Chronic on-the-job stress doubles the risk that someone who has had a heart attack will have another major coronary event, a Canadian study finds.

Other studies have shown that workplace stress boosts heart woes, but this is the first to link job anxieties with recurrent heart attacks and other major events, the report's authors said.

The study, published in the Oct. 10 Journal of the American Medical Association, provides "very solid scientific evidence" on how job strain might contribute to coronary trouble, said Dr. Paul J. Rosch, president of the American Institute of Stress. Read more....

Stress Reduction in the Workplace

Stress and the Employer

The impact of stress on American business and industry is substantial:

• Job stress is estimated to cost companies approximately $80 billion annually, due to absenteeism, diminished productivity, employee turnover, and accidents, as well as medical, legal, and insurance costs.
• The National Safety Council estimates that one million employees are absent on an average workday as a result of stress-related problems.
• Forty percent of worker turnover is due to job stress. It costs a company approximately $13,000 to replace the average employee.
• Sixty to 80 percent of on-the-job accidents are stress-related.
• Workers’ compensation awards for job stress have skyrocketed in the last two decades, with double digit increases in premiums. Nine out of 10 job stress suits are successful, with an average payout more than four times that for regular injury claims.

Training DVD/VHS Programs:

Workplace Stress Training and Safety Courses

Stress in the Workplace: A Costly Epidemic

by Rebecca Maxon

Three out of every four American workers describe their work as stressful. And the problem is not limited to these shores. In fact, occupational stress has been defined as a "global epidemic" by the United Nations' International Labor Organization.