What Are You Looking for in a Stress Risk Assessment?

A stress risk assessment should focus on the work and the conditions that may be creating harmful pressure. This includes factors such as workload and demands, control over work, support, workplace relationships, role clarity and organisational change.

Employers should also consider the evidence available to them. Employee feedback, absence, turnover, overtime, complaints, recurring concerns and other workplace information can help identify patterns and areas that may require closer attention.

The aim is not to diagnose individual employees or simply ask whether people feel stressed. It is to understand what about the work may be contributing to the risk, consider the controls already in place and decide whether further action is needed.

A structured assessment helps turn concerns and information into practical action that can be recorded, reviewed and updated over time.