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In Great Britain, the ‘”Management Standards” were launched in 2004 and formally published in 2007 by the Health and Safety Executive to help organizations manage work‐related stress. The purpose of this paper is to examine how these Standards are translated into organizational practice.

The research uses case studies carried out in five large organizations drawn from the public and private sectors in Great Britain.

Senior management commitment and worker participation are key to managing work‐related stress and are commonly reported across organizations, although to variable form and depth. The solution chosen to identify stress issues is a short assessment of all staff via annual staff surveys, coupled with in‐depth assessments of groups at risk. Common practice also includes combining individual and organizational interventions. One significant challenge emerges as the translation from identified stress issues to focussed interventions and their evaluation.

The implementation processes outlined in this study are by no means exhaustive due to the small sample size but are consistent with previous research.

The findings suggest that the HSE Management Standards approach for dealing with stress issues is do‐able. Refining the information in the HSE guidance on implementing and evaluating interventions and broadening the current focus on organization‐level interventions is needed.

Publication of case studies of the implementation of the Management Standards has been limited. This paper illustrates the efforts made by large organizations to integrate national guidance on stress and this could be used for guiding and improving stress management in similar work settings.

If trade union officials are to take a more active part in industrial management, it follows that they will need to know more about how companies' operate. But proposals to beef up training and education — embodied in the Employment Protection Act — are hampered by obscure guidelines laid down by the Government's advisory body on the matter and, more seriously, a desperate shortage of cash. Report by David Harvey.