It's been a hectic but rewarding Autumn. 605 people have attended 12 stress management competencies roadshows and related events, including presentations to CIPD in Sheffield and IOSH in London. Also three well-attended train-the-trainers were organized. Thanks to all the event hosts and to everyone who attended.

I haven't worked out how far I've travelled, but it must be several thousands of miles, with events as far apart as Edinburgh and Truro.

Last week included a presentation to ISMA, where I ran a short business development workshop. I was amazed and delighted at the response to this, and I can't remember ever enjoying running a workshop more. It's clear that there is a desperate lack of good business development advice for stress management consultants and practitioners looking to branch out on their own. I'll definitely run more of these next year.

On Thursday, the charity I'm a trustee of, The Marie Trust, had their fundraising dinner at the Radisson in Glasgow. It raised £19k - a great night for a great cause!

Coming up I'm looking forward to presenting to the Royal College of Nursing's Clinical Leadership Programme, which is taking place closer to home.

December will be for catching up with all the home/office based work I've missed, so look out for more blogs and new stuff on the stress site.

This 'duty of care' issue cropped up at a recent workshop. We were discussing employer liability for stress cases. Going back several years, the Hatton case established a precedent that many, me included, thought was crazy... that an employer could demonstrate it had met its duty of care just by offering a confidential counselling service or Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).

There was feeling at the time that the pendulum had swung too far in favour of the employee in such cases, but this employer 'get out of jail free' card was simply daft. Surely, many of us argued, the employer needs to show it has acted to minimize the risk to the employee, once clear they were vulnerable. How on earth could offering an EAP substitute for proactive action to prevent and reduce stress.

Thankfully, this changed with the Intel case in 2006 (a judgement upheld after an appeal by Intel in 2007). Common sense about managing stress risks at work prevailed and it became clear that employers did, after all, have to show they had taken steps to address concerns (e.g. about excessive workload) and not simply rely on the fact they had an EAP.

This makes perfect sense and fits much better with the employer's legal obligation to conduct risk assessments. Ultimately, it is better for employees and the employer if both understand that they need to communicate and act on any concerns about work-related stress. Prevention is hugely more cost-effective than cure.

A great programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning. As part of The Life Scientific series (click the link to download the podcast), Professor Jim Al-Khalili interviewed Sir Michael Marmot.

Michael Marmot was the epidemiologist behind the seminal Whitehall II Study (which you can download here). This research dismantled the myth of executive stress. The research was so powerful because of the wonderfully rich, longitudinal data on British Civil Servants that Marmot and his colleagues were able to analyse.

The research, much-replicated since, showed that far from stress rising as you climbed the career ladder it actually fell and the reason was control. Lower status Civil Servants had lower control and with that lower control came a greater risk of serious illness (notably diabetes and heart disease) and a shorter life span.

Marmot also first identified that most deadly of recipes for stress; high demands and low control, combined with a lack of support. This combination of factors, most often found lower down the pecking order was the one that had by far the highest risk and led to the shortest life spans.

It's a great interview and it's always good to be reminded about the key findings of stress research. Nowadays, Sir Michael is very active in promoting the importance of tackling inequalities and was the author of a major report that was published last year called Fair Society, Healthy Lives. You can download that report here, where you'll also find some excellent information resources and research data on inequalities.

Sir Michael Marmot, a scientific stress management hero of our time.