Abstract
The Industrial Safety and Health Act, revised on the 25th of June 2014, requires employers to implement the stress check.
The stress check is not a “screening examination” for mental disorders such as depression.
The main purpose of the stress check, primary prevention, is carried out by one of two methods: individual support and/or group analysis.
Individual support acts to raise the employee’s awareness of personal stress levels, reducing the risk of mental health disorder.
Group analysis utilizes the results of individual support along with an evaluation of the stress source in the workplace in order to improve the workplace environment, thereby reducing the stress risk factor.
Conventionally, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention were the main measures of workplace mental health.
This shows that aspect of risk management wherein the company placed the highest importance on developing mechanism and supporting employees already stricken with mental health disorder.
Conversely, the newly introduced stress check is based on fundamental primary prevention, making it a uniquely different approach.
It has been pointed out, as well, that the lessening emphasis on the development of human resources in the workplace is a factor in the increased risk of mental health issues among the workforce.
It is important to consider that the human resource is one of the main key role of the management resource of the company.
It is expected that effects are greatly different when just placing stress check as one of the usual mental health measures or using the opportunity of the stress check effectively from varied aspects.
In addition to managing occupational health administration, cooperation with workplace human resource administration is vital in effectively implementing the stress check system.
