Stressed workers

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Stress or overwork are being reported to union safety reps in offices and factories across the UK, especially among the government's own employees, new research showed today.

The biggest worries about stress were in the public sector and large workplaces, with the highest number of cases in central government, education and the NHS.

Overworked

The TUC said research among 2,600 union safety reps showed that almost two thirds reported that stress or overwork were a concern in their workplace.

Workers also complained about poor computer screens as well as problems associated with too much noise, while back problems were affecting construction and hotel workers.

Violence at work

Violence and threats at work, problems associated with working alone and the risk of slipping or falling all increased over the past year, said the report.

Workers in London were most concerned about stress, while staff in Yorkshire and East Anglia were most worried about working alone.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Stress casts a gloomy shadow over far too many UK workplaces, and as the current economic crisis creates more anxiety about job security, stress is likely to increase.

"Unions and employers must work together to combat this as it can have a huge personal cost to workers and a damaging cost to businesses.

"Simple office hazards, such as spending too much time fixed on a computer screen or sitting on a badly designed chair, are often overlooked by employers. But today's survey shows that they are actually a huge concern to workers and need to be addressed."

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said research by the union showed that 85% of teachers and lecturers complained that stress in their workplace had had an adverse impact on their health.

"Although there remains a stigma attached to stress, it is important to remember that stress is an organisational issue and not an individual weakness, and ATL urges anyone in education who is struggling to cope with unreasonable demands to seek help at the earliest opportunity."

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