Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, President AMA Victoria with with Jennifer Kite, Channel Nine 'Today'

ANDERSON: Well, stress in the workplace means different things to different people. It's a very subjective term, and it's ill defined, and that is one of the problems that we have, as employers, in trying to deal with this issue. Once we described ourself as being busy, or working flat out, now, we often describe ourself as being under stress. That does not mean that we should be making compensation claims, simply because we have a busy, productive work place.

KITE: Well, Dr Haikerwal, do you believe stress is making us sick?

HAIKERWAL: Stress is certainly something that is ill defined, because it is a term that we use to make you understand what it is that we are trying to say, but of course, there is no psychiatric condition known as stress.

What we know of as stress, whether it's in the workplace or the home or a combination, is usually more defined in psychiatric terms as things like anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, which is a very much more defined way of identifying the particular problems that we are talking about.

KITE: Dr Haikerwal, how many people do you think suffer stress? I've read some reports that say it's 50% to 70% of us.

HAIKERWAL: There are a variety of different figures. If you look at, for instance the United States, and the organisation there made up by the government called The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH. And, they're talking about a quarter of people, report stress at work and that the stress at work is one of the major causes of illness in a person's life. So there is a vast literature by good sources, that are reliable sources, saying that things like stress are important. And the important thing is not to loose sight of the fact that it's a symptom, and it can be dealt with, and can be dealt with by the employer, and the employee, working together to eliminate causes of those stressful situations, which if left unchecked will become a more concrete psychiatric kind of diagnosis, which needs treatment.

KITE: Peter, why have you released this paper now? I mean, what is the cost to employers of these types of claims? Are you afraid that they are increasing?

ANDERSON: We have released the information paper because it's very important for there to be both employer and public confidence in our compensation systems. Employers are seeing a general increase in claims for stress related compensation, and we are very concerned that until we place some tighter boundaries around the compensation system in this area we will, in Australia, experience what has occurred in some European countries, where there are millions of dollars, and thousands, if not, in some cases millions, of working days lost as a result of stress related leave. That's not the culture we want in Australia, it's not the culture that we need in Australia. We need a productive workplace culture, not a compensation culture, and to do that, we need to raise this issue as a matter of public debate, and public concern, seek from our policy makers tighter rules around the compensation system, and together as the doctor said, work cooperatively to try and insure that there are sensible resolutions to these ill defined issues of both definition and causation.

KITE: Dr Haikerwal, do you believe we need more research or do you think we have enough information?

HAIKERWAL: There is plenty of information there just to back up the claim that people who are unhappy at work, because of the conditions in which they are working in. Either they have uncertainty or they have more work because the people around them have been put off due to downsizing, and there is uncertainly about their future, so they work less productively. There are also relationship problems within the workplace, and if there are pro-active solutions provided by the workplace to make sure that these problems are eliminated before they become more long standing, and this stress situation can be improved.

Ends