Anti Stress Policy

As part of Stripout London Ltd (SL) commitment to protecting the health, safety and welfare of our employees we recognise that workplace stress can be a health and safety issue.  This policy will apply to all employees and will be managed via the Line Management structure.

SL is a family company and values its employees and the work they carry out on behalf of the company.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines stress as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them”.  This makes an important distinction between the pressure, which can be a positive state if managed correctly, and stress which can be detrimental to health.

We encourage a supportive culture where colleagues assist each other to ease peaks in work load. The nature of our work demands regular communication between managers and staff and plenty of opportunities for staff to share problems and seek additional support if needed.

We offer support through managers, where individuals experience excessively stressful situations or stress related ill health.

We intend that all staff will be properly resourced and trained to undertake their role.

Poor performance and attendance is actively managed to identify causes and solutions, including providing additional training or moving individuals to more suitable roles where necessary and possible. This approach also reduces the burden on other staff who would otherwise have an additional workload.

Bullying, harassment and discrimination are not tolerated.

As all employees are individuals and therefore have a unique reaction to stress, then by definition our procedures have to be flexible.

However, as a general rule the procedure will proceed along the following lines.

Firstly, the issue of stress is raised either by the employee, a colleague of the employee or the Line Manager.

Secondly, a risk assessment is carried out by the Line Manager with assistance, if required the Occupational Health and Safety Consultant who has experience of dealing such issues in a sensitive and appropriate manner.

The next step is to ensure that suitable control measures are put in place to alleviate the issues.  At the same time, a review date is agreed by the parties concerned.  At the review, the control measures are reviewed to see if they are suitably effective.  If necessary new measures will be put in place to make any necessary adjustments that may be causing the stressful situation.

If these measures are deemed insufficient, then the issue will be escalated to the next level of management and external professional help sought.