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The £22 Billion Problem: Why Stress Risk Assessments are the New Mandate for ISO 45001 Compliance
- Myra Abordo
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
The physical safety of workers has always been the primary focus of health and safety regulation. Yet, the greatest threat to a company's bottom line: and its workforce: no longer comes from falling objects or unguarded machinery, but from invisible risks: stress, depression, and anxiety.
The latest statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) paint a stark picture:
776,000 workers in Great Britain are suffering from work-related stress, depression, or anxiety.
Work-related ill health and injury result in the loss of over 33.7 million working days annually.
The estimated cost of these issues to the British economy stands at a staggering £21.6 billion per year.
These figures confirm a fundamental shift in the regulatory landscape: the focus is moving from physical accident prevention to holistic psychosocial risk management. For any organisation certified or working toward ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management System), this is no longer optional: it is the new mandate for compliance. For more information, visit the HSE Website.
The ISO 45001 Solution: Integrating Psychosocial Risk
ISO 45001 requires an organisation to systematically identify hazards and assess risks to prevent work-related injury and ill health. Crucially, the standard explicitly includes psychosocial risks (such as workload, control, support, relationships, and organisational change) under its scope.
Simply having a mental health policy isn't enough. The standard demands a systematic approach, treating psychological hazards with the same rigour applied to a physical risk like working at height. This is where the standard for Occupational Health and Safety integrates with the detailed guidance provised by ISO 45003, which focuses specifically on managing psychological health and safety at work.
For a management system to be truly robust, it must:
Identify the Sources of Stress: Look beyond individual performance to system-wide issues like unrealistic deadlines, lack of managerial support, lack of role clarity, and bullying/harassment.
Evaluate and Prioritise: Use survey data, absence records, and incident reports (even 'near-misses' related to human error under pressure) to quantify the severity and likelihood of harm.
Implement Controls: Develop and implement measures to eliminate or minimise these risks, such as adjusting shift patterns, providing management training on sensitive communication, or restructuring roles to give workers more control.
3 Practical Steps to Implement Your Stress Risk Assessment
Integrating psychosocial risk assessment into your ISO 45001 framework doesn't have to be complicated, but it does require management commitment and a structured tool.
1. Secure Top Management Buy-In
Psychosocial risk management starts at the top. Top management must demonstrate leadership by:
Formally committing to the prevention of work-related psychological ill health in the OH&S Policy.
Allocating the necessary resources (time and budget) for training, conducting assessments, and implementing controls.
Ensuring worker participation in the process: as only employees know where the true pressure points lie.
2. Utilise a Structured Digital Platform
An outdated spreadsheet or paper system cannot effectively track stress trends across different departments or job roles. A dedicated platform, like MyBase, is vital for:
Centralised Documentation: Keeping all risk assessments, control plans, and audit trails in one place for easy access and audit compliance.
Trend Monitoring: Tracking data points like absence rates, staff turnover, and reported incidents to identify emerging stress patterns before they lead to crisis or ill health.
Action Tracking: Assigning and monitoring corrective actions (e.g., manager training, revised procedures) related to stress risks to ensure they are completed on time.
3. Move Beyond Compliance to Culture
The goal is not simply to pass an audit, but to create a positive safety culture. By proactively addressing stress, you are signalling to your employees that their well-being is a core business value. This shift fosters:
Increased Engagement: Employees who feel valued are more productive.
Reduced Absenteeism: Addressing root causes of stress directly reduces days lost to ill health.
Enhanced Reputation: Demonstrating genuine care for well-being strengthens your brand and improves talent retention.
The economic and human cost of neglecting psychosocial hazards is simply too high to ignore. Your ISO 45001 system is the perfect framework to shift from reactive injury management to proactive well-being leadership.
Ready to shift from reactive compliance to proactive worker well-being? Contact us to learn more!
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