An engineering and psycho-social integrated approach for Work Related Stress (WRS) assessment and management

Although traditionally associated to engineering, the risk assessment and process optimization methods increasingly find their application in very different contexts. Since each set of objects and people interacting with each other can be considered a system and that any sequence of activities aimed at achieving a goal can be considered a process, it follows that the theoretical basis and techniques developed for engineered quality systems can become functional in very diverse fields of expertise. Work-related stress problems in particular may be handled within an overall process of risk assessment, through a methodological approach fitted for specific work-related stress risk features. This article describes the development and the outcome of an analysis and optimization approach led by a cross-curricular committee and performed to assess and try to manage the work-related stress risk inside the University of Florence