WORK STRESS SOLICITORS - PERSONAL INJURY COMPENSATION CLAIMS

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 dictates that employers must provide a safe working environment for employees. Employers are required to assess the risk to health in the workplace and act appropriately to minimise it. To decrease the risk of a particular member of staff suffering from stress at work, an employer should minimise the problem and thereafter devolve some responsibilities to others or ensure that highly stressful work is undertaken by a variety of appropriately qualified people instead of just one individual. Employers should ensure that exposure to stressful work is confined to short periods and they should install mechanisms to enable them to understand employees’ grievances about positions associated with work related stress. Psychological injury caused by failure to comply with the legislation gives grounds for work stress solicitors to take legal action in a court of law for paymnent of compensation.

Work stress, depression and anxiety (including PTSD) are a considerable medical problem and research funded by the Health and Safety Executive suggests that 1 in 5 employees consider themselves to be suffering from stress as a result of occupational factors. A high proportion of those employees go on to suffer from a debilitating psychological illness caused as a result of their employer's negligence. If an employer has failed to take adequate care for the psychological welfare and health of employees then the employer can be held liable in negligence and be ordered to pay damages followng legal action by work stress solicitors.

Stress at Work

Most of us at some point in our career must deal with stress at work however prolonged exposure to psychological pressure can cause a detrimental effect on health. The workplace has increasingly become a more stressful place with tight deadlines, harsh workloads, demanding pace of work and increased expectations on employees. The result is that across a wide range of industries work related stress has become a common phenomenon in the United Kingdom. Employers are keen to point out that pressure helps performance by motivating employees however there is an important difference between occasional incidences of pressure and chronic, detrimental pressure that causes stress related illness. All employers want their employees to perform well however employers are legally obliged to assess the emotional pressure their employees face and in unacceptable situations to take remedial action.

Risk Assessments

Employers are required to provide a safe place of work, safe plant and equipment, a safe system of work and reasonably competent co-workers and failure to do so may mean that the employer is negligent. An employer is also required to carry out a detailed risk assessment to identify anything with the potential to cause work stress, work depression or work anxiety.

Employer Negligence

It is an employers legal duty to make sure that employees do not suffer from unacceptable stress at work and are not made ill by the work that they do. Employers who do not take this problem seriously may leave themselves open to stress at work compensation claims from employees who have suffered ill health. Under health and safety law a risk assessment for stress at work must be carried out which involves looking for psychological pressures that could cause unacceptable health problems, identifying who might be harmed and deciding whether enough is being done to prevent that harm. If necessary an employer must then take reasonable steps to alleviate the problem and the risk assessment must be reviewed when ever it may no longer be valid. Employees including Trade Union safety representatives should be involved at every stage of the assessment process for stress at work.

Employers will be liable to pay damages for personal injury in stress at work compensation claims if it can shown :-

  • that the employee has suffered a recognisable psychiatric illness caused by the employer's negligence
  • that the employer failed do all he reasonably could to resolve the problem
  • that the employer has failed to provide a safe place of work and failed to keep the employee safe from psychological harm.
  • that the stress to which the employee was exposed was sufficient to create a reasonably foreseeable risk of injury

Work Induced Depression Anxiety & PTSD

Stress can cause a number of very unpleasant psychological illnesses including anxiety, clinical depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and damages payable by negligent employers can be substantial with a number of recent awards exceeding £200,000. Employers will be liable to pay compensation if an employee can show :-

  • that the employer has failed to provide a safe place of work and failed to keep the employee safe from psychological harm
  • that the employee has suffered a recognisable psychiatric illness caused by the employer's negligence
  • that the stress to which the employee was exposed was sufficient to create a reasonably foreseeable risk of injury
  • that the employer failed do all he reasonably could to resolve the problem

Symptoms

The usual definition of stress is "the reaction people have to excessive demands or pressures, arising when people try to cope with tasks, responsibilities or other types of pressure connected with their jobs, but find difficulty, strain or worry in doing so." Stress can affect both our bodies and our minds and affects everyone differently. The main symptoms of stress are depression, anxiety, insomnia and tiredness. Often people suffering from stress will complain of headaches, backaches, skin rashes and ulcers.

Causes

Some of the most common causes of stress are :-

  • dealing with clients or the public
  • reorganisations and lack of job security
  • poor working conditions
  • threats of violence, harassment and bullying
  • lack of childcare or flexibility
  • lack of control over the work
  • excessively demanding a job or too high a workload
  • monotonous or boring work
  • lack of training
  • excessive hours and shift work
  • frustration with inadequate managers

Compensation for Psychological Illness

Work related stress contributes to psychological illnesses including depression and anxiety. Stress at work inevitably affects an employees family who often bear the brunt of the problem. Work related stress can cause social problems including divorce and arguments with spouses and children. Perhaps the most dangerous effect of stress at work is post traumatic stress disorder (a nervous breakdown) when an individual feels unable to cope which often results in doctors signing workers off work for long periods. Workplace stress can contribute to high blood pressure and has been linked to heart disease. Work related stress also contributes indirectly to alcoholism and nicotine addiction which have clear detrimental effects on individuals health.

Compensation that can be claimed may include :-

  • damages for pain and suffering
  • actual past wages losses and estimated future losses
  • care costs
  • medical expenses and prescriptions
  • payment for free help
  • loss of life's amenities
  • legal costs
  • reduced employment prospects
  • interest

Solicitors

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The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here