Mental Stress Risk Assessment Template

A work task is complete when it involves not only the execution of activity but also the preparation, organisation and control of the result. In addition, there should be a mixture of automated activities and activities with complex requirements. Incomplete tasks result in a constant repetition of one and the same operation without any pre- and post-processing indirect activities.

The scope of action includes the degrees of freedom and influence in the activity. A distinction is made between degrees of freedom in terms of time and content: The scope of action is restricted in terms of the degrees of freedom in terms of time if there are precisely defined times, when which work has to be done and how long there is time for this (e.g. on the assembly line, in customer contact) and there is no possibility of interrupting work at short notice. Content-related restrictions of the scope of action result from a lack of influence on the content of the work, as well as from fixed specifications regarding procedures, methods and work equipment.

Variability means variety of tasks and requirements. Employees have the opportunity to use different skills and abilities. A limitation of variability exists when work steps are repeated frequently and the degree of repetition of the activity is high.

The available information, the possibilities of obtaining information and the amount of information play an important role in the successful completion of work tasks. Information deficits restrict employees in performing their tasks, information may be missing or not up-to-date or may be presented in an unfavourable way. Conversely, too much information that exceeds the amount of information that can be recorded and processed is also problematic.

Responsibility includes clarity about the duties and goals that workers have. Impairments in responsibility occur when responsibilities within the team are unclear, non-transparent or when there are contradictory instructions, i.e. when roles are not clearly defined.

The qualification of employees results from the professional and social skills required for the completion of tasks. Incorrect workloads can arise if the tasks do not correspond to the existing qualifications or if the person has not been sufficiently trained. At the same time, qualitative under challenge is also a false burden.

Emotional demand is particularly important in the service sector. Employees are confronted with the emotions of others and have to show desired emotions at the same time. Misuse results from the necessity to show certain feelings to the outside world that contradict one's own feelings, which is called emotional dissonance. The persons also experience emotionally stressful situations such as insults or threats of verbal and physical violence.

The concept of working time covers the duration of work, the location and distribution of working time as well as breaks and rest periods during work. Excessively long working hours are just as associated with health risks as insufficient or interrupted working hours.

Work intensity includes both the amount of work required and the complexity of the work task in relation to the time available. Incorrect workloads result from time pressure if the amount of work is too high, there are too many deadlines or the deadlines overlap or unforeseen additional work tasks arise.

This refers to the disruption and unforeseen interruption of one's own work flow. Problematic is a high number of disturbances and interruptions as well as the simultaneous work on different tasks, between which one has to switch back and forth. Problems can arise when returning to the original action, a new start is required and previous results are lost.

Social relations with colleagues refers to the quality of the relationships that result from work-related interactions. This includes social support from colleagues, but also conflicts and disputes.

Social relations with superiors include social support, appreciation and feedback.

Physical factors include, for example, lighting, climate and noise in the workplace. Chemical factors include hazardous substances that can be harmful to health or the environment. Negative consequences can arise from constant heat, noise, insufficient or unfavourable lighting, frequent confrontation and inadequate protection against hazardous substances.

The physical factors are considered critical if the ergonomic design of the work equipment is unfavourable, heavy physical work has to be performed or an unfavourable posture is encouraged at work.

Unfavourable with regard to work equipment are conditions which are to be characterised by the fact that tools are missing or unsuitable, machines and tools are difficult to operate or the software design is inadequate.