Stress is by far the most common health and safety problem at work, according to the TUC's biennial survey of safety reps published last week.

Nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of reps said that stress was the main problems faced by the workforces they represent. After stress the big problems were bullying and harassment, back strains, slips, trips and falls, and overwork. 

Stress is more common in the public than in the private sector - 68 per cent of public sector union reps say it is a problem compared to 54 per cent in the private sector.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the prominence of stress, bullying and harassment is the second most common health and safety concern. More than a third of reps (37 per cent) list it as a top five concern in the workplace - almost double the proportion (20 per cent) who cited it as an issue when they were last surveyed in 2008. 

Again the public sector appears to have a greater bullying and harassment problem than the private sector, and the larger the workplace, the more likely it is to be a concern. Londoners are the most likely to report bullying as one of their top five safety issues.

In third place back strains are identified by a third (33 per cent) of reps as a top five concern for their workplaces, slightly up on the 31 per cent figure in 2008.

Slips, trips and falls is again the fourth most common hazard identified, with 32 per cent of reps regarding it as one of the top five causes for concern (33 per cent said it was in 2008).

Overwork is listed as a separate issue to stress for the first time in the survey, and it is the fifth most likely hazard to be identified as a major concern with more than one in four (29 per cent) of safety reps listing it as one their top five issues.

Again bigger workplaces (those with more than 1,000 workers) have the biggest problem and it is most prevalent in London and the South East.

Almost 2,000 union safety reps responded to the questionnnaire during May and June 2010 for the eighth biennial TUC safety representatives' survey, 

Read the full report at: http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/safetyrepssurvey2010.pdf