design), they can also contribute to alleviating job stress. The CDC states that "many psychologists have argued that the psychology field needs to take a more active role in research and practice to prevent occupational stress, illness, and injury," which is what the relatively new field of occupational health psychology is "all about". According to Spector, other subdisciplines within psychology had been relatively absent from research on occupational stress. Occupational stress in the United Kingdom Occupational stress identified as a major cause of economic loss Occupational stress has been found to be one of the most important causes of lost working-days in the UK and so the reduction of occupational stress has been a long-standing government target and strategic aim of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE Management Standards The HSE is responsible for the inspection of workplaces and for bringing prosecutions when regulations are breached. In 2004 the HSE published the Management Standards as a guide for employers to help them understand and control the causes of occupational stress. The Management Standards identify six areas of management behaviour that have been identified as potential causes of employee occupational stress: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. Managers who fail to meet the standards are potential hazards to the health of the employees that they manage. Thus an employer that produces a work environment in which there are high demands, little prior consultation before the introduction of change, low levels of worker control, little support and a failure to manage interpersonal relationships will be subjecting employees to risks that are known to be associated with increased levels of occupational stress, as with the Demand Control Support model. Occupational stress and the law Legal requirement for employers to control the causes of occupational stress in the workplace In the UK a legal requirement to manage such risks is provided by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 as amended by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The latter regulations direct the production of risk assessments for known hazards, including those known to cause occupational stress. A failure to follow these regulations and to produce the risk assessments for occupational stress, as with other hazards, is a criminal offence, subject to fines and/or a custodial sentence. Thus, employers have a responsibility, before any occupational stress injuries are caused, to produce written assessments of the hazards