BS 30480 is the UK’s first formal standard providing guidance on suicide awareness, prevention, and intervention in workplace settings. It is free to download and applies to organisations of all sizes and sectors.
- Purpose and Scope
- Provides a comprehensive framework for preventing, identifying, and responding to suicide risk in workplace environments.
- Designed to build safe, supportive workplace cultures where people can talk openly about suicide without stigma.
- Aligns with existing safety frameworks such as ISO 45001 and psychosocial risk management.
- Awareness & Understanding Suicide
- Covers key suicide risk factors, warning signs, and workplace contributors (e.g., bullying, loneliness, workload, financial stress).
- Encourages the use of clear, direct language when asking about suicide to reduce stigma and ensure safe intervention.
- Tackles persistent myths that hinder open communication.
- Prevention Strategies
- Promotes proactive, upstream prevention, including psychologically safe work design, workload management, and supportive cultures.
- Encourages training for leaders, managers, and employees to recognise distress and know how to respond.
- Calls for clear policies, governance, and leadership commitment to embed suicide prevention across the organisation.
- Intervention Guidance
- Provides practical advice on how to ask directly about suicide, how to respond safely, and common communication pitfalls to avoid.
- Includes frameworks for creating individual safety plans for those at risk.
- Supports consistent intervention with flowcharts, scripts, and HR/line manager toolkits.
- Support After a Suicide (Postvention)
- Offers guidance on communicating sensitively with families, colleagues, and the wider organisation after a suicide.
- Advises on return-to-work support, trauma-informed practice, and managing operational impacts.
- Emphasises structured postvention planning to support long-term wellbeing and minimise further risk.
- Tools, Templates & Annexes
The standard includes a suite of practical resources to help organisations implement the guidance:
- Annex A – Commissioning training (questions & quality indicators)
- Annex B – HR toolkits (response checklists, return-to-work, communication guides)
- Annex C – Workplace stressor reference lists
- Annex D – Line manager tools (safety plans, crisis flowcharts)
- Annex E – Organisational self-evaluation benchmarks
Against the backdrop of rising suicide rates across the UK, providing clear, practical awareness guidance has never been more important. Increased incidence means organisations can no longer rely on informal, inconsistent approaches—employees and managers need structured, evidence‑informed guidance that helps them recognise warning signs, hold difficult conversations, and act decisively.
Robust awareness training builds confidence, reduces stigma, and ensures people at every level know how to respond when someone may be at risk. By equipping teams with the right knowledge and tools, organisations can create safer, more open cultures where concerns are addressed early, support is timely, and preventable tragedies are reduced.
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