Nine-point plan to help combat workplace stress

A NEW nine-point plan has been developed to help forces across the country deal with the signs of stress in the workforce.

The programme, released as a “national template”, promises to help forces improve their focus on officer welfare.

Health and safety representatives from the 43 Home Office forces, as well as from the Scottish Police Federation, the Police Federation for Northern Ireland and the Federations the British Transport Police, the Ministry of Defence Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary have been presented with the plan.

They will then be expected to use it to help their forces smash the stigma around stress, recognise signs of poor mental health in police officers and act upon what they have found.

Jason Kwee, Health and Safety Lead for the Federation, said: “We identified that there were different levels of implementations across forces, some had real successes while other force policies hadn’t been updated for years.

“With the additional evidence from the national PFEW Demand, capacity and welfare survey, we were able to back up what we already knew – there was not enough being done to support the welfare and mental health of our officers.”

“We are asking all our health and safety leaders to have discussions with their respective chairs and secretaries, and of course chief officers, as to how this may support their local wellbeing programme.”

The plan calls for commitment from all levels within the service to tackle stress; to ensure that all staff have knowledge or awareness of the Health and Safety Executive’s ‘Stress Management Standards’; to identify and understand the sources of stress within the organisation and to ensure there are effective measures in place to share sickness data.

It also says Federation officials should have direct access to Chief Officers to address the issue; that it will help break down the stigma of stress; that suitable training should be brought in for first line supervisors, managers and HR managers; that the organisation will provide suitable welfare support for officers and that the Police Federation will identify and train suitable advocates to support officers.

A copy of the nine-point stress plan template can be viewed here: http://www.polfed.org/newsroom/4982.aspx