture of continuous improvement or high-quality output. Your system is only as strong as the people operating it.
A Framework for Action: The HSE's 'Working Minds' Campaign
The good news is that this is a solvable problem. The HSE's Working Minds campaign provides a simple, systematic framework built on "Five Rs" to help employers get started.
This process-driven approach is perfect for integrating into your existing H&S management system (like ISO 45001).
Reach out: Start the conversation to open up dialogue about stress.
Recognise: Spot the signs and causes of stress within your teams.
Respond: Agree on practical actions and make changes to remove or mitigate stressors.
Reflect: Review your actions. Are they working? What needs to change?
Make it Routine: Embed these conversations and reviews into your everyday business practices and management meetings.
Your Action Plan for Stress Awareness Week
Don't let this week be just another awareness campaign. Use it as a catalyst for genuine, systemic action.
Here are five steps you can take right now:
Review Your Stress Risk Assessment: If you don't have one, start it today. If you do, is it still relevant to how your teams work now (e.g., hybrid working)?
Use the 'Talking Toolkit': The HSE provides a free Talking Toolkit (PDF) to help structure conversations around the six key causes of stress: Demands, Control, Support, Relationships, Role, and Change.
Empower Your Managers: Signpost the free online learning modules from the Working Minds campaign to help managers spot the signs and support their teams.
Gather Data: Use tools like the HSE's Stress Indicator Tool to get anonymous feedback on team pressures.
Normalise the Conversation: Add stress and mental wellbeing as a standing item on team meeting and one-to-one agendas.
Make Prevention Part of Your System
As Jonathan Stuart from Mind, a Working Minds partner, says, "It’s so important that work doesn’t add to the pressure."
Prevention is always better than cure. By treating work-related stress as the serious hazard it is, you not only meet your legal obligations but also build a healthier, more resilient, and higher-performing organisation.
Don't wait for problems to arise. Contact Temple Quality Management Systems today to discuss how to integrate robust stress risk management into your formal Health and Safety Management System.