Employers have duties under common law (case law) to ensure that reasonable care is taken to provide all employees with a safe place of work. In addition to this, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 impose further duties on employers. These include: Making a suitable assessment of the risks to health and safety at work, reviewing as appropriate Applying the principles of prevention (avoiding risks, combating risks at source, developing a coherent overall prevention policy and giving appropriate instructions to employees). Providing information to employees Although employees are generally unable to take direct action against their employer for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Regulations, failures by the employer may lead to the HSE taking action directly against the employer for which criminal sanctions can be imposed (substantial fines and/or prison). In addition to this, failing to adhere to health and safety law may assist an employee when they are looking to establish a personal injury claim against their employer. The employee would need to show that the employer has breached their common law duty to prevent their employees from being made ill by stress at work and that their injury as a result of stress was reasonably foreseeable by the employer. Claims against an employer for ‘personal injury’ would be conducted in the ordinary courts (not the employment tribunal) and would usually be picked up by the employer’s insurer directly. To assist employers in meeting their obligations, and to help them avoid future claims, the HSE has set out some ‘Management Standards’ for work-related stress, covering 6 key areas of work design which if not properly managed could lead to poor health and increased absences due to stress at work. These standards essentially set out the steps for a risk assessment for work-related stress, helping employers to not only put in place a suitable risk assessment but also to help them to take the correct steps once they have carried it out. The HSE requires all employers with over 5 employees to have a written risk assessment in place. Although a written assessment is not required for employers with less than 5 employees, it is a good indicator that the employer is following best practice if they put this in place.