Reason

Stress results from workloads, organization, working environment and equipment as well as social relations in the workplace. The risk assessment should also identify such psychological stress factors.

Aim

This concerns the working conditions - what needs to be improved and which individual steps should be taken? The aim of the risk assessment of psychological stress is not to evaluate persons or simply offer seminars for stress management, but rather to promote humane working conditions as specified in the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Necessary measures then refer to company operations such as working conditions, organization or leadership.

Components of the meeting

Brainstorm meetings are an "orientational" method - i.e. they provide an overview of the stress situation of a unit or of the whole company. Frequently asked questions in practice: "How can we recognize that all essential aspects of psychological stress have been taken into account in the brainstorm meeting?" Just to be safe, it is advisable to refer to the guideline "Advice and supervision of psychological stress in the workplace" of the Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy (GDA) for orientation (cf. page 19).

What is your approach in practice?

You can use the checklist for brainstorming meetings as follows:

1. 1.

   Start with "free" brainstorm meetings. The topics to be discussed come from the group. In one or several follow-up meetings, the implementation of results should be discussed.

2. 2.

   Once the brainstorming meetings have been introduced, compare the results with the checklist on page 19 and define the previous emphasis (= preparing the next meeting). This enables you to recognize which characteristics have already been or still need to be taken into account (work content/workload/organization, social relations, working environment and new methods of work).

3. 3.

   Characteristics not yet worked on will be gradually dealt with in the brainstorm meetings.

Potential pitfalls

	Moderator has insufficient moderating expertise.
	Solution: Moderator training.
	The group focuses on the impact of stress (e.g. stagnant conflicts or existing diseases).
	Solution: Preventive approach with checklist.
	The group focuses on person-related aspects.
	Solution: Orientation towards the characteristics included in the checklist (cf. page 19).
	Contents or terms of the checklist are partly difficult to understand.
	Solution: Provide information about possible psychological stress in the workplace in advance. 1

Checklist for brainstorming meetings (according to the Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy Guideline)