What causes stress? Just about anything can cause stress. Some common problems include – problems at home, death of a partner, divorce, moving home, illness, and financial worries. Problems at work can include – excessive hours, job insecurity, new technology, increased responsibilities and pressures to meet deadlines.

What are the symptoms? The effects of stress can take many forms – poor sleep, restlessness, tension, anxiety, frustration, exhaustion, inappropriate aggression, irritability, over or under eating, loss of self esteem, feeling of loneliness or isolation, lack of concentration, palpitations, over stimulation and excitability.

How can I learn to cope with stress? All of us are going to hit difficulties in our lives. Some difficulties will seem relatively easy to deal with while others may seem overwhelming. Whatever methods we use to try to cope with our problems our underlying attitudes are likely to be of crucial importance. In other words, stress is part of everyday living and often problems are difficult to deal with but our approach to them can make a difference. Be aware of what causes you stress; learn to recognise your own warning signs, know how much challenge you can cope with, develop coping strategies and … TAKE ACTION.

To help employees understand stress and for Managers to help support employees who may suffer from stress, a series of briefing documents and assessment tools have been developed by HR and the UK Health and Safety Team. This information will be communicated by the HR/Health & Safety Teams over the coming months through forums and meetings. In the interim the materials can also be found on the UK Health and Safety CDM pages and the Health Community on Shift.