Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 16th April 2026 Issue no. 1206
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Take action this Stress Awareness Month: prevent work-related stress
April is Stress Awareness Month – and as part of its Working Minds campaign, which helps prevent work-related stress and promotes good mental health at work, the Health & Safety Executive is calling on employers across Great Britain to #BeTheChange.
Work-related stress is one of the leading causes of ill health at work. In 2024/25, nearly one million workers reported stress, depression, or anxiety related to their jobs. The impact is significant, with 22.1 million working days lost due to stress and 50% of all work-related ill health attributed to stress.
These figures highlight the need for urgent action. Addressing stress early will safeguard employees' health, boost productivity and support your organisation's long-term resilience.
Your legal duty…
As an employer, you are legally obliged to manage work-related stress. Treat it like any other workplace hazard:
* Assess risks: identify stressors and their impact on your workforce
* Identify vulnerable workers: recognise employees at higher risk, such as those facing heavy workloads or significant change
* Reduce or eliminate risks: take practical steps to reduce stress where possible
* Manage stress proactively: stress management must be embedded in your workplace culture, not just addressed reactively
Failure to manage stress risks may result in enforcement action, so it's critical to act now.
HSE's Management Standards provides a practical framework to tackle the main causes of stress at work, which include demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. Ensure these are actively managed in your organisation.
What you can do this month…
Stress Awareness Month is an ideal time to focus on wellbeing and take meaningful steps to reduce stress in the workplace. One helpful approach is the 5Rs framework, which supports everyday stress prevention and encourages managers to build healthy habits into their routine:
* Reach Out: Initiate early conversations about stress
* Recognise: Be alert to signs of stress in your team.
* Respond: Take timely, effective action
* Reflect: Evaluate your approach and refine where necessary
* Make it Routine: Embed stress management in daily operations
You can also make use of a range of free resources designed to help managers and teams better understand and address stress. These include the:
* Stress Talking Toolkit
* HSE’s online learning modules
* The Working Minds resource hub
Here's what you can do immediately:
* Update your stress risk assessment by the end of the month
* Ensure managers are trained to confidently address stress within their teams
* Review workloads and support systems to reduce stress factors
These actions will help reduce absenteeism, improve mental health and foster a more resilient, productive organisation. For more information and useful resources, visit:
2nd April 2026