ABSTRACT
Most people know what it feels like to be under stress. Many different definitions of stress exist. Stress can be mechanical, engineering, linguistic or psychological. Within the context of high-risk work environments, stress can have both acute and chronic effects. Theories of stress tend to emphasise the role of individual appraisal in the human stress response. These theoretical models of stress can be portrayed as a balance mechanism. An important element of managing stress is to be able to identify symptoms of stress in oneself, and others. It is possible to classify the indicators of chronic stress effects into four categories: behavioural, emotional, somatic and thinking. As with chronic stress, different jobs will have a particular set of acute stressors. The symptoms of stress at the team level are failures in teamworking, communication and decision-making. As was the case with chronic stress, it is possible to distinguish between primary, secondary and tertiary stress preventative methods for acute stress.
