Five million suffer from stress

Around five million workers, one in five of the workforce, suffer from high levels of stress at work, according to a research report published by the Health and Safety Executive last month.

The three-year study, by researchers at the University of Bristol, was based on around 8,000 people in the Bristol area. It found:

* about one in five workers reported feeling either very or extremely stressed by their work;

* there was an association between stress and a range of job factors, such as having too much work or not being supported by managers; and

* there was an association between stress and a range of health outcomes, such as poor mental health and back pain, and health-related behaviours such as drinking alcohol and smoking.

Copies of The scale of occupational stress: the Bristol stress and health at work study, price £25.00, can be obtained online at www.hsebooks.co.uk or from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA, tel: 01787 881165, fax: 01787 313995.