The UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Publishes Annual Figures
The UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publishes annual figures for work-related injury, ill-health and enforcement action for 2020/2021 showing a big increase in mental ill-health illnesses
The statistics from the HSE’s annual figures show that over 1.7 million workers had suffered from a work-related illness approximately 50% (822,000) were from stress, depression or anxiety – an astonishingly high figure – and far higher than for 2019/2020.
Workers affected with stress, depression or anxiety were mainly from 3 key sectors which are: public/admin defence sector; human health/social worker sector; and education.
The HSE has also attempted to estimate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and unsurprisingly 645,00 workers reported that work-related illnesses were caused or made worse by the coronavirus pandemic of these with some 70% of these being cases of stress, depression or anxiety.
Even before these pandemic figures, it has been estimated that mental health issues cost UK employers some £45 billion a year and the HSE was identifying mental health as the number one reason for sick days in the UK.
HSE’s Chief Executive, Sarah Albon, commented:
“The latest figures on work-related stress reinforce our previous concerns around the scale of this issue in workplaces. Just last month we announced our new Working Minds campaign, in partnership with a number of key organisations, to help employers make recognising the signs of work-related stress routine.
“HSE continues to act as a proportionate and enabling regulator taking the most appropriate actions to achieve the best and quickest result. However, where employers fall short of expected standards, HSE will not hesitate to hold those responsible to account.”
Going forward as more people are working from home - and this may be a permanent workplace change - it’s becoming more important for HSE professionals to focus time on understanding and seeking to drive management of mental ill-health issues and illness within their organisation. ISO 45001 together with ISO 45003 can provide a structured route to better management of workers physical and mental ill-health for an organisation.
Additional support can be found through the HSE’s recently launched campaign Working Minds Working Minds - Work Right to keep Britain safe (campaign.gov.uk)