Workplace illness figures leap 23%

News | HSW
08.11.2007

There were 664,000 newly reported cases of work-related ill-health last year, a 23% rise on the previous year, according to the HSE's latest analysis of illness and injury figures. The number of people reporting work-related illnesses has now topped 2.2 million.

The jump in self-reported instances of employee ill health from the government's quarterly Labour Force Survey, which HSE statisticians cannot write off to changes in the way data is collected, means the HSE has less chance of meeting the target set by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) of a 20% reduction over the current decade. The rate of illness is now roughly the same as that of the 2001-02 reference year.

"The numbers have gone up in quite an abrupt way," HSE chief statistician John Hodgson told HSW, noting that the increase was particularly marked in public services and agriculture. Most of the newly ill employees reported suffering from stress or musculoskeletal disorders, in line with existing trends.
The rise in reported illness has a knock-on effect on another improvement target from the HSC's Revitalising Health and Safety strategy: days lost to injury and ill health, which are now down only an estimated 12% against the 2010 target of 30%.

"It is very disappointing to see that days lost due to stress-related illness have increased so much, and we really need to find out why," said HSC chair Judith Hackitt, "but employers also need to think about their role in reversing this trend which means real efficiency loss and cost for them."

The only good news for the HSE comes in progress against the third Revitalising goal, for major and fatal workplace injuries. These fell from 29,078 in 2005-06 to 28,452 in 2006-07. Employee fatalities included in the total rose from 164 to 185 but they make up only a tiny proportion of the overall number and were more than balanced out by the drop in major injuries, where the rate per 10,000 workers has fallen by 3% in the past year.

The decrease allows the HSE to say it is on track to meet the commission's target set  of a 10% reduction below 2000-2001 figures by 2010.

John Hodgson said he believed the data showed that the underlying downward trend of major injuries was asserting itself after spikes in previous years such as 2003-2004, which may have reflected moves by the HSE to make accident reporting easier for employers.