For years, stress, burnout and mental health were often treated as HR “wellbeing issues” rather than core safety concerns. That position has now changed. The Health & Safety Executive is making it clear that psychological health now sits on equal footing with traditional physical safety – and employers of all sizes need to take notice.
What’s Changing and Why Now?
In its February 2026 regulatory outlook, the HSE confirmed increased enforcement activity around psychosocial risks such as work-related stress, excessive workload and burnout, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
These regulations already require employers to assess all significant workplace hazards, and HSE has confirmed that stress counts as a hazard under the law.
The shift is supported by recent HSE activity:
A free online learning module (launched in 2025) reinforcing that stress prevention is a legal requirement, with practical risk assessment guidance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
The Working Minds campaign, positioning work‑related stress as a leading cause of ill health managed in the same way as physical risks
Updated guidance embedding psychological health into first aid needs assessments and wider risk management
The scale of the issue is significant – in 2024-25, 964,000 workers experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety, resulting in millions of lost working days
“Keep Talking – But Start Doing”
HSE messaging has been consistent: awareness alone is no longer enough.
Under the law, employers must:
Carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments for psychosocial hazards
Implement control measures where risks are identified
Review assessments when circumstances change
Ensure controls actually work in practice
HSE inspectors will now treat failure to manage psychosocial risk with the same seriousness as failing to manage physical safety issues.
If your risk assessments focus only on slips, trips, machinery and fire hazards – but not workload, job demands, bullying, role clarity or organisational change – they are likely to be incomplete.
What Counts as a Psychosocial Hazard?
HSE uses six clear Management Standards which form the benchmark inspectors expect employers to use:
Demands – workload, work patterns, work environment
Control – how much say people have in how they do their work
Support – resources and encouragement available from managers and colleagues
Role – clarity and understanding of responsibilities
Change – how change is managed and communicated
What This Means for SMEs
Stress management is not just for large organisations. HSE campaigns specifically target SMEs, noting that work-related stress is the biggest cause of workplace ill health.
Key expectations for SMEs include:
Have a documented stress risk assessment (regardless of size)
Recording significant findings if they employ 5+ people
Involve staff in identifying stressors
Demonstrate practical action – not just wellbeing policies
HSE has highlighted emerging risks such as digital overload, hybrid working pressures and burnout as enforcement priorities, all of which must now be considered in risk assessments.
Why Acting Now Matters
Beyond legal compliance, psychological risk management makes clear business sense:
Reduced sickness absence
Lower turnover
Improved performance and morale
Stronger organisational culture
Better resilience during periods of change
Early action is also far less costly than enforcement action or long-term stress-related absence.
What Should Employers Do Next?
A practical starting point:
Review existing risk assessments to include psychosocial hazards
Use HSE’s Management Standards as a structured framework
Engage staff and document findings
Implement proportionate controls such as workload adjustments, clearer roles and better communication
Treat stress management as an ongoing process, not a one-off exercise
In Summary
The HSE no longer views psychological safety as a “nice to have”. Stress and burnout are now enforced as core health and safety risks. If your current documentation doesn’t explicitly cover psychosocial hazards, it’s time to update it.
President of IOSH 2008, Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
I am pleased that you are helping dispel some of the dafter myths that surround OH&S (a passion you and I clearly have in common) and the item clearly indicates that as with so many of our professional colleagues you are not about stopping fun on the pretext of H&S. It is only with the help of people such as yourself that we will eventually get the message across that OH&S is about bringing (as you so aptly put it) purpose and value to peoples lives
